In 2005, two entrepreneurs crossed paths in a coffee shop when a publisher brought them together as a team for his newly bought golf publication. Julie Bateman had been busy growing her burgeoning Bateman Design Group in Barrie while Laura Aiken was learning all sides of the publishing business through same golf magazine, previously owned by her family.

Time marched on. Julie ran marathons, brought home a puppy and grew a green thumb in the backyard of her new home. Laura golfed, perfected the art of making soup and traded her backyard for a concrete balcony in Toronto. In 2009, the coffee shop magazine talk between Julie and Laura turned to how they could take their expanding portfolio of experience and serve the fast growing custom publishing market.

Julie’s projects included corporate identity programs, web site design and development, direct mail campaigns, advertisements, brochures, sales literature, package design, tradeshow displays, retail store design and creative direction of the golf magazine. A selection of her logo designs were chosen for inclusion in Basic Logos by Index Book, which will be released November 30, 2009. She designed a corporate identity program for Linda Loftus, a corporate real estate agent in Barrie that was featured in an industry book called Graphically Speaking. But not all her clients have been in Barrie--Julie’s worked with Paris-based Sequans Communications and America’s Yankee Group too.

Laura’s experience had grown to encompass roles as the editor of regional and national publications, content and project management in custom publishing, and freelance work ranging from feature travel writing to packaging media kits and press releases. Her impressive reputation for creative writing stretches back to her first award at 11 years old, right around the time she and her best friend began publishing their own fashion magazine with self-portrait Polaroid’s and construction paper.

Two entrepreneurs with such a complimentary set of skills and shared passion for building something from nothing were inevitably bound for a joint adventure. And so, Expressions Custom Publications was born.

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