Principals

JULIENNE F. BARTH, Principal

Julienne is the hands-on creative director of the Pearl Design team, specializing in copywriting. She works closely with her art and design staff and personally visits most of her clients.

Roots

Julienne Barth was born in Oak Park, Illinois, also the birthplace of Ernest Hemingway and Frank Lloyd Wright. While not as famous as these neighbors, Julienne's family was definitely talented. Her father, owners of two furniture stores in the Chicago, Illinois, suburbs, trained her mother as an interior decorator. Her grandfather was an electrical engineer and inventor with several patents to his credit. He spoke several languages and oil-painted copies of Old Masters as a hobby. Her uncle was also an artist, and she spent many hours of her childhood watching him paint.

Julienne was raised by her maternal grandmother, a former Hoosier "school-marm," who Julienne says was born "100 hundred years ahead of her time." Pearl Design is named for this most-admired person in her life, whose middle name was "Pearl."

All of these early influences helped Pearl Design's principal to develop into an award-winning journalist and photographer, yet the greatest family teaching is a thread which has wound through all her pursuits—her quest for excellence.

Early Career

After graduating in the top 6% in a high school class of over 900, Julienne majored in Radio-TV Journalism at the University of Illinois. She spent the early days of her career at the Encyclopedia Britannica in Chicago. As a production editor, she spent many hours in fact-finding and library research, perfecting skills which serve her well to this day whenever a client needs an obscure fact or service quickly. She later worked in art direction, editorial production, and photography for several other companies in the Chicago area.

In her mid-20's Julienne began her life in entrepreneurial business. As an independent sales representative for World Gift Company, Regal Row, Texas, she built an award-winning business in direct sales of imported giftware. Later, with her husband Julius helping her on a part-time basis, she operated a successful photography business while raising her large family. In 1979, Julius Barth's business in the recreational vehicle industry required a move into the territory to serve it better. Following her husband, Julienne resolved to "bloom where she was planted."

Indiana Business Experience

In 1980, William Connelly, owner of LaGrange Publishing Company, LaGrange, Indiana, named Julienne editor of the Middlebury, Indiana, Independent, the community weekly newspaper. With a battle of the pen she waged against the building of an asphalt plant next to the community's middle school, she brought home the State Press Association's award for Outstanding Community Journalism in 1983. In 1984, she and her husband Julius purchased Heritage Country Magazine which she edited and published for the next decade. As publisher, she learned to manage a sales team, personally selling the primary spaces in her publication. Heritage Country won the state department of tourism's annual media award in 1984.

During the mid-80's the Barths' framing and art gallery organized and promoted several exhibits for regional artists, using their magazine for cross-promotion. They also originated the Heritage Country/Twin Mills Arts & Crafts Fair, which was held for four years at Twin Mills Resort in Howe, Indiana, attracting hundreds of visitors. As communication in words, graphics, and photographs moved to the digital environment, Heritage Country Magazine's production moved with it.

Pearl Design

In 1993, Julienne founded Pearl Design, utilizing her expertise and support network in the digital environment. Ahead of her peers with the latest technology, she saw that she could take advantage of it to serve many businesses in the area who were looking for professional marketing and communications at a reasonable fee. Then, for a brief time, she questioned whether she wanted to continue in the small business environment. She put the company on the back burner to work in the not-for-profit sector (1996-1997). As Media Coordinator for the Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce, a 1,400-member organization, she organized press conferences, produced media kits, and was a key communicator behind the scenes during the Chamber's campaign to stave off a gambling casino in the community. She also wrote the application which resulted in the City of Elkhart being named Indiana's Outstanding Community of the Year in 1996. The Chamber's Business Resource Guide which she produced also won national accolades. As much as she enjoyed the public sector, Julienne's entrepreneurial spirit soon called her back to Pearl Design, and she resumed its growth.

Public Relaltions Skills

With her press background, Julienne has been successful in attracting plenty of media attention for her clients through press conferences, press releases, and quality photojournalism. Newsletter design and implementation has been a major strength. Another national award came to a publication, "Red Around Town," which she helped design for the Goshen, Indiana, Community Schools. Recently, with the help of her son Chris, also a graphic designer, she developed and implemented the community newsletter for the Middlebury School Corporation.

Consulting

Julienne has been a communications and marketing advisor to business people at all levels of management. She has promoted and publicized everything from election campaigns to new product debuts. Her diverse background in business-to-business communications as well as retailing and point-of--purchase are her strengths, especially in areas of strategic marketing, comprehensive identity programs, image-building and branding.