Design is about one thing: visual storytelling. It’s about combining words and images in ways that support, even reinforce, the narrative, all in a style that reflects the subject. Over the course of a career as a writer, editor and primarily as a designer, Frennea has developed and polished a strong set of language and visual communication skills along with the critical thinking and conceptual processes needed to effectively and creatively present stories.
He is a former senior designer for The Birmingham News and a lead designer for the Alabama Media Group, which publishes the News, The Huntsville Times and Press-Register of Mobile.
As lead designer for Alabama Media Group, Frennea was responsible for content presentation and design style management, including Page 1 and special projects design and photo illustration work. As senior designer for the News, he guided the daily work of a 15-person design staff, maintained design style and trained designers. He also managed design style revisions in multiple redesigns, including cross-department collaboration.
His design work has been recognized by Society for News Design, Alabama Press Association and Associated Press Managing Editors association in Alabama.
His other professional experience includes adjunct instructor of visual journalism at the University of Alabama, fall 2010–fall 2011, and Knight Foundation fellow in residence on newspaper design at the University of Alabama, 2001.
He has served as a leader of communications and newsletter workshops for the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley (PCUSA), 2011; Catholic Press Association workshops on newspaper design, 2005; Samford University Communications Workshop for High School Journalists, on newspaper design, 2005; Southern Newspaper Publishers Association workshop on newspaper design, 2002; Alabama Press Association workshops on newspaper design for weeklies and small dailies, 1998 and 1996.
He consults on redesign projects for small-market publications and has redesigned the Catholic Voice in Omaha, Neb., the Eufaula Tribune, and the Clay Times-Journal, both in Alabama.
