ashington State
Bar Association
W
DELIVERABLES
Creative Direction
Publication Design & Redesign
Digital Magazine Design
Print Collateral
The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) is a mandatory member-bar-association with over 34,000 members in Washington state, around the country, and around the world. A perk of being a member of the WSBA is a subscription to the monthly magazine, NWLawyer, which features articles about topics pertinent to practicing law and civil legal aid. Contributing writers range from Supreme Court Justices to educators. To made all the wonderfully written words look captivating on the page, they put Jina on the case.
JUSTICE FOR DESIGN
The Washington State Bar Association, and NW Lawyer Magazine, found themselves in a pickle: the magazine was behind the production ball and the designated staff were retiring. Hence, Jina to the rescue. During the months that Jina was on the case, Jina was on-location with the client, collaboratively conceptualizing improved brand standards for the book, as well as
designing fast as lightning to be on press ASAP. During the time of implementation of new brand standards, NW Lawyer received feedback from readers that they were engaging longer with the magazine due to the enhanced visual experience, and new content organization that the publication was now featuring.
JINA'S ICONS ARE FOUND INNOCENT OF CONFUSION
Icons are all the rage these days, but studies show they are more for design-compositional-loveliness, then any help to the end-user. That's why Jina only engages icons for simple concepts that will always lead to clarity of an idea; as seen above in the very literal icons-for-well-established-ideas and life engagements.
"The changes that Jina incorporated over the last several issues of NW Lawyer Magazine have been very positive. The marketing team at the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) has done a wonderful job retaining them. Some of the changes were subtle, and some of them more pronounced. All of them reflect the high standards I have come to expect from the WSBA. I now tend to spend more time reading and perusing NW Lawyer than I did with the older format. While the content may be the same, the changes to the layout have made the publication more reader-friendly and more engaging."
Steven D. Weieri
Lawyer, Law Firm Lawyer & CPA
The Law Offices of Steven Weier
ONLINE MAGAZINES ARE ALIVE AND WELL
Though the print publication was the main attraction, Jina was also responsible for creating the online version. Before Jina mastered this task, it took over ten hours to ready the book for online publication. Even though Jina had never encountering the chosen online magazine software before, she was able to have the book ready for online publication in three hours, allowing her to focus back on creating the next issue of the magazine, and returning the operation to the established production timeline.
A COVER IS WORTH 15,000 WORDS
Each magazine cover is special, it's purpose is to attract the target audience to read through the book and pay attention to advertisers. Each month that Jina designed NW Lawyer magazine, the covers went from a look of 90's stock photography, to wowing newsstand worthy cover design that immediately garnered attention and resembled the corresponding article.
JINA IS GUILTY OF VASTLY IMPROVING MAGAZINES
Print is not dead and if it were, there would be an entire season of Dateline dedicated to the case. Lead investigator would be Jina Constantin. Jina got her start in design with publications. She’s been the creative director of five national or regional magazines, worked as a designer for the Puget Sound Business Journal, and contributed design and consultation to dozens of other magazines, including Seattle Magazine. With NW Lawyer magazine the goal was to get back on production schedule and improve the look of the magazine as much as possible. Both of these goals were accomplished during Jina’s consultation with the Washington State Bar Association.
