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PUBLICATIONS
(2022) Inspiration to Portfolio – Workbook


Details
In-House Design: Jena Carlin Creative, commercial food and lifestyle photography and videography
Position: Graphic Designer
Services
Online Publication Design
Content Writing
The Prompt
Jena Carlin Creative is an esteemed food photography business and educational platform for teaching other aspiring food photographers. Their educational platform features many online learning programs under the name JCC Academy.
In 2022 they expanded this platform with an introductory course called Inspiration to Portfolio. This course would feature 10 comprehensive modules covering essential technical topics such as gear, lighting, composition, color theory, food styling, and client acquisition. The over arching goal was to set people up for success as they explored this new profession and skill.
The Solution
As the designer at JCC, I developed visually engaging fillable workbooks for each of the 10 modules, featuring image examples, descriptive diagrams, and interactive activities to enhance learning and promote engagement. My goal was to make sure that the technical jargon was digestible and that the overall look and feel fit the rest of the Academy's materials.
Notably, I was also tasked with authoring a module on composition and color theory, as it was a foundational aspect that crossed between my profession and photography. This module became the cornerstone of the course, and despite intitial apprehensions about writing, I embraced the opportunity to share my expertise and engage with learners on these vital topics!
Credits
Workbook Photography by Jena Carlin
(2023) Little Rusted Ladle – Magazine Cover


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Details
In-House Design: Jena Carlin Creative, commercial food and lifestyle photography and videography
Position: Graphic Designer
Services
Editorial & Template Design
The Prompt
Jena Carlin Creative is host of the annual photography summit, Master the Art of Food Photography. 2023's summit was a vibrant week of industry expert presentations, networking, and photography challenges.
To ignite some creativity, we introduced a new editorial themed challenge where attendees had to craft magazine cover photos!
A template was needed to bring this challenge to life!
The Solution
To accompany the challenge, I designed a dynamic magazine cover and translated it to the ever popular Canva, so that participants could easily customize elements to fit their submissions.
JCC is owner of the food and lifestyle blog, Little Rusted Ladle, and is recognized socially under the same name. So, it seemed only fitting that I name the magazine the same. As for other design choices, there was discussion that this could become a realistic future publication for the business, so I wanted the cover to feel classic but also represent elements of the brand through type and a stylized masthead similar to the LRL logo.
Witnessing the ripple effect of this design across hundreds of submissions was so exciting!
Credits
Left Image by Jena Carlin
Right Image (challenge submissions):
01. Gouthami Yuvarajan
02. Yvette Klubusova
03. Savoury & Style
04. Seema Rose (challenge winner!)
05. Ashleigh Scott Creative
06. Amy Johnson
07. Spork 'N Fork
(2023) MAFP – Magazine Spread

Details
In-House Design: Jena Carlin Creative, commercial food and lifestyle photography and videography
Position: Graphic Designer
Services
Editorial Design
The Prompt
To enhance the editorial theme that seemed to play out at the 2023 Master the Art of Food Photography Summit, JCC conducted a live demonstration, showcasing to attendees how to craft images tailored for print and geared towards specific editorial layouts.
As a complement to this demo, I was asked to design two magazine spreads. The photography was captured to seamlessly fit each spread live on camera during demo day!

The Solution
Knowing ahead of time that the topic of the demo would be a beautiful sesame crusted tuna, I designed the first spread to highlight the dish's vibrant colors and echo the bold styling with a playful, stacked typography.
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The second spread features the talking points of the demo. I wanted to lay them across the two pages horizontally to encourage a full spread image!
Credits
Magazine Images by Jena Carlin
Food Styling by Travis Teska
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