February 2008

by Naomi Ishisaka

Naomi Ishisaka Editor

When we started ColorsNW in early 2001, I remember well the initial planning and design phase of the publication. It was a harried and chaotic time, with a skeleton crew, tight time frame and a lot of anxiety. Despite the many obstacles, we were able to pull the stories, photos and design together in time to see our first issue successfully come to fruition. While there have been minor changes here and there, for the most part, ColorsNW looks much like it did the inaugural issue.

After those first hectic weeks, I stepped in to temporarily fill the role of the magazine’s graphic designer. Having dabbled in design before, I felt capable of handling it until a “real” designer came along. Yet months turned into years, and now seven years later, I have, at long last, handed over the graphic design duties to much more capable hands and am thrilled to introduce you to your new, redesigned ColorsNW.

Unlike the rush of our first issue, our redesign has been the product of many, many months of deliberation, discussion and planning. Led by ColorsNW’s talented new Art Director Karine Mendez and assisted by Assistant Editor Meg Krugel, intern Carolyn Wright and myself, we tried to come up with a clean, modern style that lets the substance shine. We wanted to add design elements that helped you navigate the magazine better and interact with it more while not taking away from the depth of content you have told us you appreciate.

In addition to the new look, we are very excited to launch several new features in the front of the magazine that showcase short diversity-related items on health, social justice, advice, news briefs, community photos and many other topics. Deftly edited and compiled by Meg, our assistant editor, we believe this new section will be an invaluable resource for the further exploration of culture and diversity.

We hope you like your new and improved ColorsNW. As always, we would love to hear from you. Please send us an email or give us a call to let us know what you think. If you have suggestions for additional features or how we can improve further, please let us know.
 

We love your letters! Send them to: Naomi Ishisaka naomii@colorsnw.com.