Owner | Art Director | Graphic Designer at Nehmen-Kodner
In 1992, the city of Clayton sent out a postcard announcing a contest for a new city logo. The prize for the winning design was to be a free one-year membership to Center of Clayton, the combination community center and health club near our home. My husband and partner, Gary Kodner, and I decided to…
I inherited a vintage book “Achievement in Photo-Engraving and Letterpress Printing” 1927, it’s ONLY 488 pages with over 600 illustrations. Published by the American Photo-Engravers Association (Chicago, IL). “Definition: Photo-Engraving is an interpretive art founded upon photo-mechanical processes enhanced by skill and artistry, which translate and convert tone values into relief printing surfaces, from which…
Monday morning, my client, Chloe, emailed me with a couple of quick questions. Chloe handles the marketing for her company’s subsidiaries, and she always seems a little breathless. She wanted to know if we had ever designed any banners, table runners, or roll-up displays for a particular subsidiary. If we had not, she wondered how…
It was approximately 1985, while I was working at PGAV Design, that I designed the St. Louis Riverfront logo. The client was the Riverfront Development Committee / Downtown St. Louis, Inc. Our department was a team of seven designers. For this assignment, each designer had the opportunity to develop rough layouts. The project was intriguing,…
When Magnus Accounting Solutions contacted N-K, they were in the early stages of their start-up and needed a new logo identity. The company had a name but no marketing materials. Magnus specializes in small- business accounting with temporary/flexible services.
What did they need for their new company? We identified the following and provided a creative…
This article, “A quick list for authors” was originally published on the St. Louis Publishers Association website, addressing book design. I’m a graphic designer. You’re an author. Your manuscript is ready for layout . . . or is it?
Here’s a list of tips and mistakes to avoid. 1. Your manuscript • Can you afford…
Author and ghostwriter, Bobbi Linkemer, hired me to design a cover for her memoir, Words To Live By. The concept was a typographic solution: one word of the title, “words” was emphasized; the point size was dramatically larger than all the other type, and the letters were stacked vertically. Next to it, I added a…
Liz Moloney’s proofs of her book cover and interiors produced by a local printer evidenced poor selection of typeface, color and design. The typography had no kerning. Indeed, nothing was right except for her carefully wrought manuscript, Elizabeth, Learning to Dress Myself from the Inside Out. With Liz’s approval of my estimate, I started fresh.…
I met Beth Custer, a freelance writer, through a networking group. She handed me her business card, but my first impression was that I couldn’t read it. I immediately squinted at the solid black background with reverse white and teal type. The contact information was a very small point size. Even with glasses, it was…
Case study Situation: As a design-oriented architecture company, Bond Wolfe Architects were sensitive to the challenge of developing a new visual identifier. They wanted a new brandmark to set them apart from their competitors; Bond Wolfe’s existing mark had been used inconsistently and lacked a definitive style. During the interview, the team members were impressed…