April 1, 2011

Good morning/afternoon, Ezine! Today, you'll be working on magazine designs, but a couple of quick reminders first:

*If you need to turn in a recorder or camera, please see Ms. Richey. If you need to check out a recorder, see Ms. Richey at the end of the school day.

*Blogs are due today! Next week's blog assignment is to explain your interviewing experience -- how you decided on a source, how you came up with your questions, what the actual interview was like.

*True Colors: Sad news. Kara can't make it today, but she would love for you to send her what you have so far (as a pdf) if you haven't already. She's planning to visit soon, though, and wants to give you feedback in the meantime via email.

*Due Dates: 1.2 and 5.6 classes, your interview notes (either recorded or on paper) are due Monday in class. You'll have all period to transcribe your notes on Monday. If you're bringing a sound file to transcribe, be SURE to bring your earbuds. This is for a completion grade, so late credit will apply if you don't have your notes and/or your sound file and earbuds.

Today's assignments:

1. Read Please read this article; it should be a good reminder of what sort of details it's important to notice when collecting research and conducting interviews for your feature. After reading it, please send me a group email that explains what sort of details you could each incorporate into your own features. (If you've already conducted your interview, tell me what you noticed that you could include; if you haven't conducted your interview, tell me what types of details you will now look for.) We'll discuss Monday.

2. Feature Designs Begin mapping out your feature design. I highly recommend finding a professional layout to guide you since it will adhere to column guides, etc. Plus, you can use this layout to help you determine what kind of art (full-page photo, half-spread photo with a sketch applied, etc.) to your own layout. Then, when you conduct your interview, you'll know what kind of photos you need to take. If you've already taken your pictures, you'll be able to find layouts that use similar images. This magazine, for example, used some design inspiration from Wired and their layouts look really professional.

3. Table of Contents (2 people could work on this)
You should have an idea how many pieces your magazine will have: opinion, feature, major ASF, bios, letter from the editors. You do NOT have to know what specific page everything goes on yet, but you should be able to map out a general plan using your style sheet, bleeds, etc.
Examples

4. Bios Check out these student magazines for some cool ideas on how to map out yours.
Nom
Wallflower
Montage
Input
Bubblegum (This one had a creative idea for bio pics -- both on the cover and the actual bio page)

A little April Fool's joke on the web: Google "Helvetica." Pretty funny, Google... :)