The memo is out on Christian Potter Drury, hired recently to be the L.A. Times' design director for the features side of the paper. The spot had been open for several months since Lisa Clausen left abruptly. Memo follows:

I am pleased to announce that Christian Potter Drury will join the Times as Features Design Director, effective June 21.

Christian, currently at the St. Petersburg Times, is a highly imaginative designer and illustrator, and a talented coach and editor. She will report to me and will oversee the design and visual presentation of our feature sections. She will work with John Montorio and his senior team, as well as our design editors, to build on the great work already being done.

Christian began her newspaper career at the Litchfield County Times in New Milford, Conn.--a paper known for its elegant design when there was precious little of it. She also worked at the Providence Journal and Hartford Courant. At the Courant, Christian was AME for Design, charged with redesigning the paper in 1999 and again in 2001 for the 50-inch web conversion.

She leaves the St. Petersburg Times as design editor, where she was responsible for the Perspective section, the Business section redesign and other major projects. She has won numerous awards, including the Society for Newspaper Design> '> s World's Best Designed Newspaper (Courant, in 2000) and was the designer on the Courant team that won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news in 1999. She was also Times Mirror journalist of the year in 1998 for her redesign of the Courant.

We're excited about the contribution Christian is going to make to our feature sections and know that all of you will join us in welcoming her aboard.

-- Joe Hutchinson, Deputy Managing Editor
May 17, 2004