Natalie Gagnon

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Email: design@nataliegagnon.ca
  • Nibble Magazine: More Than Just a Bite

  • The IRMA Awards

  • Sad Farewell

  • I’m Selling Ceramics

  • I’m Presenting at #MagNet18

  • The List is Out! VanMag’s Annual Power 50 Ranking

  • We won! (Loads of) Canadian Online Publishing Awards

  • VanMag Wins at the 2017 Editor’s Choice Awards

  • The Inspiring, Tayybeh

  • Wins at the 2017 Canadian Magazine Awards

  • The 2017 Restaurant Awards Issue

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Nibble Magazine: More Than Just a Bite

The collaborative publishing of a magazine is an endeavour that takes many meetings, opinions shared and debated, words conjured and power snacks to finish. It also takes ninja-level editorial and design skills—it truly is a task to be proud of when done well. At Emily Carr University of Art and Design the students of my newly minted COMD 300: Core Studio in Communication Design (Collaborative Publishing) have proven themselves up to the task. Throughout one semester, eighteen students collaborated to conceptualize, develop original content for, and creatively design a single food magazine. Together we decided article topics, honed our art direction, determined typographic systems, and setup our template with myself acting as publisher. We present to you, Nibble. All content is original.

Nibble readers are young, urban students with a desire to fuel their creative and physical appetites with Vancouver’s best bites. They unapologetically hanker, no—daydream of devouring their way through the stresses of university life, consuming all their mouths ever wanted and their stomachs lacked the will to say “when” to. Tacos and microbrew? Kombucha? For sure. Organic greens, hell yes. Hidden local plates, bring it on. Their chopping blocks are ready for prep lesson, they share tapas in study sesh, and save their coin for tomorrow’s latte. They may not know Jacques Pépin or have big budgets, but that doesn’t mean they don’t care about food. Where there’s a plate, they’ll Nibble, and they’ll like it.

In this issue, we explore everything from round foods and their relationship to happiness, neighbourhood java cafés, our favourite nostalgic bites, and films that have unique foodie inclusions. Keeping student budgets and palettes in mind, we explore everything to talk, think, eat, sip and sit for. We hope you enjoy your first taste of Nibble, we know we have.

Congratulations to each of my students for a job well done! Your countless hours behind the camera lens, conjuring the right words, and staring at screens have paid off. You have proven to me that riskier, highly collaborative teaching methods such as this can work wonderfully with some grit, flexibility, and democratic discussions. Issue two coming soon?




































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The IRMA Awards

When you love magazines as much as I do—the design, the editorial collaboration, the social interaction they foster—it’s a real treat to be named a judge for the 2019 International Regional Magazine Association Awards alongside my industry peers. And, if last year’s winners are anything to go by, it’s bound to be an inspiring mix of winners this year! Winners announced in October, stay tuned. Check out my bio on the IRMA site.

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Sad Farewell

Not everyone is lucky enough to experience work life as their real passion and to have a dedicated, supremely talented group of coworkers that are true friends—a work family you’re happy to see every Monday morning. I was fortunate enough to spend two years with Western Media Group, publishers of Vancouver and Western Living magazines, with which I grew exponentially as a designer and art director, and learned countless lessons from each of my colleagues. It’s taken me over a week to be able to write this post, as I was very, very sad to leave my position as Associate Art Director of Vancouver and Assistant Art Director of Western Living. Since I was a teenager a role such as this was my primary goal. When the magazines were sold from parent company Yellow Pages to Canada Wide Media last week, I chose to not make the transition. I’m someone who doesn’t like to stay still; if I’m not feeling a little bit terrified and overwhelmed, I know I’m not growing. Professional development takes risk, and I’ve decided to take that risk. So if you’re seeking a talented, highly capable editorial designer, art director, and brand strategist to take the lead on a upcoming project or role, I’d love to hear from you.

To my editorial colleagues: Anicka Quin, Jenny Reed, Stacey McLachlan, Julia Dilworth, Neal McLennan, Kaitlyn Funk and the star photographers and stylists I had the pleasure of working with on so many occasions: Carlo Ricci, Clinton Hussey, Lawren Moneta, Evaan Kheraj, Luisa Rino, Ariana Gillrie, Christin Gilbert, Luis Valdizon and Andrew Querner, let’s continue to collaborate on upcoming projects. I’m already missing those weekly editorial meetings and photos shoots, pondering new ways to work together once again sometime soon. The team that just won two major Editors’ Choice Awards from the Society of Magazine Editors—Magazine of the Year for both Vancouver and Western Living in their respective categories—surely has a few stories, layouts and shots left for sure!

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I’m Selling Ceramics

Really excited to announce that I’m now selling my handcrafted ceramic wares at summer markets in Vancouver. Stay tuned for future Nima Stoneware market dates! These shots are from last Sunday’s Main Street Car Free Day. Follow my work on Instagram. Interested in buying direct? Email nimastoneware@gmail.com

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I’m Presenting at #MagNet18

Enhancing Editorial Through Digital Design

Budgets are getting smaller, but expectations for delivering high-quality editorial are not. Feeding the digital beast with continual, multi-faceted content seems to require a Mary-Poppins-esque bag’s worth of tricks, tools and content-creators. However, with a little forward planning and access to digital tools you likely already have, it’s easier than ever to create and repurpose editorial content into new vehicles for enhanced digital reach. Your world may start with text and photography—the bread and butter of print creation—but it certainly shouldn’t end there.

In my MagNet 2018 talk on April 26, 2018 I will demonstrate that with a little creativity and mindfulness, any publication can extend their reach with added-value digital editorial content without breaking the bank. Your smartphone goes with you everywhere and so should your content creation skills—whether you’re part of the editorial or creative team. Every touch-point along the way in print production offers opportunities for bonus digital content that extends off the printed page.


Download my talk one-pager 11 Cost-Effective Ways to Extend Editorial Reach Digitally


For complete lecture slides—with lots of videos—download this GIANT 1.8GB file from Dropbox if you dare but please be on wifi when you do it. Got questions? Please email design@nataliegagnon.ca.

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The List is Out! VanMag’s Annual Power 50 Ranking

Each year Vancouver magazine publishes a list of the city’s most influential people in politics, tech, education, business and beyond in their December issue (visit VanMag.com to read the full list).  This time around, it was my pleasure to art direct the issue’s cover and Power 50 list inside. But the real credit goes to so many more that made it possible. So here’s a toast to the entire VanMag team and all the experts that helped shaped the list, and a special thanks to my creative colleagues, photographer Pooya Nabei and illustrator Lydhia Marie who brought the vision to life. My first drink at our Vancouver Club event is for you, cheers!

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We won! (Loads of) Canadian Online Publishing Awards

It’s not every day that you find out your dream team of publishing professionals have won four Canadian Online Publishing Awards. And it’s all the sweeter when you’re the art director for two of them :). Here’s what we won:

  • Gold, Best Service Article or Series (Art director: Natalie Gagnon), Consumer Category, “25 Ways to Live Forever”, Vancouver magazine. How it appeared in print.
  • Gold, Best Digital Solution, westernliving.ca
  • Silver, Best Photo Journalism (Art director: Natalie Gagnon), Consumer Category, “Meet Vancouver’s Culinary Crusaders,” Vancouver magazine. How it appeared in print:ModernFamilyCulinaryCrusaders.jpg
  • Gold, Best Niche Website, Consumer Category, westernliving.ca

 

Vancouver magazine and Western Living were also finalists in the following three categories:

  • Finalist, Best Photo Journalism (Art director: Natalie Gagnon), Consumer Category, “Meet Vancouver’s Community Gardeners,” Vancouver magazine. How it appeared in print:ModernFamilyCommunityGardeners
  • Finalist, Best Niche Website, Consumer Category, vanmag.com
  • Finalist, Best Email Newsletter (example), Consumer Category, Western Living magazine

To learn more about the COPAs and read the full list of award winners visit canadianonlinepublishingawards.com

 

 

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VanMag Wins at the 2017 Editor’s Choice Awards

It’s not always good news when you receive a flurry of group text messages from the office late in the evening. But for the team at Vancouver magazine, for which I’m associate art director, it was all positive. We had just discovered that Vancouver won Magazine of the Year, Small Circulation at the 2017 Editor’s Choice Awards from the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors. In a year that we completed a redesign, and which is our 50th anniversary, it simply couldn’t be any sweeter. I suspect everyone at the office will be using our June issue’s “Good Times Guide” shortly 🙂

Read the full list of award winners at canadianeditors.com.

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The Inspiring, Tayybeh

May 2, 2017

I had the pleasure of attending Tayybeh’s first pop-up dinner event just a few short months ago and I could not be happier to share their story in the May issue of Vancouver magazine. That dinner, lovingly prepared and served by Syrian refugees recently arrived in Vancouver, was so inspiring I knew their story had to be told to a much wider audience (and they’ve now received national attention, yay!). 

Thank you Nihal and everyone at Tayybeh for acknowledging the power of the human spirit to overcome adversity. Our Canada is so happy to have you here. And for everyone reading this, if you need catering, please think of Tayybeh—their food is beyond delicious!

View a PDF of the VanMag “Modern Family” photo shoot I art directed with our photographer, Carlo Ricci. And thanks to Mika Lirette and the VanMag editorial team for helping bring this story to life!

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Wins at the 2017 Canadian Magazine Awards

April 27, 2017

Great day in the office today—Western Living won Best Home Design & Decor Magazine and Vancouver magazine won Best Illustration at the Canadian Magazine Awards held last night in Toronto. Yay team! =) Read more about the Awards

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The 2017 Restaurant Awards Issue

April 18, 2017

It’s awesome when you realize the impact your work can have. Each month I normally get a copy of Vancouver magazine hand delivered to me at my desk, fresh from the printer. I quietly review it for errors and production quality, solitary tasks. But, on occasion, I get to see it arrive directly to the hands of readers excited to see what’s inside. It’s those days that count; those days that make it so worth it. Smile, you’re in the magazine! It’s not just layout, it’s #morethandesign. Here’s a peak at the editorial package I art directed this month—Restaurant Awards included—and the past Power50 issue

To see a complete list of this year’s award winners, head to VanMag.com.

Some of the amazing team at the 2017 Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards.

RA

The crowd gears up at the Vancouver Sheraton Wall Centre.

stage

Let the award giving begin!

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