It's beginning to look a little like Christmas

I jumped the gun and started to put up Christmas decorations last Saturday. But I thought I would spare you the sight of them until today, the day after Thanksgiving. I love decorating for the holidays, especially in a new place. My dining room/kitchen area is already super colorful: An orange wall, orange, red and blue tiles in the kitchen, and bright tiles inset into the table, so I thought bright red and green might be a little jarring in that area. Instead I went with blue, gold and silver this year. 

 Upper shelf of the wine rack.

That pretty little genius was eating the gold berries on my garland moments earlier. This troubles me. Garlands hang in all my front windows this year.

My "pre-Thanksgiving" dinner table. We were visiting on Thanksgiving Day, so we had our special family dinner with a couple friends on Sunday. Those are handmade napkin holders: A spool of ribbon and leftover ornaments from the centerpiece.

Now when to get the tree?

A whole new look for The Cordova Times

Today I am so pleased to share my latest project — a complete re-design of The Cordova Times. When the editor of The Cordova Times bought her own newspaper in August I shot her an email wishing good luck. But I never expected three months later I would be staying up all night putting the finishing touches on the re-launch of the newspaper complete with a new look.

In the process leading up to the redesign we talked a lot about the tight-knit community of Cordova and what it wanted out of it's newspaper. Even though it's a small weekly tab, we decided to create faux section fronts for Schools, Fisheries and Lifestyles. As well as a weekly standing doubletruck called Around Town. The whole paper is big on local content and big on advertising too, for a publication of it's scale. The community really stepped up and told the editor, "we want our paper to survive, how can we help." It re-invigorated my faith in the future of journalism. Local, local, local.

We did something unusual. There were companies in who care about Cordova's access to local news, but didn't necessarily have a huge stake in advertising their name in Cordova. And some who simply wanted to support the newspaper above and beyond their regular advertising commitment. So we offered "sponsorships" of sort. Yearlong advertising commitments that included logos directly tied to content like tide tables in the Fisheries section and Kid Corner in the Schools section. We tried to keep it strictly to somewhat neutral content.

We completely re-mixed the Classified with big headers, a splashy Photo of the Week and free listings under a certain word count — on a space available basis — for newspaper subscribers. The old Cordova Times commonly had no Classifieds at all on any given week, and often had only two or three listings.

I'm completely proud of this project and think it looks even better in print that on screen. What do you think?

Kern This: First Alaskans October-November edition

Check out what's new on Kern This Studio: Some of my favorite pages from the October-November edition of First Alaskans magazine. I'm so proud of this one because we pulled it off in a crazy short timeline after Calista decided to liquidate all it's publications. Then First Alaskans Institute swooped in and saved the magazine by purchasing it and putting together a kick-ass team to keep it going. Things are moving along on the next edition and I'm so thrilled to be a part of the action.

Also, it's T-Minus one week until the official RE-LAUNCH of The Cordova Times. We are hitting the streets next Friday with a fully re-designed newspaper. #ilovemyjob

New on Kern This Studio: Never Sets certificates

 The folks at the Never Sets Film Festival asked me to design certificates for the winning films last weekend. The logo and other marketing materials we so sharp, I couldn't say no. Friday night we wend to the screening and awards. There's some true film-making talent in Alaska and some really great people involved in this event.

See more about these and other Kern This Studio projects over at my design and photography studio website.

Insert metaphor about doors and opportunities here

Thursday was my last day at Alaska Newspapers. They will shut their doors for the last time on Aug. 31. With the exception of the Seward Phoenix Log, which publishes one more time this week, I was there for the final run. After production that day several colleagues collected at a bar downtown to share pitchers and memories.

Above I'm holding my last set of newspaper proofs for an indefinite period of time. Hopefully not forever. I love journalism and will always be a journalist. But I'm going to try something new for a while.

This Thursday I start as the marketing coordinator for a construction management and consulting company. The company has overseen some pretty recognizable projects in Alaska including renovation of the Anchorage Museum, Dena'ina Center, and remodels of the Anchorage and Fairbanks airports. The exciting part is I still get to design and edit ... the kind of work I love, only applying them to a whole new field.

I am sad for my company closing down, hopeful for the new owners of a couple of the publications and those staying on with the new versions of those publication, and wishing the best for those job hunting. Insert appropriate metaphor here.

Fun fact: My first ever photo byline is on the front page of the final Tundra Drums.

Friday Fun: Not pictured, everybody else

Happy Friday! Anybody else love this poster poking fun at U.S. maps that exclude Alaska and Hawaii? Because I do. It's funny to think Alaska is almost 1/3 the land size of the rest of the country and gets shrunk down to a little corner on most graphics. Find the clever artist here.

We're kicking the Anchorage dust off our shoes this weekend and heading down the Kenai Peninsula for a camping with friends and salmon fishing on the Russian River. Don't worry, I'll take tons of pictures like always.

Have an adventuresome weekend!

Media Monday: bin Laden front pages

I love taking a moment to peruse Newseum on a big day in news like today. It's always interesting to see what kind of choices editors and designers made on deadline. Last night I was picturing headlines as I watched the cable new networks try to fill the minutes at 1 a.m. EST. I prefer headlines that focus on reaction and project the story forward, instead of just stating the fact that he's dead. But those were far and few between today. And really we probably didn't have the stories written to support a headline like that. Tomorrow with tell more.

Any that used "justice" were nice as that seems to be the catchword of the day after the President used it in his speech:

Some fronts were simply shocking:

Media Monday: Language of news design

Mario Garcia has a simple, eloquent post on his blog today and I thought I would share it too. Garcia is an international leader in news design, doing consulting and redesigns for newspapers worldwide.

His message today:

What are some of those universal values that apply to any publication, regardless of language?

• Make the information easy to find. 

• Make the type easy to read. 

• Make it attractive.

Well said. Read the full post here.

Media Monday: Alaska Press Club highlights

I attended the Alaska Press Club conference over the weekend and am feeling inspired. Listening to Kim Serverson of the New York Times, Susan Orlean of the New Yorker and John Moore of Getty Images reminded me why I got into this profession and movtivated me to go out there and get 'em! And sometimes you need to have a little time to reflect and feel inspired.

Here are some highlights of the weekend events:

• An audience member asked Kim Severson if she felt bad that a particular food review she wrote closed the restaurant. She answered, "My review didn't cause them to go out of business. The crappy food did." She did acknowledge the challenges of writing food review in a small community with challenges like Alaska's food shipping costs, etc. and the community's effort to support local. You tend to look at everything through a "it's GOOD, for Anchorage" lens.
• Susan Orlean said to always make that last phone call and follow every lead. She told two stories where she followed one last lead that she thought would result in nothing and ended up with the most important part of her story. She emphasized how easy it is to be lazy and how easy that turns into missed opportunities.
• John Moore talked about how much canned tuna he ate while covering the front lines in Lybia, how it feels to be a journalist in the war zone, and how lucky and humbled he was when his replacement was captured as a war prisoner just weeks after he left the country. All while showing slides of his wonderful photos.
• My company is small, but mighty, and took home a slew of awards including best weekly for The Tundra Drums. Congratulations to Alex DeMarban, Roy Corral, Victoria Barber, Nadya Gilmore, Steve Quinn and Wayde Carroll for various wins. I personally took home first place certificates for the following categories: Best Magazine Cover, Best Overall Magazine Design and Best Newspaper Graphic. I am honored.
• A hanger that doubles as an online newspaper office makes an excellent place for a party with a bunch of journalists.
• Hearing the first-hand story from the editor who was handcuffed by a certain Senate candidate's security crew for asking questions at a public (depending on who you ask) event last fall.

I also want to give props to my fellow Evergreener and dear friend Brielle Shaeffer for her award for Breaking News Reporting for covering a shooting for the Peninsula Clarion in Kenai.

Dear Font Geeks: Happy April Fool's Day, Love Google

Google has a smarty pants little trick for typographic geeks today. To get in on the joke simply type "Comic Sans" in your Google search and take a gander at all the horrific Comic Sans glory.

Now try "Helvetica." Wait, what? It's still in Comic Sans!

More on the prank here.

Enjoy!

Sneak peak at one of my projects

Isn't it cool too see one of your projects come freshly shrink-wrapped from the printers? These are wedding invitations and RSVP cards I designed for my friends Meghan and Joel. Of course they'll look way more awesome in the chic silver pochette evelopes she ordered for them. I'll definitely post a picture of THAT when I have one in my hands.

Media Monday: Is Gannett re-branding in poor taste?

Gannett is launching a major re-branding effort today with a new label "A Gannett Company" on all it's publications mastheads. You'll see it on their online sites as well.

Charles Apple has an excellent roundup of the launch including clips from the 100-page re-branding handbook.

His take of the re-branding efforts:

"The timing of all this, though, seems poor. Given continued furloughs and the additional — and perhaps unexpected — layoffs, is this the right moment to spend an ungodly sum of money for a team of consultants to develop a branding campaign of this scope?
I’d rather see the money spent on something that might directly result in better journalism. Something that might benefit the readers."

IN OTHER MEDIA NEWS: Anyone tired of the media cashing in on Charlie Sheen's media meltdown yet? Do you think it's excessive? It's kind of like watching a trainwreck ... I feel the same way about anything Kardashians. Can't. Look. Away.

New on Kern This Studio: Engagement photos of Meghan and Joel

You might have seen before that I'm designing wedding invitations and save-the-dates for my friends Meghan and Joel. Well, they've also asked me to be their wedding photographer and I'm super excited because it's my first wedding as a photographer!

So this weekend we braved the 15-degree breezy day for an engagement shoot in Westchester Park. It was short and sweet due to the weather, but they were super-fun to photograph. There are a more/larger pictures from the shoot on my professional website KernThisStudio.com. Please take a moment to check it out and let me know what you think!


[Self-promo alert.] Need family, baby, special event photography or design? Talk to me. I would love to help!

Happy weekend!

Happy weekend! It's going to be a busy one. I'm working on two freelance design projects at the moment: wedding invitations for my friend Meghan and campaign materials for a local assembly member up for re-election.

I'm also doing an engagement shoot with my friends Meghan and Joel in Westchester Park, which happens to be where Josh and I had OUR engagement photos done. I'm crossing my fingers to great Alaska-in-February weather and beautiful skies. Knock. On. Wood.

Look for updates from these projects on my portfolio site, KernThisStudio.com soon.

Davin will be prepping for the state spelling bee, which is right around the corner on Thursday.

Also, my dad arrives for a week-long business trip Sunday night. It will be our first out-of-town visitor in the new duplex. Fur Rondy kicks off this weekend, so we'll probably be hitting up some of the Alaskan festivities during his stay.

Font crush: Wes Anderson's use of Futura

I've been on a Wes Anderson movie kick this past week, watching The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic and I'm loving his use of the font Futura throughout the movies. I knew he used a lot of Futura in his movies, but the more I see it, the more I love it. Futura is a geometric font created in the 20s by Paul Renner. Anderson uses the font not only in captions and scene markers, but also on the actual set in the form of signs and props.

Look closely. The labels on Margo's library shelves are also in Futura.

One of these things is not like the others: Can you spot which one isn't in Futura?

Newest issue of First Alaskans out this week

The February-March issue of First Alaskans, the magazine I design at Alaska Newspapers comes out this week. We had some really awesome stories and alternative storytelling pieces that were super fun to design. Maps, timelines, food step-by-step and artist bios from our fabulous writers and photographers. Pick up a copy or read it online.

Good friends for a font geek

I have discovered a new source of graphic design inspriation: 

Friends of Type.

Friends of Type is a blog-style website with four main contributors who post a new typographic design nearly everyday. Some of the designs are more straightforward, while others take a second glance to figure them out. I especially like the first one, because it describes the weather perfectly at the moment.

Below is a sampling of the beautiful images from their recent posts: 

Check them out at FriendsofType.com.

Graphic designer friends: Who inspires you?

Fun graphic: The history of social networking

I love a great infographic, so I couldn't resist re-posting this one from OnlineSchools.org after I saw it on Poynter. What do you think?

Media Monday: Trenta graphic makes online waves

This National Post graphic illustrating the enormous size of the new Trenta drink at Starbucks went viral on the Internet last week. It was so talked about that Anderson Cooper brought it up on his CNN show 360.

I think what everyone finds so compelling is the fact that the drink's size exceeds the capacity of the average human stomach. Yuck, it makes me feel full just thinking about it.

I found the graphic on Charles Apple's blog. You can read about the graphic's initial rise to web popularity and reblogging at the National Post's website.

New business cards!

My design and photography biz officially has business cards! What do you think? Let me know if you need business cards or promotional materials for your company or freelance endeavors. Find out more about Kern This Studio here.