Using Grids

        So, it has been a while since we talked about the layout of a magazine. Currently our staff is working on this years magazine layout. They have started with laying out the cover design which is a change. In the past three issues, the staff has designed the folio first and the cover became nothing more than an afterthought. I am interested to see how this approach works.

        One of the techniques that I approached the students with was the use of a grid system to divide up the page. One of the most common uses of a grid is the concept of “Rule-of-Thirds”. For those of you who don’t know what this is, the “Rule-of-Thirds” is a grid that photographers use to align their subject in the image. Imagine looking through a camera. Now imagine that there is a grid that divides your viewfinder into thirds vertically and horizontally. By lining up your subject, or the majority of your subject on one of the inner four corners or the edges of the inside rectangle, you create a stronger composition.



        Now take that rule-of-thirds idea and apply it to layout. By dividing the page up using a grid you force yourself to begin composing the page rather than throwing stuff on the page. The grid brings stability and strength to your layout composition. When applying this grid to a layout it does not need to be in thirds. It could be in fourths, eighths, sixteenths, etc. By dividing your pages you are giving yourself a rough template that makes the layout from page to page easier and faster.

        Obviously, if you have any layout experience, you have heard of people using columns to control layout. While this allows you to divide and work with the layout horizontally it doesn’t take care of the vertical aspects of your layout. It also allows you to begin the process of designing your folio in a much broader sense. For last year’s layout we began by dividing the page into fourths and filling in blocks in different arrangements.

        This forced us to think about where the written and visual information of the folio would happen in the layout. (Yes, for those of you who noticed, our layout last year involved a folio that, vertically, was almost 1/4 of the page.) By working this way we could actually start laying out the pages without having the folio design done, or even started.



        Try using the grid as a way to govern your pages. It may seem, at first, that you are going to drive your design into a rut. It’s okay to think that. I think that you will find that the grid is actually quite flexible and can help your designs. See how it works for you.

St. Louis II

It was great to meet all of the Lit Mag people in St. Louis this morning. Bob and I had a great time, and really enjoyed being able to present . We had 70 people in attendance! We will be working on making the presentation into a movie/podcast. We will be posting it either here or on the PSPA website.

Again it was great to meet all of you.

Press Organizations

        Does your state have a student press association? Do you belong to it? Did you know that there are several national student press associations? Do you belong to any of them?

        With the JEA/NSPA conference in less than a week, I have been thinking about what we are trying to do with this blog and what resources are out there. One of the best ways to get help with you publications, other than this blog, is to join your state organization. These organizations are structured differently from state to state, however, they all work to help advisers and publication staff to develop their magazines. They also give you a network of people who are passionate about publications as well. I have mentioned this topic before, but as I become more involved with these organizations, I see the potential that they provide for networking and guidance.
        Bob and I are on the eve of becoming the President (Bob) and Vice President (Mike) of the Pennsylvania School Press Association. We work with a group of professionals that are passionate about publications and spreading our knowledge throughout Pennsylvania and beyond. We are also on the eve of presenting in St. Louis. We helped with the JEA/NSPA conference in Philadelphia last year. All of these things have given us the chance to share and learn from a lot of people from around our state and nation. These interactions have helped us with our publication as much as any help we were able to provide.

        Become a member of a press organization! Get involved! You will meet a lot of other great advisers and professionals. You can avail yourself of the resources that a press organization can provide.

        If you would like to learn more about PSPA check us out online at www.paschoolpress.org

Presentation In St. Louis

Dear readers,

Robert Hankes and I will be presenting at the Fall JEA/NSPA conference that is in St. Louis. The conference is running from the 13th to 16th of November. If you are going to be at the conference stop in. We would love to see you. We are going to spend our time discussing how our magazine evolved last year. We will be doing some show and tell and some group participation activities.

Here is the current information:
Lit Mag Theme Development Exposé
Friday Nov. 14 9:00 am
America’s Center (Convention Center) Room 104

Here is the blurb that is in the Pre-conference brochure:

What really happens when a dozen varied students plan out a theme for the literary magazine? What is the role of the advisers when things are going south? And when does one give up? Robert Hankes and Mike McVitty will review how last year's edition of Charisma turned "40".

An approach to developing the Theme

        One of the key components to your magazine will be the theme. In the magazines that I have worked on the theme has taken on several forms. In the first magazine, Surfaces, the theme was based around different surface textures. That was carried into the arrangement of the content in the magazine from soft textures to hard or rough textures. The literature followed the sections with the lighter happier things in the front, soft section, and the deeper harder things, like death in the end. It is the only of the magazines I have worked on that used sections.
        We moved onto a concept that the theme could be based on a simple shape or design. We started with the exclamation point. “!”, that’s it. We based the design, and even the final size of the magazine on the exclamation point. Last year’s was based on squares, and a folio design that disappeared as you flip through the book. This allowed for us to try and connect the 40th edition with a theme that disappeared, tying into fading memories.

        So where does this leave us now? Our last magazine didn’t fair, nationally, as we had hoped. In retrospect, we did not tie the design and the theme together as well as we could have. Now we are starting from square one. Literally! As my cohort has alluded to in the previous post, we are looking at redesigning the magazine from square one. We are learning from our current staff that our magazine, while strong with design, is not appealing to the student body. We have discussed the fact that we need to make a magazine that the students want to pick up and look at. We want them to need to have this magazine.
        The staff has begun to think about what we need. In the preliminary discussions they feel that there needs to be a little bit of mystery to the cover. They think that if we make the cover design mysterious and intriguing, students will want to pick it up. The students are thinking that the redesign of the magazine is really going to rely on the theme.

        When Bob and I began tossing this idea of redesigning the magazine, we were thinking that the design of the magazine and the theme can be separated. In our minds there can be an underlying design that permeates throughout each year’s magazine. There are pieces of the magazine that can be similar from magazine to magazine. The page, or spread, can be divided the same each year. The folio can be located in the same area and the magazine can be the same physical dimensions.
        As we talked with the students, Bob and I came to the realization that the students are not seeing the difference in what he and I are talking about and the theme. As I am writing this what I am realizing is that what the advisers are talking about are the starting points of the theme. These are the decisions that have to be the first things that you think about when putting your theme, and the magazine, together. We ran into a problem years ago with the Surfaces edition of Charisma. We decided to use 8 1/2 x 11 inch pages, but they were on their side. Instead of Tabloid we had a spread that was 22 inches wide by 8 1/2 inches tall. We wanted the magazine perfect bound, but the cost of the paper that was needed for this doubled the cost of the cover.

        By setting the size of the spread and page size, you can get an idea of cost from the start. Dividing the pages up, using a grid system, similarly will lend a style for the magazine. If you stylize your magazines title and cover design, to an extent, you can develop a standard for your magazine. This is not to say that the magazine should look identical from year to year. Setting a standard that will be used every year, you can focus on the content of the magazine. This is where our magazine has mainly faltered in the past few years. So there are benefits to taking one set of decisions out of the mix and allowing the staff to focus on other things.

        So what is the moral of this? The design of the magazine needs to grab the attention of the consumer. The theme, while being a major part of that, can have an underlying construct that guides how parts of the magazine will look from year to year. As we work through this idea of a redesign, we are going to be looking at every aspect of the magazine. A successful magazine has to do this every few years. If you don’t revisit this your magazine becomes stagnant and loses its appeal.

diversity

Now a new wrinkle has been introduced to this year's magazine: we have a very diverse group. Of course looking at them one wouldn't think that - they're all White, all female, and all the same age - but they come from a variety of backgrounds, and all have their own ideas about what a literary magazine should be.

I've asked the students to redesign the magazine this year. We need to sell more copies, or we can't really say that we're representing the students and their work. I imagine though that they all have different ideas about what a revised magazine will look like.

How will this fadge? as Viola says in Twelfth Night. I guess we'll find out.

Back to basics

“Sadly, our school doesn't even have a literary magazine. I'm very interested in starting one, and I've already talked to my English teacher about it. She seems very enthusiastic about the idea. The only problem is that I don't know where to start. I understand that I'll have to advertise and recruit staff members. But to be honest, I've only heard the idea of a literary magazine - I've never actually seen one nor do I understand what it takes to operate one. I know this type of ignorance isn't preferred in someone who wants to start a literary magazine, but I'm trying to do research. Really, though, I'm so confused. And I'm sorry to hijack the post like this, but if there's just some basic information you can share, I'd really appreciate it.” -Lynda

        This comment left by Lynda on the previous post Magazine Staff-Revisited woke me up to the fact that we haven’t defined what a Literary Magazine is. Most of us labor every year in creating our magazines, but how often do you stop and think about what it means to be a literary magazine?
        My understanding of this genre is that we publish less frequently than a newspaper, but publish at least once a year. A Literary Magazine, or Literary Arts Magazine, should contain original student writing and student art. Think of them as an anthology of the best student work for that time period (Year, Half-Year, Quarter-Year). In my time as a lit-mag adviser and dealing with the state and national competitions, I feel that we are really publishing an anthology book, not a magazine. We publish once a year with a perfect bound book. That’s how the printer refers to it, and in turn how we refer to it. So are we publishing a book or a magazine?
        The push right now seems to be more of a book style rather than magazine. I mean to say that the competitions seem to look down on magazines that are published on thinner paper or newsprint. The binding can make a difference as well. I want to make sure that it is understood that this is the impression that I have of the system. I got his impression from an experience with a lit mag that someone was judging. I was looking at a pile of magazines for judging (I wasn’t judging them), and I came across a booklet that I thought was a state standardized test. I made a comment that the judge had a test mixed in with his magazines. He said, “Look at it again.” I was amazed that this, in fact, was a lit mag that was printed on newsprint, used grayscale, and looked like a test booklet. It included the bubbles for the multiple choice answers. It was great. I didn’t delve into the writing or art, but the overall appearance was neat. They didn’t have a lot of money, but they seemed to use that to their advantage. the judging ripped apart the quality of the magazine.
        Now that is an extreme example, and I am positive that there is not a lot of this going on, but it gives me pause. My hope is that there is more of a push for quality within the bounds of a publications means. Quality should always be the first concern of any publication. Building a magazine takes time. Quality is not always attainable in the first few years. You have to build the staff and knowledge of the new software. Quality comes with time.
        
        The last thing I want to talk about in this post is in reference to inexperience. We all had to learn at some time. I had the luxury of a co-adviser who had worked with our magazine for more than a decade. There are resources available to the new advisers. The best place to start, other then this blog (I know shameless promotion), is your state press association. I am a board member and future vice-president of the Pennsylvania School Press Association. I was brought on the board by my co-adviser, and co-contributer to this blog. He and I are working in PA to bring the lit mag presence in the state to the levels of yearbook and newspaper. PSPA has also started a mentoring program for our memebers. If you are a new adviser in PA and would like to participate, go to the PSPA website and look for the informaiton.
        We are also beginning to try and get a national presences as well. the National Scholastic Press Association also has a few resources. NSPA co-sponsors a national convention in the spring and fall (one on the west coast and one on the east coast). We are going to be at the fall conference in St. Louis. We are supposed to be speaking at the conference (I will put more info up closer to the dates). Conferences are a great place to find presentations on InDesign, Photoshop, and some lit mag stuff. They are also a great place to meet other advisers and form friendships.
        I also want to say that, no matter your level of experience, the fact that you want to start or started a magazine is a great start. As I said before, we all had to learn at some point. We all should still be learning something while working with our magazines or we’re not doing something right. If you need help contact your state organization. If that doesn’t produce results contact me. I will try to help you as best I can.


        P.S.        Here are some examples I found online. I will be working on getting some examples up of our magazine on the web somewhere. The links below are from the National Scholastic Press Association. The first link has several pages from the Pacemaker winner from 2006. The pacemaker is the premier magazine from that year. It is my understanding that they do not always have the pacemaker. The second link is to one of our staffer’s awards. It shows you a single layout from the magazine that year.

2006 NSPA Pacemaker Magazine Winner
Design of the Year/Layout of the Year Winner

Magazine Staff-Revisited

        So, I have spent a lot of time over the summer thinking about what I am going to talk about in the blog this year. Last year I wrote as we were going through things so you might notice a sort of progression of the ideas. This year there may be a progression in the end, but I actually worked on a list of topics for the year. They may or may not follow the year’s progression. I hope to get these posts out around the time that you might need them.
        I also want to encourage you, the reader, to interact with the blog. I look forward to seeing comments posted from readers. I had one person, who I have never met, post comments and start a discussion in the blog. I can’t even describe how exciting it was. It really encouraged me to keep up with this project. I want more encouragement. Won’t you please help me out.

        So on that note I am going to ask you to contribute to the first official post of the year.

        In one of the first posts to this blog dealt with the organization of a literary magazine staff (http://litmagcreation.blogspot.com/2007/09/organization.html). Boy, when I look back over it I see that there isn’t a lot there. So it’s a good thing that I start with this again. The organization of your staff may be the most helpful thing for a successful magazine. If no one knows what anyone else is doing then nothing gets done. The question that I have been wrestling with is, “Is there such a thing as too much organization?”
        We all know that there is definitely such a thing as not enough organization. A lot of us deal with this in our everyday lives. Little or no organization leads to so many problems that it is often enough to bring down an organization, group, or even a publication. Nothing gets done and things are rushed. The details that refine a magazine are lost in the mix. This is a sure way to turn out a mediocre publication. My concern is that I, personally, may fixate too much on the organization of the staff and not on what the magazine needs. This stems from the fact that I can spend hours developing a staff organization, but that certainly doesn’t guarantee that the jobs will be performed to expectation. As an adviser, I should be concerned with keeping the structure there, but I have found that by the end of the publication cycle for the year, the staff miraculously dwindles to a handful doing the work. This makes me think that we should whittle the staff down to the core of people that we are left with at the end of the year. This is where the idea of “too much organization“ comes from. I hate to see members get positions in on the staff, but not take initiative to get their part of the job done.

        This is the dilemma that I am going to pose to my co-adviser as well as the editor-in-chief for the coming year. How can we more effectively run the magazine? This is where you, the reader, comes in. I would like to know how you organize your staff? How do you get people to do what they sign on for?

Summer Message

I wanted to wish all of your a restful and rejuvenating summer. I am going to be working on the blog over the summer. I am hoping to get a post or two up over the summer, but I will mainly be working on a list of articles and topics to write about this coming year.

Sales

"I was wondering if your group sells copies of your magazine once they are printed to raise money? If you do, how much do you charge and how successful is it? In the past we've tried to sell some but never sold more than a few copies at graduation." -Lars

Yes we do sell the magazine. In the two years that I have been involved in selling the magazine we have sold it for $5 and then the following year $7. This year we are talking about selling it for $10. Our problem has been, and always will be, No matter what we sell it at we will never reclaim the cost of publishing. This year's price is an attempt to maximize the amount of money that we can get.
We print 200 to 250 copies of the magazine. We sell 60 copies on average. We feel that we can sell the higher quality magazine to the same 60 people at $10 instead of $5 or $7. In this way we can gain a little more revenue to put towards next year. This is only a theory. Time will tell if it works.

I can't remember where I heard the idea, or who mentioned it; however, there is an idea floating around about the possibility of selling the magazines on Amazon or eBay. We haven't seriously pursued the idea, but it is an avenue that we are going to be looking into. At this point in the game, we (As lit mag people) are going to have to come up with some creative solutions to this problem.

Unfortunately, I cannot ever see a high school literary magazine being published and paid for through sales. Sponsorships, patrons, and donations are always going to have to be a part of the equation. I hope that I will be proved wrong in the future.

Printing Time

So we have gotten to the time of year when the printer comes around. I would be interested to here from you how your magazine is printed. Do you do it yourself? Do you use an Internet printer? Do you use a local printer?
Our philosophy (The advisers) is to use a local printer. We feel it is important to keep our business in the area. In the past, we have had problems with a local printer, only to have another local printer come to our rescue. After that company was bought out we found another local print shop and we are now working with them for a second year.
We met with our account representative from the printer last evening. He came to the school to talk with us. We outlined our ideas with the rep and looked at samples. I cannot tell you how important it is to be able to have a face to face. We were able to see and touch actual samples of the cover stock and text stock that we wanted to use in this years mag. We were able to talk about the paper size and the colors we wanted to use.
The other benefit that we found, with our present printer, is the technological aspect of printing. We are able to work on our file in Adobe InDesign CS at school, burn it on a CD and send it to them. They pull it into their system and we have a proof in a few days. Now it's gotten better! The have an FTP site that we can upload the file to! That means that when we are finished we send it to their server and they pull it down. The amount of time that this saves us, from even two years ago, is staggering. Going from printing our magazine completely ourselves, to sending the file electronically, in less than three years?!

Find a printer that will talk to you. Better yet find a printer that will sit down and show you printing and paper samples. The printer has probably done this for a while and can help you with problems as they arise.

Pushing the Envelope

How far can you push the design envelope? Is it possible to have the concept of your magazine's layout go over the reader's head?
Before I go on about this topic I want to make two things perfectly clear: I tend to design on the conservative side and this topic came about because of our scores in this year's competitions. I don't want you to think that this is anything other than constructive criticism/reflection on my part.

Two and a half years ago, when I first joined Charisma, we crated Surfaces. The magazine had a fairly conservative layout. There were a few twists, but not many. The major twist was the fact that we chose to layout the magazine on 8 1/2 x 11 paper in the landscape orientation. That meant that the magazine was bound on the short side (I would not recommend this due to printing issues). The spread was divided into either four or six columns or a combination of each on a page.
Last year's magazine ! (that's right "!"), went in a completely different direction. There wasn't a spread that was similar. The only thing that tied the pages together was the folio, and the use of an exclamation point in some manner. We went from 4 color ink-jet printing on Surfaces to Duotone professional printing. The print quality was extraordinary and the magazine looked good.

The second magazine that I was involved with was hard for me to get my head around at first. It went against my philosophy of design, but I came to love it. Now that we have gotten three of our four competition results back, we have been less than thrilled.
As my colleague and I have let this sink in and we have discussed it, we are coming to the realization that the design concept for ! may have been too much. There are a lot of things that are happening from page to page and even on the page. For some this may be too hard to get their head around, and can end up overwhelming the reader. It distracts them from reading or enjoying the art.

So the moral of the story here? Take risks in your layout, but make sure that what you are doing does not overpower the content. I am by no means saying that conservative is the way to go. After last year's magazine I have begun to appreciate less conservative layout ideas. I have, however, come to appreciate that the cutting edge can be dangerous.

Submissions: Feast or Famine

"However, there is one problem we have run into: a lack of submissions. Has your magazine experienced this? If so, then how did you deal with it?" -Lars

Lars, I would guess that this is one of the biggest issues that plagues a majority of Lit Mags. I wish that I could give you a clear cut solution. Our publication is in a similar situation.
One of the things that We have done (being that I am an art teacher) to increase the Art Submissions, is to work with our high school Art Club. Our Art Club takes images of students work to put on the district web site. We have begun having one of the Art Club members also be a member of the staff. They help to take the images and can pull pieces they think could be used. If you have an Art Club that is a great avenue to getting Art submissions.
As for Literary submissions, English teachers are the best avenue. Have the staff talk to their English teachers and ask for students who are good writers. Search out those students and ask them for some of their writing. If you know someone who likes to write ask them for work.

Finally, Advertise! Put up posters, run ads in the school newspaper, and run commercials on the school television news (If you have one). Get the word out!