I am Francesca Catà.
Art director & Senior graphic designer
I am a versatile and forward-thinking creative professional with over 15 years of experience across the broadcast, digital, and print industries. For 9 years, I was the Art Director at Sky News Italy, leading a talented team of 15 designers. I directed 3 channel rebrands, more than 15 election specials, and over 100 programs spanning news, sports, and entertainment. My approach to design is driven by bold ideas and a commitment to delivering impactful, action-oriented solutions.
From 2022 to present I have focused on various graphic design projects, specializing in branding and website development. One of my notable projects involved developing branding and a website for a new music initiative. Additionally, I have worked with several nonprofit organizations, creating branding and websites that address mental health, wellbeing, and social and emotional educational services. I have also had the opportunity to teach art courses at a mental health and wellbeing center, where I aimed to foster creativity and self-expression among participants. Alongside these endeavors, I have engaged in various personal art projects that allow me to explore and express my creative vision.
From 2012 to 2021 I was the Art Director for Sky News Italy reporting directly to the Head of News. I was responsible for the creation and output of all digital and broadcast platforms.
Channel Rebrand: As brand guardian for Italy, I interfaced with the Creative Director (UK) and the Head of News (Italy) to adapt the Sky global brand to the specific requirements of the Italian market. It was my role to guarantee brand consistency across all Sky properties.
New Studio Set: I was part of an interdisciplinary creative team (architect, studio director, director of photography and 3D designer) that redesigned the main news studio, optimising look & feel and introducing innovative storytelling tools such as touch screens and video wall projections.
Election Day: I led an interdisciplinary team of journalists, IT, Data Lab and VizRT artists to design and implement infographic packages with automatic real-time updates for the Italian elections. For international political elections (Brexit, USA, etc.), I worked with the Creative Director (UK) to guarantee brand consistency. In both scenarios, the infographics tool kit was implemented across broadcast and digital and on-set using augmented reality.
Insights, Specials and Commemorations: Exploiting the opportunities of virtual and augmented reality, I created immersive in-studio environments and interactive graphic tool kits for original productions linked to important socio-political-cultural events. My focus was to create a consistency of experience for our subscribers across all Sky platforms.
TG8 News Design: I designed the brand for the news segments of the free-to-air channel Sky TV8, including the graphic tool kit (openers/closers, animation, transition, infographics, maps, title, channel grid) and the studio. TG8 proposed new technical challenges for my team since all graphics would be populated automatically with shared data from the main Sky News.
From 2003 to 2012 I was the Head of Design, reporting directly to the Creative Director. I was responsible for all broadcast, web and interactive channel design assets.
Channel Start-Up: Sky launched its pay TV service in Italy. During this period I created and lead the in-house agency for the news channel of the platform. I was responsible for the declination of the style guide, design and production of all assets (openers/closers, animation, transition, infographics, maps, title, channel grid) and the definition of the workflow for the graphics department.
Press Review: I designed a bespoke "touch screen" application for the daily press review, working directly with journalists on all aspects related to UI and UX.
First Election Day: I created the first graphic package for elections with automatic real-time updates. I designed a workflow with the journalists and IT team for the collection and distribution of data, inaugurating a standard which has been adopted in all subsequent election programs.