Naasha Dotiwala
Current Title: Team Lead Center for Community Journalism
Organization: Gannett’s Design Center
Country: United States
Candidate for: Director
Vision for SND
Working at Gannett I have seen a heavy focus on experimentation and receiving frequent feedback from other colleagues to improve daily life for people across our Design Center. I want to bring that same methodology to SND and approach the challenges we face as an organization in an analytical way. SND has a long history full of excellent ideas, such as the annual workshops and competitions, monthly Creative Conference Calls, and student outreach efforts, to name a few, so I want to work on understanding the current procedure of how those are set up and what can be changed to improve them with feedback from organizers and participants. This organization is the pinnacle of professional news design, yet I often come across other designers who have no idea what SND does or the benefits they could receive from joining the organization. By increasing the number of events and creating uniform, shareable, material that can be given out in newsrooms and design centers across the world, I believe we can increase our outreach among professional and academic news designers enough to boost our membership, which in turn would lead to increased attendance and representation. SND is where I found my people, others who are willing to quibble about the merit of a bold vs. semibold headline, or admire the way a simple design can amplify a critical message, and I want to help others find this home where they can learn and grow into better artists.
About Naasha
Naasha Dotiwala is a Team Leader in the Center for Community Journalism department within Gannett’s Design Center. She started her professional career in news design in 2017 as a designer for GateHouse Media in Austin, Texas, working on a variety of papers from across the country. Currently, she helps oversee the daily production of 23 news sections across Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin as the Team Leader for the Northern region. When she’s not at work she enjoys exploring her hometown of Houston, Texas, and trying to find unique new restaurants to try out with her friends and family.