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Magazine Workshop, JO 408 A1

Semester II, 2010-2011

Boston University, COM

Thursdays 12:00–3:00pm, Room 211

Professor Caryl Rivers

617–353–3469 [email protected]

Offices hours posted @ room 133

Professor Safoura Rafeizadeh

617-353-3516 [email protected]

Office hours posted @ room 219 C

Please stop by to sign up for a time.

Syllabus

1

Course description

This course, taught by two professors, covers writing and graphic design.

Students work in groups assuming professional positions of editors, art

directors, and production managers. Students conceptualize, write, edit, design

and publish two magazines. All editing, design, and production lessons

required to publish a magazine are taught in this course.

Course objective

This course provides a hands–on and comprehensive understanding of

magazines from conception to publication. Under the supervision and with the

guidance of Professors Rivers and Rafeizadeh, students will launch and publish

a magazine. Students will learn the editorial practices and principles of

publishing a magazine. They will write, copy edit, design, and art direct.

Students take up defined positions in their group, get involved with each other’s

work, and learn to maintain the goals and timetable set for the project.

Grading

There will be no exam and no interim grade, only the final grade.

Although magazines are a group project, each student is graded individually.

Grades are based on:

Articles written by each student

Design of your articles’ pages

Attendance and contribution to the meetings

Attendance and contribution to the course

(4 absences = final grade F)

Meeting deadlines

Professionalism in carrying out the responsibilities of your position

Plagiarism

"Plagiarism is the act of representing someone else's creative and/or academic

work as your own, in full, or in part. It can be an act of commission, in which

one intentionally appropriates the words, pictures, or ideas of another, or it can

be an act of omission, in which one fails to acknowledge/document/ give

credit to the source, creator and/or the copyright owner of those words,

pictures, or ideas. Any fabrication of materials, quotes or sources other than

those created in a work of fiction is also plagiarism. Plagiarism is the most

serious academic offense that you can commit and can result in probation,

suspension, or expulsion."

“Students should also be clearly aware that they cannot submit the same work

in more than one course without consent of all instructors involved.”

Student Academic Conduct Code, Boston University

Although the University’s rules of plagiarism do apply in this course, the use of

stock photography and illustrations is considered ‘fair use.’

Material: Two USB storage (flash storage device) for Mac, with 1GB capacity each

Textbook: Thinking With Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, & Editors

by Ellen Lupton

Thursday holidays:

Spring break Thursday March 17

Thursday April 21 is Monday’s schedule

Last class: May 5












This course is a hands-on publishing workshop which will duplicate many of the situations you

will find in a professional workplace.

There will be few formal lectures. Rather, you will function as the staff — editors, writers, copy

editors, photographers, designers, art directors, production managers — of an

ongoing magazine operation. This means that the rules of the job — not the

classroom — apply, as much as possible.

Deadlines must be met, or you throw the entire operation off schedule.

n If you must be absent you must contact either Professor Rivers, Professor

Rafeizadeh or one of the editors of your publication to let them know the

status of your story, design, or the art for your pages.

n All writings and designs must be presented and revised several times.

Failure to do so will result in an automatic dropping of your grade.

The success of this publishing operation depends entirely on your ability to work as professionals,

and to take the initiative in making decisions.

We publish two magazines, in full-color.

Quality of the work must meet professional standards.

For each publication one or two students will assume each of the following positions

in addition to being staff writers and designers:

Editors—responsible for the overall direction of the magazine

Copy editors—responsible for the overall editing of the magazine

Art directors—responsible for the overall design of the magazine

Production managers—responsible for the scheduling, the quality and

architecture of the magazine

n In practice however, everyone participates in all aspects of the publication.

Every member of the class will write one major feature for the magazine (minimum 2500 words).

The second assignment for everyone is a short piece — a book review, editorial,

short story, photo essay, news section, review, etc (minimum 1000 words).

Every member of the class will be responsible for complete writing, design, and photos of

both of his/her stories. Art Directors will design the front entrance, content

page, publisher’s page, etc.

This is a team teaching operation. Professor Rivers will act as executive editor and Professor

Rafeizadeh as the creative director of the magazine.

Groups are expected to have a weekly two hour meeting outside the class.

We will be working on Macs, using Dreamweaver and Adobe Photoshop.

Students are not expected to know these programs or how to design. There will

be demonstrations of the programs plus several design exercises.

Syllabus

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While members should work as a team and be versatile in their duties, this description is a

reminder of each position’s basic responsibilities.

The last three weeks are the busiest time for everybody.

Editor Editor will have a constant coordinating presence throughout the process.

n Helps define the magazine’s purpose and objectives

n Assists the art director in defining the magazine’s “look”

n Directs the discussion of the story proposals (including his/her own)

n Establishes a timeline with the production manager

When story memos are due, the editor works closely with the production

manager to establish a sequence of all the pieces.

In the last few weeks of the process, the editor works with the entire team to

assemble all pieces of the magazine and help the production manager and the

copy editor with last minute details.

This position requires leadership, initiative, problem solving skills, helping and

assisting team members as needed.

The editor, art director, and production manager work together to submit all

pages of the magazine for publication.

Copy editor This position requires great proofreading skills and attention to detail.

Copy editor is responsible for checking for typographical errors throughout

the magazine (stories should be spell-checked by writers). Responsible for

writing/editing the table of contents and publisher’s page, captions, titles,

headlines, banners, etc.

This job gets very hectic towards the end of the semester and requires a lot of

time and patience.

Art director A time-consuming job. This position requires creativity and energy throughout

the process and it is also one of the most rewarding tasks. The art director

creates the “look” of the magazine.

The art director should be comfortable with the software programs.

He/she presents several drafts of the entrance for the group to choose from. The

“look” demands a lot of thought and brainstorming with the group, as do the

entrance, banner, links, style sheets, etc.

The art director coordinates with the production manager to ensure a design

consistency in the magazine.

Art director assists the writers in choosing and scanning images for

each story. Also, the art director is responsible for the entrance photo and for

artwork in the magazine.

Production manager

This position requires organizational skills. The production manager ensures

that the timeline — established in the early stages with the editor and the rest

of the team — is being followed.

Production manager is responsible for the quality of all photos.

Throughout the process, the production manager is in charge of the magazine

sequencing, number of stories, and publisher’s pages.

The editor, art director, and production manager work together to upload

the magazine for publishing.

Launch director develops a business plan for the magazine and writes a proposal at the

beginning and a report at the end. Budget, visits, staff, advertisement, etc,

should be accounted for in the business plan.

Positions

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1) Jan. 20 Choose topic for magazines

Staff meeting:

Select editors and assign positions

Decide on the mission statement and the look

2) Jan. 27 Hand in a written mission statement for the magazine [read pp 62–97]

Staff meeting — one hour:

Confirm story ideas

Confirm organization of the magazine and design ideas

Demonstration: scanning images

Demonstration: Photoshop: creating a banner and links

3) Feb. 3 Hand in final story memo & hand in writing exercise [pp 113–149]

Staff meeting — one hour:

Confirm story assignments and organization

Discussion of the entire magazine, its organization and navigation

Sketch the first draft of banner

Demonstration: Dreamweaver: creating a sample magazine

4) Feb. 10 Hand in the first draft of long stories & design exercise [pp 80–85]

Group activity:

Sketch the first draft of entrance design

Demonstration & exercise: Dreamweaver: cascading style sheets

Demonstration & exercise: Photoshop: photo sizing

5) Feb. 17 Hand in the first draft of short stories

Hand in the final design of entrance & composition exercise 1 [pp 140–143]

Group activity:

Develop the grid structure and cascading style sheets

6) Feb. 24 Hand in the banner and entrance design & magazine’s grid and style sheets

Hand in composition exercise 2 [pp 34–51]

Demonstration & exercise: Composition and its elements

Demonstration & exercise: Photoshop: pictorial type

7) March 3 Hand in the second draft of long stories

Hand in the first design of long stories & short stories

characteristic exercise [pp 13–33]

Work in class: edit and design stories — Individual design critique

8) March 10 Hand in the second draft of short stories


9) March 24 Confirm the overview of the magazine and individual stories


10) March 31 Final draft & design of all stories due

Navigation of articles and sections due

11) April 7 Submit a hard copy of the magazine’s revision at 12:00 noon


12) April 14 Submit a hard copy of the magazine’s final revision at 12:00 noon

Compiling pages, uploading, and testing links

13) April 28 Final testing and troubleshooting

Submit the magazine on CD or USB

14) May 5 Presentation and review of the published magazine — Last class

Calendar

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