It’s a career move that is starting to seem somewhat familiar: a Web 2.0 start-up vet moving from entrepreneurial status into a leadership role within a large company. This time it’s Khoi Vinh, principal at design co Behavior, who’s joining the NYTimes as their design director, a job that’s been vacant almost a year, since Sumin Chou moved on. Vinh’s blogged about the switch, and says: ” I have grand visions of what can be done as the Design Director of The New York Times Online, but I also have a pragmatic view of what needs to be done in order to realize those visions: to make design work, especially in this position, will require dedicated labor, genuine diplomacy, judicious management and earning the respect of peers and colleagues.”
Involved in the Onion redesign, Vinh clearly has both creative chops and technical skills the Grey Lady can use, and best of all, he’s got that fresh point of view–that vision–bigcos are so eager to acquire.
Update: Best hed on this story I’ve seen so far: Designer of fake news sites now works for NY Times.