PRODUCT
LAUNCHES

With each product launch, there are specific goals and audiences in mind. The editorial and design strategies continue to evolve for each of these.

1. The Lily

My role: Founder, Editor in Chief, Creative Director

In 2016, I pitched that we revive The Lily, the very first U.S. newspaper by women. In 2017, we launched. Our mission is two-fold: to empower women with news and information, and to elevate a diverse set of women’s voices. Our goal is to bring Post journalism to a new audience. Only two years later, The Lily has become an instantly recognizable brand beloved by millennial women — and a lot of others, as well. I developed both the visual identity and the editorial voice for The Lily.

Like most media sites, we publish several stories a day on our site. Unlike most media sites, every single one comes with a custom design treatment. But we don’t stop there. Our experiments come in the form of murals, twice-weekly comics, an Instagram-only book club, a short documentary about turning 30, a highly visual, award-winning newsletter called Lily Lines, and an ever-growing presence on the most visual social media platform of all — Instagram.

We’ve won several awards for our work on The Lily. I’m most excited about being named one of six finalists in the Society for News Design’s “World’s Best Designed” category. We lost to The New York Times — there are worse people to lose to. We also won a Webby in our first year in the “best email newsletter” category for our newsletter Lily Lines. See the rest of our awards and nominations here.

Read my Lily launch letter here.
More Lily projects here.
Lily covered in the news here.
Sign up for Lily Lines, our newsletter, here.

2. Washington Post select App

My role: Design Director

When the Washington Post Select app launched in 2014, I was part of the team. I worked as an art director, designing around 20 custom editorial images a day for the app. I eventually became the Design Director for the app and now lead the visual team working on this project. I work closely with Deputy Design Director Amy Cavenaile who recently created and implemented a design refresh, which I oversaw. The goal of our app is to create a unique, clean reading experience with an emphasis on visuals. You can also see these custom designs on The Washington Post’s new Fire TV app.

3. By the Way

My role: Design Director

After the successful launch of The Lily, our team had the opportunity to launch another vertical. By the Way is a new travel destination from The Washington Post, featuring city guides written by locals as well as travel news and tips. By the Way Editor Amanda Finnegan brought the idea to Emerging News Products and worked closely with our leadership team to develop it out. I oversaw and guided the visual brand strategy, created by design editor Rachel Orr. We worked closely with the product team on the UI/UX of the site. I commissioned and art directed the logo, which was made by Heads of State. Our goal was for By the Way to have its own visual identity but to still fit naturally within the ecosystem of washingtonpost.com.

4. Snapchat

My role: Design Director

I co-lead the team that launched The Washington Post’s Discover channel on Snapchat, working closely with the company to shape our channel for its platform. We were the first breaking news platform to launch on Snap, in February of 2017. Today, we create five editions a week, and I oversee the design team.

always a project

I love leading a team, but I make sure to always have a project going on that I’m excited about. Here are two big ones from the past year.

1. I co-directed a short documentary

My role: Director, Producer, Creative Director, Interviewer

Together with my coworkers Neema Roshania Patel and Maya Sugarman, we co-directed and produced our first film: “The Jessicas are turning 30.” The short doc weaves together six compelling narratives of people who were born Jessica in 1989. The film captures what it’s like to be 30 in America today. For millennial women, the milestone has become an age heavy with expectation. Thirty-year-old American women today are far less likely to be married and have children than they were 30 years ago – they’re also more likely to have a four-year degree and a full-time job. “The Jessicas are turning 30” will premiere at the BendFilm Festival on Oct. 10, 2019.

Read more about the film here. Watch the trailer below.

2. We painted a mural live on election night.

My role: Project manager, Creative Director

While other outlets were simply posting stories during the 2018 midterm elections, The Lily live-painted a mural of an eagle with 184 feathers, one for each of the 184 women who were first-time candidates for congressional or gubernatorial seats, or sought a higher office in Congress. Each time a female candidate won her seat, a feather was colored in. The final product conveyed how many non-incumbent women were elected to office. This took place at The Line Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Here is a fancy video, with the best stock music we could find, of the night unfolding:

a little bit more

See my old print work here.

See where I’ve spoken about my work here.

Follow my Instagram where I find qtips here.