Bill Bleakley
Publisher
Oklahoma Gazette

Like many alternative newsweeklies, the Oklahoma Gazette had evolved a conglomeration of design elements. Katherine Topaz, with her cutting-edge design and team-building abilities, brought us through a design process which produced an exciting, comprehensive and reader-friendly design....what I found to be incredible was Katherine’s exceptional ability to communicate with and lead our production personnel. While commanding the respect of our staff, she was able to communicate with them on a personal level and get them involved in the process, a rare and difficult feat when dealing with a group of creative and individualistic minds. I wholeheartedly recommend Katherine for any manner of consulting in the realm of publication design.

Jean Dibble
Associate Publisher
San Francisco Bay Guardian

Kat was a joy to work with. She listened carefully and respectfully to all our needs, whether it was an editorial request not to give up any precious news space or an advertising request to give them more up front space for the ads. She not only listened, but came back with solutions. We found that was really a strong suit of Kat’s. When presented with problems, she came up with really intelligent and creative solutions. She was very flexible, never insisting that we do it her way, always willing to consider other options.

When we saw her first mock-ups, we knew she got it. We knew that she understood the Guardian’s strengths and how we felt about the paper. I think everyone without exception found her easy to work with. The last time we redesigned the process became quite acrimonious and really an unpleasant chore. Kat managed the situation so that never happened. She has continued to work with us to refine anything that doesn’t quite work for us.

Oh, and did I mention that she is also a great designer and we are thrilled with the final design and the look of the entire paper.

Jeff Lawrence
Publisher
Boston's Weekly Dig

Hiring Topaz Design was the best damn thing I’ve ever done. Working with Kat was an absolute dream: she listened to our needs, brought to the table ideas we never dreamed of, and helped us create a book that looks better than anything in our market – maybe even the country. I’m going to start another paper just so I can work with her again!

Paul Larmer
Publisher
High Country News

Kat Topaz has the rare ability to respect the culture and heritage of your publication while simultaneously pushing it forward into new visual territory. That one-two punch, plus Kat’s professionalism and patience, made for a tremendous redesign experience.