Justin has worked with Peninsula News for 16 years

Justin Stanley has been involved with Peninsula News as graphic designer for 16 years.

He joined Ducks Crossing Publications in 2004 at the age of 22, initially as a volunteer in the Work for the Dole program.

"Being a rev-head with a chequered history, Justin showed a surprising level of artistic creativity and aptitude for graphic design," according to Central Coast Newspapers chief executive Mr Cec Bucello.

This led to him being offered part-time work.

For the first few years, Peninsula News was produced using Microsoft Publisher.

As the business grew, so Justin was offered more work, until he became a permanent full-time employee.

It was Justin who introduced the more capable Adobe InDesign software, which is now industry standard.

"He took it upon himself to access the state of the art design program, InDesign.

"He worked through the tutorial to become one of the leading and quickest graphic designers on the Coast."

Peninsula News has been printed by different printers and each required the pages to be produced with different settings, which the Adobe software facilitated.

Justin has also taken on a broader technology role.

Justin said that when he started there were just two computers.

He built his own from discarded computers, replacing parts until ultimately he had the substantial power needed to drive the graphics programs and files shared by other staff.

Soon he was producing up to four newspapers and two magazines a month on his shared computer.

In 16 years, Justin has seen out a succession of journalists.

Mr Bucello said: "Until recently, the journalists' position was always part time, so that after they were trained, they were able to easily find full time positions at News Corp, Fairfax, the Financial Times, working with politicians, and in many public relations areas.

"Their job at the paper had them working on a much greater variety of tasks than they would have been able to in a larger organisation. They also needed to deal with people of all levels without fear."

Justin has often provided training to journalists and others in graphic design and newspaper production as part of their work experience with Central Coast Newspapers.

"Those who have worked with him will know how helpful and obliging he is," Mr Bucello said.

Media statement, 6 Aug 2020

Cec Bucello, Central Coast Newspapers