exodus: a success!!!

Being a part of the Exodus magazine staff this semester was an incredible learning experience.  As the 12 weeks come to a close and the magazine is now complete, let’s recap everything that we have learned.  The following list highlights the main issues discussed in this blog on how to create “something from nothing:”

1)   Focused theme – Come up with a solid theme that can be developed clearly and yet still take your reader deep enough to teach them something new.

2)   Great staff – Pick the people you work with on a publication wisely. If you don’t have the privilege of choosing a staff, learn to work through differences and be honest.

3)   Start advertising sales early.  Be persistent, yet always professional.  Try to sell more ads than you think you will need for your publication

4)   Start a blog to record your journey.  Look back on it at the end an enjoy!

5)   Choose the best design software and learn how to use it before you start.

6)   Pick out a good camera.  Look for high resolution and pay attention to composition.  Take note if you need to shoot for specific layouts.

7)   Choose a paper type and quality that will work best for your publication.

8)   Choose a binding type that will compliment your magazine.

9)   Design a user-friendly and comprehensive website that follows along with the theme and design elements of your publication.  Include video slideshows.

10)   Plan a release party that will attract your target audience.  “Free” food and other items are a huge hit.

 

Here is a video of our release party!

 

Photographer, designer, writer, and publicist…

Photographer, designer, writer, and publicist.  Do we really have to be all these things to be a successful journalist today?  I would have to say “yes.”

 After completing Exodus magazine this semester, I have learned that it is incredibly important to be well-versed in all of these areas.  Before we could start designing, writing or taking pictures, we had to sell ads.  Bottom line is this: you don’t sell ads, you can’t publish a magazine.  So first you have to be a business person, ready to go out and sell your product before it’s even created.  Then when your ads are sold you have to start the writing and photographing process.  Once that’s done, you have to start designing and possibly re-write or re-photograph.  And then, once your amazing creation goes to print, you have to figure out how you’re going to get your publication into the hands of your target audience.  See, you really do have to be all of these things.

But what about this last position, publicist.  How do you successfully promote your magazine?  Here’s what our launch party coordinators say on the subject:

As a team, we came up with 5 easy steps on how to accomplish this:

1) Delegate tasks.  There are a lot of things you need to do so make sure you give specific jobs to your teammates.  Put someone in charge of food, decorations, getting the magazine to the event, and even clean-up.

2) Set up in a “traffic” area.  You want to be in a place where everyone can see you and where a lot of people pass by.  Play music so they are attracted to your table

3) Eye time. Promote your event through posters, Facebook events, campus-wide or business-wide emails, and announcements.

4) Have FREE things.  Advertise that you will have free food (like pizza, donuts, coffee or catered food) and possibly pass out teachers. 

5) Online presence.  Make sure your advertise your magazine’s website.  This way people have two ways to view your publication.  They also will remember to check out the website

Build up your website

Interviews with Pictures

A great way to build up your magazine’s website is to post interviews you have conducted backed with pictures put to music.  In the demonstration below, I did not include music, but it still incorporates how to use your interviews while keeping your audience  happy with photographs.  

 

Printing, etc…

As was discussed in the previous post, Exodus magazine is being printed on matte paper with a perfect binding.  The follow are visual aids to help in the understanding of binding and paper types.  Watch this video to hear about magazine printing: 

 

Paper choices

Glossy - printing paper with a smooth shiny surface finish to give maximum detail and tonal range

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matte - a type of paper that has minimal or imperceptible shine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Binding Choices

Saddle stitch - Binding procedure where the cover (if used) and the various pages of a catalog or magazine are stapled together in the center and folded in half

 

 

 

Perfect bind – a glued binding in which the edges of the sheets are glued to the cover

Does the paper really matter?

The situation:

The stories are all in and edited.  The designs are finished.  The text and photos are placed in their spots.  And can you believe it, all the advertisements arrived and half the money is in.  But now you and your team are faced with a few final decisions.  What kind of paper should we use?  Should we perfect bind or saddle stitch?  Should the inside pages match the paper of the cover?  These may seem like easy decisions, but the kind of paper and binding used can affect the feel and mood of the magazine.  Read below to find out our choice and how we came to that decision.

Our choice:

This year for Exodus, we wanted to try something new.  In all its years, Exodus magazine has always had glossy cover and pages.  It has also always been saddle stitched (meaning the pages are stapled at the fold).  If for no other reason than to be different, we choice the opposite of the past selections.  We decided to do a matte cover and pages as well as doing a perfect bind.  

Why:

How did we decide this?  We sat around our conference table and weighed the pros and cons of matte pages and cover.  The only major con that weighed heavy was losing a little of the photo quality.  By printing it matte, the pages don’t allow the photos to pop, but considering that it only effects the photos a little we went with that choice.

 The pros of printing in matte is that first of all it is a trend right now.  Some new magazines like Dwell and Portico, a Birmingham-based magazine, as well as several other aimed a 20s audience are printing in matte now.  Another pro is that matte pages are forgiving, in that if a photo isn’t the best, the matte pages will disguise flaws.  Matte pages are also more durable than glossy.  Because our magazine is all about going and getting involved in Birmingham, we hope the magazine “goes” with the “go-er.”  If it is touring the city, then the magazine itself needs to be durable.  

We also chose to perfect bind the magazine. We believe the benefits of this is that it makes the magazine more professional, hands down.  It also enabled us to write on the spine (something we were ecstatic about!).  The only con is that perfect binding is more expensive.  But we did really well with ad sales and were able to perfect bind without any additional cost to our budget!

Photography 101, part 3

editing your photos

The greatest thing about digital photography is the chance to correct what may have gone wrong with the setting and shooting of the scene. Below are some terms that will help you best edit your photographs.  Remember that having the “edit” option doesn’t mean you can’t take photographs that don’t need to be edited. In simpler words, don’t use the edit function as a cop-out.  Shoot great photographs to begin with. J

Color saturation: The relative brilliance with which a photo (or print) reproduces the subject’s colors.

Contrast: The degree of difference between a subject’s tones, a function of its inherent shades and colors and also of the quality of light.

Cropping: Masking or otherwise shaping a photographic image to change its proportions.

Resolution: Technical term for the measurement of photographic sharpness, resolution is lower for digital point-and-shoots than film models.

Sharpness: The degree to which clear, distinguishable details of the subject are rendered in a photographic negative or print.

Photography 101, part 2

shooting the scene

Taking good photographs is one of the most rewarding thing.  You are able to capture a moment that no one else will ever be able to capture again even if it’s reposed. I love candid shots just as much as posed ones.

Take note of what in your frame is in focus.  You know what is in focus by the focus point(s), which is visible when you press the shutter button halfway down to focus.  Focusing can also be done manually by turning the focus ring on your lens). You can adjust this by changing your depth of field.  Something shot with a narrow or short depth of field will have a close-up subject in focus while the background is blurry.  Your narrow depth of focus can also include focusing on an object in the background while the foreground is blurry. 

Remember, when you push the shutter button down halfway, whatever is in focus is now locked in (locking in the focus). You can readjust the framing of the shot even after you’ve locked in the focus as long as you keep it halfway down.

Framing your subject is also important. The most valuable tool for this is called the rule of thirds (we learned in broadcast filming class). When a subject is not dead in the center, automatic interest is created.  The photograph is no longer divided in half. Pay close attention to horizon lines when shooting landscapes.

Panning is another great technique for shooting moving objects.  A shutter speed of 1/30 usually works fine. Remember to focus on the subject first then move on a horizontal path following the subject. Snap 2-5 shots as the subject goes by.

Terms to Know:

Candid: An unposed, spontaneous photograph of a person or group of people.

Depth of field: The depth of field describes how much of your picture is in focus. A narrow depth of field gives your subject in sharp focus and the background heavily blurred. A wide depth of field has both near and far objects in focus.

Focus point: Small brackets, lines, or a circle in the middle of a viewfinder indicating where the camera is focusing.

Focusing: In-and-out adjustment of the lens to make the main subject sharp on the film.

Framing: a technique used to bring the focus/attention to the subject

Locking the focus: Pressing and holding the shutter button halfway, to prevent the camera from refocusing incorrectly with your final composition.

In focus: when the photograph or chosen subject is sharp and clear with no fuzziness

Panning: A shot in which the camera remains in place but rotates horizontally on its axis so that the subject is constantly re-framed

Rule of thirds: dividing a photograph into an imaginary 3 x 3 grid (like a tic-tac-toe board) and placing points of interest at the points where the lines on the grid intersect (see chart)

 

 Shutter button: The button that you press to take a picture. On autofocus cameras, the shutter button also activates and locks the focus when pressed halfway.

 

Subject: the person/persons or object in the photograph

Photography 101, part 1

setting the scene

Photography is all about two things: light and composition. Without light, there is no picture and without good composition the picture is boring.

When you prepare to take a photograph, notice how much of the scene before you is in your frame. This deals with the angle of view. When your lens is all the way zoomed OUT (short focal length), you are shooting a wide angle shot.  When your lens is all the way zoomed IN (long focal length), you are shooting a narrow angle shot.  

Then ask yourself if the lighting is right. This is called the exposure. If the light source (like the sun) is coming from behind the subject, he/she/it is backlit. Make sure you use a flash or open your f-stop OR slow shutter speed. This is called backlight compensation and it gives you the correct exposure for the photograph.  Remember that shooting in straight sun requires f16 (or 1/16).  Adjust your aperture (f-stop) accordingly for other light types (darker = larger f-stop, f14-f2.0; lighter = smaller f-stop). 

Next ask, “Do I need a tripod or steady surface to shoot from?” Remember, you need this if your shutter speed is slower than 1/30 .  Our bodies are not capable of holding the camera still at this speed, which causes camera shake.

Terms to Know:

Angle of view: The amount of a scene taken in by a particular lens focal length. Short focal lengths have a wide angle of view, allowing you to photograph a larger portion of the scene than long focal lengths, which have a narrow angle of view.

Aperture: The window in the lens that lets light through to the film. This window’s size, called the f-stop, to control the exposure.

Backlight: Light coming from behind the subject. When light from behind is the main source, the subject is said to be backlit.

Backlight compensation: Adjustment of exposure to prevent the subject from turning out too dark when light is coming from behind it.

Camera shake: The unwanted movement passed along to your camera by involuntary hand and body tremors, it’s a major cause of unsharp pictures.

Correct exposure: The specific amount of light that must strike a given film to produce the best possible picture quality.

Composition: The process of adjusting framing, camera position, and/or focal length to turn the subject into a visually appealing photograph.

Exposure: The amount of light that strikes the film/digital memory when you take a picture.

Film/Digital speed: The measure of a film’s sensitivity to light, film speed is indicated with an ISO number–ISO 400, for example. The higher the number, the more sensitive the film.

Flash: Your point-and-shoot’s tiny but highly useful built-in light source, the flash fires in an action-stopping burst and often has several different modes.

Frame: The rectangle that you see when you look through the viewfinder, used for viewing and composing the subject; or one picture’s worth of film; or that thing you put your prints in.

Lens: A cylinder of shaped pieces of glass or plastic at the front of a camera, it projects a tiny                   image of the subject onto the film.

Light source: The immediate origin of a scene’s light, such as the sun or a window.

Shutter speed: The length of time the window in the lens stays open to let light through to the film.

Zoom in: Setting a longer focal length on your zoom lens, to make the subject bigger in the picture.

Zoom out: Setting a shorter focal length on your zoom lens, to include more of the scene in the picture.

Editorial Assistant

 

Editorial Assistant

 

Haley Aaron

 

As an editorial assistant, Haley helps decide what businesses and organizations will be featured in Exodus Magazine.  The editorial staff also helps determine the length and format of articles. When all of our copy is returned, Haley and other members of the editorial staff will help edit the material for clarity and style.

Quark vs. InDesign

Ever since Adobe published InDesign in 2002, the competition between these two main design programs has been a main discussion of journalists and graphic designers.  Our art director personally prefers InDesign over Quark Xpress.  

“InDesign is part of a creative suite that is totally combatible with itself.  Quark can’t do that.  InDesign also has so many more effects you can put on objects, text, or photos,” Emily Leithauser, Exodus art director, said. “InDesign doesn’t limit my creativity.”  

Read below for information on both programs and check out some websites that explain the competitive edge InDesign seems to have over Quark.

 InDesign CS4

“Adobe InDesign is a desktop publishing (DTP) software application produced by Adobe Systems which can be used to create anything from posters, flyers, and brochures to full magazines or books.” (wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quark Xpress

“QuarkXPress (“Quark”) is a computer application for creating and editing complex page layouts in a WYSIWYG environment. It runs on Mac OS X and Windows. It was first released by Quark, Inc. in 1987 and is still owned and published by them.” (wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Websites to visit:

Creative Pro article

“Adobe InDesign vs. Quark Xpress”

“Quark vs. InDesign, again”

InDesign Magazine

 

Or buy InDesign!

 

Which program do you prefer?