Washington Post merges design teams, names Cavenaile deputy design director

The following excerpt announcement was sent out by The Washington Post managing editor/digital Kat Downs Mulder, creative director Greg Manifold and director of emerging news products Christopher Meighan:

We’re excited to announce a merger of two talented newsroom design teams — the Emerging News Products design team and the Design department. As a key part of this transition, Amy Cavenaile will become a deputy design director, reporting to Greg Manifold.

She will continue to manage design editors Rachel Orr and Chris Barber — along with a team of nine designers, who will be part of the Design department. She’ll partner closely with Greg and Deputy Design Director Brian Gross, along with the rest of the design editing team, to find ways to better connect our visual approaches and our storytelling across a growing suite of products. This is increasingly important as we look to unify our apps and continue growing our subscriber base.

In her new role, Amy will oversee design work for The Post’s apps, social media platforms, podcasts, The Lily, By The Way and new initiatives from Emerging News Products. She will serve as the design lead for two big initiatives — the creation of our new flagship app and our expanded efforts on Instagram. Amy has led the highly visual work on Emerging News Products since joining The Post in 2015 — helping launch the Select app, our Snapchat Discover channel and The Lily. She was promoted to deputy design director of the department in 2018 and design director in 2020.

In her most recent role, Amy focused on creating strong, consistent visual identities and efficient design processes. Her visual identity work on The Post’s Select app was awarded a silver medal for a digital redesign by the Society of Publication Designers. In addition, she has been instrumental in creating smart Instagram strategies for The Lily and By The Way, helping not only to refine visual approaches but also to develop strategies for each platform. Before joining The Post, Amy was a designer at the Omaha World-Herald. She graduated from Ball State University with a degree in journalism graphics.

Please join us in congratulating Amy and the entire team on this exciting next act.