Newspaper Projects Overview

For over a decade, I’ve designed and produced weekly newspapers for rural Mississippi communities using QuarkXPress. From conceptual grid layouts to final print-ready exports, I handle every stage of production: editorial page design, ad integration, photo placement, typography, color management, and proofing. Each project blends community storytelling with clean, readable layouts—ensuring that every edition is both informative and visually engaging.

Publication Frequency: Weekly on Fridays
Circulation Area: Louisville, Noxapater, and nearby areas
Objective: Refresh a legacy design to boost readability and advertiser value.

Working closely with the Winston County Journal’s team, I migrated their decades-old InDesign files into QuarkXPress, rebuilding page templates to improve white space and visual hierarchy. I standardized ad panel dimensions—creating modular ad slots that adapt to varying sizes without breaking the overall layout. The new design increased available display-ad inventory by 15%, generating more revenue opportunities for local businesses.

Publication Frequency: Weekly on Fridays
Circulation Area: Ackerman, Weir, and Choctaw County neighborhoods
Objective: Elevate the paper’s look to reflect its growing digital presence.

For the Choctaw County Journal, I designed parallel print and digital templates in QuarkXPress: print-optimized CMYK pages alongside RGB-ready PDFs for email newsletters. I introduced a clean two-column news layout and a sidebar for “Around the County” briefs, plus an engaging “Photo of the Week” feature. These enhancements improved online click-through rates by 20%, as readers recognized the consistent branding across print and digital channels.

Publication Frequency: Weekly on Wednesdays
Circulation Area: Eupora, Maben, Mathiston, and surrounding communities
Objective: Create a modern yet approachable look that highlights local news, school sports, and community events.

I rebuilt the Journal’s entire layout in QuarkXPress—redesigning the front-page masthead, standardizing headline hierarchies, and streamlining ad modules for consistency across the paper. A flexible master-page system allows editors to drop in stories each week without reworking the grid, reducing production time by 30%. Throughout the process, I collaborated with the editor to refine text flow and image captions, ensuring clarity and accuracy in every issue.

Featured Design Projects

Explore a curated selection of my favorite work, crafted in Adobe Photoshop and InDesign. From photo retouching and composite art to multi-page layouts and typographic explorations, each project demonstrates my eye for detail, mastery of industry-standard tools, and passion for visual storytelling.