Reznet

Karl Jim of 21 Native: "I wanted to be my own boss." Reznet photo by Andi Murphy

Ad Man

By Andi Murphy

CROWNPOINT, N.M. — A Navajo designer helps other Native Americans get their messages across by using his technological savvy to create advertisements and graphics for them.

In fact, helping Natives compete technologically in the 21st century is one of Karl Jim's goals. That is why Jim named his company 21 Native.

"Two worlds, one Native, 21st century Native," Jim said.

Jim does advertisements for the Native American Basketball Invitational, which is sponsored in part by Nike, the Phoenix Suns of the NBA and Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA. Jim also has a two-year contract with the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development to do ads for the annual National Reservation Economic Summit, an organization of Native business owners.

"I'll be designing the advertising material like the brochures and the different ads that come out for that event," Jim said of the economic summit.

His company also creates other forms of advertising such as billboards, calendars, business cards, programs and Web sites for business owners or people who just want to get word out for an event, Jim said.

Jim started 21 Native in 1999, shortly before graduating from Northern Arizona University. He had majored in the School of Communication with an emphasis in Graphic Design.

"I wanted to be my own boss ... I just wanted to help people," Jim said.

With his skill in digital art and communication, he created his business Web site to bring two worlds together, the Native world and other "worlds" that Natives and non-Natives have to interact in, he said.

For the past two years, Jim has produced a magazine for the Navajo Nation Fair containing articles about its events and people.

Getting different materials out to the public and going against stereotypes that the public might have is sort of a forte for Jim, he said. "I just wanted to push the envelope," Jim said. "One thing I really stress is, quality work over quantity."

To create quality work, Jim sits down with his clients and interviews them to find out what they like and don't like. Then he finds out what their ultimate goal is. Next are samples until a final is produced. "I think it's just providing quality communication," said Jim.

Jim also adds photography to his work. "It kind of comes along with the territory," he said.

A friend of Jim's, Natasha Johnson, knows his work well and has seen Jim at work. "He's very detail oriented," Johnson said. "That's what makes him a great artist."

Johnson, a stringer reporter for various publications, has modeled for Jim and said she's very impressed with his work. "I can spot his work now ... he has a very unique style," she said.

Although Jim's talent is good enough to go mainstream, he still prefers to work for Native people, said Johnson. The basketball invitational and the economic summit are not the only clients that use Jim's graphics and advertisements. Families and sponsors of various events sometimes have Jim's work displayed for visual effect.

"He wants to work for Native people and organizations," Johnson said. "We're going to hear more about him, that's for sure."

Andi Murphy, Navajo, is a student at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. A graduate of the Freedom Forum's 2007 American Indian Journalism Institute, Murphy interned as a reporter at The Daily Times in Farmington, N.M., and, last summer, at the Great Falls Tribune in Montana.