This semester, I’m taking a class at Hofstra called Magazine Production. It’s not like any other class I’ve taken before – this class is a lot more fun. We’re spending class time this semester to produce a magazine called Pulse. Pulse is Hofstra’s award-winning student-produced magazine. It’s produced once a semester by the students.
I was given the position Art Director. I work with a team of designers to compose the look and feel of the magazine; the cover, the logo, spreadsheets, color themes, and so much more! I love my position because I hope to be a designer (aside from a beauty editor) for a magazine upon graduation, and this is a great way to get experience and it’ll look awesome on my resume! Cosmo, here I come!
1. This is the team of designers. They are the ones who work with me to produce a great-looking magazine. The girl in the middle is the photo editor. She thinks of photos to take with each article that will be in the magazine, holds photo-shoots, and edits the photos using Photoshop. Here, they are looking through magazines and brainstorming for fresh and edgy ideas for our cover.
2. This is one of the feature writers. While we all have to write at least one article for the magazine, Greg will be writing two articles and helping his classmates with their assigned articles. Here, Greg is reading through all of his favorite magazines for great story ideas!
3. These are our circulation coordinators. They work together to figure out how we are going to promote the magazine – before AND after it’s published!
4. These two are our advertising coordinators. They research potential clients to buy ads in our magazine and call companies to try and sell ads. They also work with the designers and a PR consultant (who was absent when these photos were taken) to put together a sales package for the ads.
5. Our business coordinator has been working diligently since day one to find printing companies for the magazine and get bids. He has called numerous printing companies, gotten offers, and has compiled them in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet so that he and the rest of us can keep track of our current bids and choose which company we want to print our magazine for us!
6. Our copy editor will read our first draft articles, make revisions and edits to them, and tell us what we can do to improve our stories. As of right now, since no first drafts of articles have been submitted, he has been brainstorming with editors and designers to help produce the best magazine possible.
7. This is our team of editors working with our professor. From left to right: our publicist, assigning editor, Editor-in-Chief, and assistant editor. They recently assigned all of us articles to do for the magazine. They have also assisted each worker with their current tasks.
This is the very beginning of our magazine production process. In early May, our magazine, Pulse, will be published and available to anyone to read!