Creative director Payne departs Faber for Apple after 17 years

Faber’s creative director Donna Payne is leaving the publisher after 17 years to join Apple in the same role.

Payne joined Faber in 2005 to lead creative strategy for the business and to make design central to the publisher’s identity. In 2015, she was promoted to creative director, to lead all visual aspects of the Faber brand. As a member of the company’s senior team, Faber said she has been a driving force in key company initiatives and a powerful force in diversity and inclusion work across the wider industry.

"It’s impossible to imagine leaving Faber after 17 years, which has been the most stimulating time of my career," she said. "I feel privileged to have worked with some of the very best people, and to have made lifelong friends. I could not be more proud of the work my brilliant in-house team have done in carrying Faber’s design legacy into the future, and the contribution and support of an extraordinary community of freelance cover designers.

"I’m grateful too for the platform my role has given me to connect with a broad and diverse creative community. It has been brilliant to have played a small part in Faber’s success over the years, and I wish them all the very best in the future."

Celebrating her legacy at Faber, publisher Alex Bowler said: "Donna has built the most extraordinary team, who break new paths and discover new possibilities. Her own hands-on design has consistently led the way. And as a senior leader, her contribution has gone far beyond design, and powerfully so, reaching many parts of the company and the wider publishing community. I am so grateful for her support and brilliance, her bravery and her vision, in our work together."

Payne’s last day with Faber will be 9th September. A new art director will be announced later this summer.