I’ve always created. So naturally, when it came time to pick an undergrad at the end of high school, I chose something that would steer me in that direction. Like most young adults in that awkward kind of adult but not quite adult phase, I knew I wanted a career of creating, but didn’t quite yet find the sweet spot throughout my undergrad years. Upon graduation, I knew I liked editorial design and spent much of my spare time (while simultaneously job searching) designing editorial-style books for friends and family. I dreamt of one day working as an art director for a magazine in New York — hardly a realistic dream for a small town girl from the middle of Canada.
After about a year of job searching, I landed an entry level gig as a designer at the University of Saskatchewan (USask). Hardly the dream job, but a good start nonetheless. There, I worked relentlessly to get better, learning anything and everything I could about design from anyone willing to share knowledge (on campus and externally). When my department took over the university alumni magazine from an agency, I was keen I would be the best person to turn the very mediocre product into something people would actually read and not just scan for the alumni obituaries. Being the layout genius I had already proved myself to be, my boss assigned me to the project as the lead (and only) designer.
For six years, I solely designed the issue biannually and — in my humble opinion — it kept getting better, issue by issue. I worked tirelessly to outdo myself from previous issues and to always connect the story with good visuals as I knew the two should co-exist. I also worked hard to slowly develop a solid aesthetic brand system and style (the previous magazines lacked consistency) aligning it with the campus brand and ensuring it would be timeless for all the magazines on campus for years to come. I did this because I knew I wouldn’t be there forever but I wanted this magazine to keep its momentum, with smaller college magazines hopefully following suit. Ironically, by the last issue I did (Fall 2019), I felt it was finally there.
Schools are a melting pot of stories. The juiciest, most fascinating, mind-blowing stories. Within the USask alumni, you’ve got an alumna with her own company that provides chainmail for NASA, a grad student researching the threat of wild pigs on the prairies, and a trio of alumni who’ve created an app that helps coaches and athletes alike to learn better and more efficiently. These are all stories from the last issue of the magazine that I did. The goal of the magazine was to take these fascinating narratives and mold them into mailable stories that come alive through visuals. Stories that people relate to and talk about.
Designing the magazine was hands-down the best part of that job and I think that’s because connecting an audience to the story through visuals is my biggest niche.
About a month after that issue came out, I knew I wanted to go further down this path so I began researching grad programs. I found one at the School of Visual Arts in NYC called Visual Narrative. I applied, I got accepted, but in the end the timing wasn’t right.
It did get me thinking about storytelling as a common theme throughout my life, though.
Storytelling to me is simply sharing an idea or an experience in an elevated and engaging way. I share much of my life on social media through written or visual stories (sometimes even just in the form of short stories or reels) and I do this to connect with people that will hopefully make someone, even just one person, relate and maybe even feel something. I want to draw my audience in and inspire them so they can experience what I experience, whether it be the bliss I feel when I hear my favourite song at a concert, the feeling I get when I’m on a solo road trip in the hot summer sun, or the adrenaline that rushes through me after I’ve just nailed a lift at the gym.
I’ve always written creatively but never gave myself the space to consider myself a writer. I have always liked taking photos, but again, never considered myself a photographer.
It wasn’t until I really explored my creative self that I discovered that I am indeed both of those and I view writing, taking photos, and visual design some sort of great trifecta that makes my work what it is.
