Hi there. My name is Lisa Friesen and I’m a graphic designer. I’ve been in love with paper and typography since my dad, a graphic artist, used to haul six-year-old me to work with him on the odd Saturday morning. He’d plunk me down at a light table with a pair of scissors, a roll of tape, a sheet of lettraset, a burnisher, and a stack of colour separation film (mainly old-school graphic design tools that are now all packed into my Mac). I was in my glory.

As I got a little older, I’d spend weekends with my best friend hacking up the Sears catalogue and designing our own primitive fashion magazines with headlines and pull-quotes and quizzes. A hop, skip, and a jump from the high school newsletter and the yearbook committee to my graduation from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours degree.

I learned the ropes for a few years at Relish Design Studios, a successful Exchange District warehouse studio. The principal was (and continues to be) a creative workhorse who inspired me with her design and business spunk. I moved on to become the head designer at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) where I mastered my craft for nearly a decade.

It was time for a change and with two little kiddoes that require a more flexible schedule, Ninth + May Design Co. was hatched in 2015.