Always in Vogue
By Lindsey Burrows, BSJ '09
Deborah Cavanagh has risen in stature since graduating, thanks to a flourishing career and 4-inch, leopard-print high heels.
The associate publisher of creative services at Vogue magazine, Cavanagh returned to campus to determine the 2009 winner of the Charles Logan Smith Excellence in Design Award, an honor awarded each year to an Ohio University design student, and impart some worldly words of advice. In addition to providing creative direction for Vogue marketing, promotion and events, Cavanagh oversees Vogue Studio, a creative agency that works within Vogue and acts like a branding consultant for clients. The studio produces more than 200 Vogue advertising pages a year at upwards of $100,000 per page.
But the brand she is most dedicated to is Vogue itself, and her passion for her work is evident.
"I've been devoted to Vogue since I was 14 years old, and I expect that I will be when I'm 85 years old," says Cavanagh, BFA '79.
The type to succeed
A native New Yorker, Cavanagh knew early on in her teens that she was interested in graphic design. "My focus — my desire — was to find a way to express ideas visually," she says. "Ideas that might get people to think differently about something or to bring understanding to the way they perceive a brand."
Once enrolled in Ohio University's Fine Arts program, she found that it set itself apart through its orientation to design and communication, particularly with respect to typography — the art of selecting and arranging typefaces. Cavanagh credits professors, including Jimmy Winebrenner (who taught industrial design), for pushing her to hone her sensibility and appreciation of type and how it can impact someone's perception.
"Currently, there aren't as many programs that put the same emphasis on type, and as a result, there aren't as many designers that I see with a true appreciation of what can be done with type and how to push it further," she says. "I think that's a real differentiator for the graduates of Ohio University."
With a portfolio that also represented printmaking, serigraphy, lithography, photography and painting, Cavanagh considered herself a true designer upon graduation. What followed was an impressive array of positions, starting as a book designer for the iconic Franklin Library — "sort of the antithesis of my Swiss-based classical design training."
But Cavanagh saw it as a chance to design incredible literature that people would treasure over time. Her supervisor, the president of an art directors'
club, opened up a whole new world of design and publishing to her. She pursued a job as the art director of a small advertising agency, where she did everything from branding local boutiques to designing packaging for rabbit food.
"I view all of these events as opportunities," Cavanagh says. "While I had a very specific idea of what I wanted, the doors that opened up broadened my experience."
Ultimately, Cavanagh returned to New York and found herself working in publishing, discovering the inner workings of the two sides of the business. While the editorial staff creates the content people read, its business counterpart is responsible for branding the identity of the magazine, communicating its mission and who its readers are, and promoting itself through event marketing, exhibits, parties and by creating ads on behalf of its advertisers. The work taught her as much about magazines as it did her own talents.
"In a sense, (the business side) was the best of both worlds," she says. "It was being able to manage a brand and its identity very closely but also be able to bring it to life through multiple touch points. And that was a turning point for me: my evolution as a designer to thinking about how a brand comes alive."
"While I had a very specific idea of what I wanted, the doors that opened up broadened my experience."
Styling an icon
On this path, Cavanagh's work seemed to careen straight into magazine success. Indeed, it was after consecutive positions and increasing responsibilities, at House and Garden, then Self magazine and later Men's Health, that Cavanagh gained all the makings to become a member of the Vogue team and launch Vogue Studio. A recent project had her working on the launch of the online channel Vogue.tv, which takes viewers behind the scenes with trend reports, interviews and other video content.
"It's really important that we're able to explain what Vogue stands for and who reads Vogue in a way that is relevant to our clients.
"And with Vogue, I have the ultimate toolbox," she adds, spouting a laundry list of world-renowned photographers, writers and other talented men and women who make her job "truly a responsibility I consider as much as a joy."
It is a constant challenge, says Cavanagh, but one that she relishes. With a magazine that is 118 years old, has seen seven different editors-in-chief, and has carried over wars, economic recessions and boom times, it was essential to be able to deconstruct and articulate the brand. The three guiding principles that form Vogue's mantra are visual genius, storytelling that puts women at the center of the culture and a selective, optimistic editorial eye.
"I think there is a very core value responsibility that Vogue takes to make a difference, to support the industry," she says. "I think readers respond to that because the initiative is there on Vogue's part, to bring new ideas to the forefront and help people understand why they matter. And that's true of the art and photography that runs in the magazine. It's not just there because it looks good. It's there because there's actually an idea there behind it."
Cavanagh seems to share these standards in her own life, both personally and professionally.
"I look at fashion as this wonderful, organic opportunity to express how you feel. I happen to have an incredible appreciation/weakness for powerful shoes," she says. "The higher the better. And these days, the tougher the better. You can use those heavy, tall shoes to anchor and galvanize yourself as you go on to do business or plow through your day."
Wise words from a woman on the heels of success.