Hi! I'm Clare.
I'm currently a senior designer at The Hollywood Reporter in Los Angeles, where I work on layouts and photo illustrations for the weekly magazine and special Awards season issues. Previously, I was at The Washington Post where I designed and art directed for print and digital platforms across multiple sections in the newsroom. I'm passionate about visual storytelling, and I strongly advocate for diversity in art direction and illustration practices.
Over the years, my work has been recognized by SND, SPD, and ASME. I'm also a member of AAJA and SND.
I graduated from Syracuse University, where I learned everything at The Daily Orange, the independent student newspaper. I've also held internships at The Star Tribune in Minneapolis and Los Angeles Magazine.
When I'm not working, I love spending time with my dog Lilo, going to the beach, finding the best ice cream spots in town, and catching up on the latest shows and movies. I was born in the Philippines and grew up in LA where I developed a deep love for Disneyland and Dodgers baseball.
If you're an illustrator and would like to connect, send me an email at cramirez@thr.com!
Resume
Experience
Senior Designer, The Hollywood Reporter • June 2022 – Present
• Designs features, FOB and BOB stories for weekly magazine, including for additional standalone Awards issues during the Emmys and Oscars seasons
• Works with a network of freelance artists to produce quick turnaround illustrations
• Creates in-house photo collages and illustrations for print and digital platforms
• Collaborates with photo producers on photo shoot layouts and image selection
• Processes hi-res images for color correction, image resolution, and retouching as needed
• Maintains timelines and story workflows for print production output
Magazine Art Director, The Washington Post • Aug. 2020 – May 2022
• Designed weekly print magazine including covers, features, and FOB/BOB stories
• Led visual planning for and produced the online designs of longform feature stories
• Conceptualized the cover art with photo editors and art directors
• Ran and directed weekly walkthrough meetings where staff goes over magazine
• Commissioned illustrations from freelancers and offered art direction as necessary
• Managed and set deadlines for an array of long-term projects and special issues
• Mentored newer art directors and recent hires by through training and feedback sessions
• Ran the @washingtonpostdesign Instagram account by creating templates and implementing engagement strategies, which resulted in an increase of followers by 30%
Business and Tech Art Director, The Washington Post • Aug. 2018 – Sept. 2020
• Planned and designed the weekly Sunday Business section
• Identified and produced digital presentations of business and technology projects
• Collaborated with editors to establish timelines for long-term enterprise projects
• Commissioned 2-4 illustrations per week for quick turnaround stories
• Created in-house photo illustrations using stock and wire images
News/Features/Sports Designer, The Washington Post • Sept. 2017 – Aug. 2018
• Regularly designed daily sports, style, and news sections
• (In 2018-2019) Worked on a small team to use Google AMP stories, a mobile-first storytelling experience, and helped develop the template for use across the design team
• Produced digital projects on the sports, foreign, politics, and national desks
Skills
Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Xd • Art Direction • Prop Styling • HTML and CSS • Project Managing • Typography • Editorial Design • Social Media Strategy
Recognition
• SND 2024 Chosen as a Features Judge for Best of News Design (Print) Competition
• SND 2021 Magazine design print portfolio
• SND 2020 Digital art direction portfolio; Newspaper design print portfolio
• SPD 56 Finalist for 2020 Photo Issue design
• SND 2019 Newspaper design print portfolio
Education
Syracuse University 2017 S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
B.S. Magazine Journalism (with minors in Fine Arts and Music Industry)
UCLA Extension (Jan. - March 2022)
User Experience - Survey Course