Hi, and welcome to my blog. I’m an interactive designer and the Graphics Director at The Washington Post. That means I try to come up with creative ways to combine multimedia and technology in storytelling. I specialize in design and programming of interactive graphics and multimedia experiences.
I went to the University of North Carolina, where I studied multimedia and photojournalism and graduated with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. I was an intern at USA TODAY and worked for the Baltimore Sun for about a year and a half before joining the Post.
I co-taught a course on communicating with design at Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies in the fall of 2013.
From 2010-2012, I was a part of the faculty of the National Security Reporting Project at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, an investigative project that takes place in the fall. In 2010, the project we did won an OJA for best student multimedia project.
I’m a native North Carolinian from a small town in western N.C. called Franklin, where some of my family still lives. I’m the youngest of seven girls, so I love people and personalities and adventure. I love to read, travel, take photographs and see live music.
I live in Washington, D.C. with my husband, Matt, and our daughter, Margot.
Anything on this blog is my opinion, and in no way reflects the position of my employer, The Washington Post. All graphics are reproduced from The Washington Post, unless otherwise noted.
Get in touch:
email: kat.downs@gmail.com
twitter: katdowns
tumblr: katdowns.tumblr.com
facebook: Kat Downs / katdowns
linked in: Kat Downs / katdowns
flickr: katdowns
vimeo: katdowns
goodreads
Articles:
• Washington Post utilizes unconventional storytelling to depict the ‘media divide’
• Behind the scenes of Washington Post’s “On the trail of a serial rapist”
• Pulitzer prizes recognize multimedia storytelling; Traumatic brain injury project is a finalist
• 36 hours of mapping the earthquake in Japan
• The power of the crowd: Is life getting better or worse?
• The Source: Homicides in the District
• It’s all Journalism: Breaking news visually
• How The Washington Post created a breakout experience for cycling story (Poynter)
• With gay marriage sure to spark emotional responses, The Washington Post and New York Times try structuring comments (Nieman Lab)
Presentations:
• SND Denver (2010)
• Malofiej 19 (March 2011)
• APME NewsTrain DC (March 2011)
• NPR’s DUXcamp unconference (October 2011)
• NICAR St. Louis (February 2012) - Presentation
• Infographics Congress (March 2012)
• Interactive Design workshop (May 2013, UNC)
• ONA13 (October 2013)
• CIC Impact Summit (September 2014)
• SND Scandinavia (October 2014)
• UMD Visualization Speaker Series (October 2014)
• SND DC (April 2015)
Contest judging:
• SSND Multimedia Contest (April 2013)
• ONA12
• Malofiej 19
• ONA14