Kenzie Ward: Design and visuals editor

Kenzie Ward has been involved with the Mass Communications program at Lincoln since her freshman year. This year, Kenzie assumed the role of design and visuals editor, where she found her passion for design, and made the decision to further her passion after graduation. 

Ward redesigned the newspaper this year by changing the cover, creating graphics and making new standards for designers to follow. 

“I wanted to give designers creativity because in past years we didn’t really think about creativity, we were given a stylesheet and we’re given rules to follow, and no one ever explored outside of that,” said Ward.

Editor-in-Chief Leela Moreno expressed her gratitude for the redesign.

“The paper was completely transformed,” she said. “It has really become something that people want to pick up and look at and that is amazing.”

Ward enjoyed the freedom that came with working on the newspaper. She also enjoyed getting to connect with a variety of people at Lincoln. 

“[I enjoyed] being able to write on whatever you want and having an outlet, you don’t usually get a chance to write about things that you’re passionate about,” said Ward.

The article on eSports that she wrote for The Cardinal Times fourth issue was Ward’s favorite. Through this article, she found that there are a variety of careers with a focus on creativity. 

“Everyone thinks that playing games has no positives, but these happy good things that people actually like doing can turn into serious career fields. This doesn’t just go for eSports, it goes for so many other opportunities, like design,” said Ward. “Art can be something serious, even though a lot of parents and adults advise against it because of its creativity.”

Ward plans on furthering her design abilities. 

“I’m going into design, which I originally wasn’t going to go to college, but design made me want to go. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and being on the newspaper gave me the chance to explore design and figure out that it’s what I actually like to do, and that it could be a possible career path,” said Ward.

Her favorite memory from being on The Cardinal Times comes from her sophomore year. 

“I liked being on the Cardinal Times with my sister,” said Ward. “We always wanted to be in the same class. In my sophomore year and her senior year, we were both on the paper together, which was unfortunately disrupted by COVID.”

Even though COVID-19 interrupted the school year, Ward still found a way to enjoy it. 

“When we were in online classes, I would just go and sit in her room and we would watch it together on the same computer,” said Ward.

Kenzie has some final advice for new designers. 

“New designers, please don’t make the newspaper ugly. I trust you, but keep my wishes please. Ugliness is a disease,” said Ward.