Commissioned by the Swedish Finn Historical Society, I transformed undigitized records, letters, and photos into a tactile, emotionally resonant magazine and brochure. The goal? To breathe life into the past, bridging history with modern design—and drawing younger people into stories they didn’t know they needed.

Kusiner is a print design project for the Swedish Finn Historical Society, a nonprofit preserving stories of Swedish-speaking emigrants from Finland. Faced with thousands of undigitized letters, photos, and documents, the Society needed a way to both preserve and enliven their archive—especially for younger audiences.

As a freelance graphic designer, I:

Collaborated with community members in both the U.S. and Finland

Led layout, visual storytelling, typographic systems, and image curation

Marched the line between archival reverence and contemporary appeal

Create a magazine that felt timeless yet fresh

Reflect the Society’s brand and digital presence in print

Turn dense historical narratives into visually digestible spreads

Honor budget limitations with elegant, efficient design

Mirror the magazine’s aesthetic in the companion brochure

Research & Inspiration: Community interviews, Pinterest moodboarding, pondering how “time” looks and feels

Typography & Layout: Chose Garamond for its classic readability; wove in the Society’s rustic serif logo; structured spreads with textbook clarity and visual flow

Cover – Timefolds: A double-exposure image: identity echoing across generations

DEE – Documenting Every Emigrant: A feature section styled like an archive classroom, with visual cues of letter stamps and maps

Oral Histories: The emotional core—layout inspired by portraits brought to life, grounded in imagery from Rochester, WA

Inside Collage: A tactile montage of artifacts that makes the archive feel intimate and real

Kusiner became more than a gig—it became meditation. Design became a way to make history feel personal and alive, especially for those whose connection to their past comes in fragments. It reframed immigrants not as distant figures in sepia but as powerful ancestors shaping present identities.

If the magazine was about depth, the brochure was about invitation. The Swedish Finn Historical Society needed a piece that could be handed out at events, mailed to members, and shared in classrooms—something that distilled the richness of Kusiner into a quick, approachable format.

Translated the magazine’s layered design language into a simplified, travel-friendly format

Focused on bold typography, clean margins, and crisp hierarchy to make information easy to scan

Chose visuals with high emotional impact—portraits and collages that instantly connected readers to the Society’s mission

A fold-out structure that mirrors the rhythm of flipping through a magazine, but in miniature

Consistent brand alignment with fonts and color palette so the brochure felt like a sibling to Kusiner rather than a detached asset

A call-to-action section written and designed to inspire new membership and community engagement

Outcome The brochure acted as a gateway to the magazine, sparking curiosity and drawing new audiences into the Society’s larger archive. Together, the two pieces formed a cohesive storytelling ecosystem: one for lingering, one for sharing.