Magnolia Studio | Portfolio Designs of the Times

In 2001 I was working with The Petaluma Post, a small rurally-focused newspaper in Petaluma, California. My task was to convert the traditional layers-thick, cut-and-paste design advertisements and article mastheads into a strictly digital production format. During this process, I was introduced to many of the writers and local business owners that contributed to the newspaper.

One of the columnists Barbara Caswell, owner of Designs of the Times, was quite prolific with two columns each month: "Make Habitat a Habit" and "News From Haverfield Park". She was a distinctive Sonoma County home and garden designer who created Haverfield Park in Petaluma, California. She wrote extensively about protecting wildlife habitat while advising homeowners who wanted to reproduce charming, wildlife-friendly, landscapes and solve architectural problems. She used photos showing examples and explanations on styles and methods that focused on benefiting the environment and living cooperatively with local wildlife. Her home was a nostalgic country estate with a showcase quality house in a private natural setting.

Together we designed and produced 8.5x11 inch newsletters that featured her original Petaluma Post articles. I included the same wildlife photos and developed a masthead style and overall reusable template for the double-sided printing. She sold these newsletters when she hosted "sustainable home tours" and gave the proceeds to the Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue Fund.