Fadi Yaacoub
Executive Creative Director, Digital, Toronto Star
Canada
Fadi Yaacoub is the executive creative director, digital, of the Toronto Star, the largest newspaper in Canada. He is a hands-on media design expert with a track record of success at the largest Canadian media corporations. His achievements include establishing design departments, building tablet and mobile news apps, branding television networks, designing prime time newscasts, crafting brand identities, developing go-to-market strategies, creating advertising campaigns, winning awards and hitting numbers.
He concentrates on the digital product, design strategy and storytelling methods, providing hands-on creative direction and adding best-in-breed design talents. In 2015, he built the $24-million news app Toronto Star Touch. He lead the development and creative team, and played a key role in coaching the 350-person newsroom, spearheading the news app’s bold storytelling visual language. He oversaw the look and feel of the whole app, as well as the design of editorial stories across all sections.
Fadi is adept at leading diverse and multicultural operational teams, as well as building a common workplace culture through effective leadership style. Recognized for integrity, critical thinking and people motivation skills, he has won and been shortlisted for multiple awards.
Prior to joining the Toronto Star, Fadi held a number of key design positions within CBC/Radio-Canada Television in Montreal, leading up to his appointment to art direction for the national flagship newscast, Le Téléjournal, on which he made a measurable impact on the overall ratings. He was then nominated by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television for a Gémeaux / Gemini award for best graphic design in all categories in 2012.
Throughout his career, he has helped to lead and grow small and large teams of multidisciplinary experts, and he has built an extensive background in the media industry.
Fadi is a Lebanese-Canadian who comes from a highly musically and design-minded family. He holds three degrees in Management, Graphic Design and IT Management. He speaks French, English and Arabic, and currently resides in Toronto, Canada.
