Flex Student Newspaper #30

Flex #30 June 2012 is the final issue of the academic year and I am very pleased with it. Being the last issue of the year meant is was produced while people were trying to meet last minute coursework deadlines. I felt some departments looked quite strong and I will go into the summer holidays with a few ways we can improve our design. I will need to take some time to evaluate the year, production process and my team before making changes. Below are the pages I did the design & layout for in this final issue.

Flex #30 June 2012 Cover

Flex #30 June 2012 Editorial/ Contributors

Flex #30 June 2012 News Page 4-5. We have started to run the very short articles along the bottom. The black, blue and yellow bars serve as links to online and social media.

Flex #30 June 2012 News Page 4-5. We have started to get more vertical with some of the layouts as well as work things across the page and use the space more creatively.

Flex #30 June 2012 News Page 12-13. The centre page spread was one of the cover stories so we did something a little more special working closely with Sheri Matthews the Features editor. We decided to run the two articles along with a timeline of the queen at the bottom running the length of both pages to serve as a visual hook.

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Arem Duplessis, Design Director for the NYTM

I came across really good video on SDP (Society for Publication Designers) vimeo channel of Arem Duplessis, the Design Director for the New York Times Magazine. His seminar is called "NO FORMULA: Intuition is Underated" and although tt is over 3 years old but I found it inspirational and I really like his work. I would have applied for an internship at NYT but I have already missed the summer 2012 deadline. Although I am an an animation student I still have a thing for editorial design and since working with. Enjoy.

Here is an interview with Arem Duplessis on SDP
http://www.spd.org/2009/12/behind-the-new-york-times-maga-1.php

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"Where Do Magazines Come From" - with Nicolas Brett, Managing Director (MD) of BBC Magazines Worldwide

On Monday 14th May 2012 I attended a seminar entitled "Where Do Magazines Come From" by Nicolas Brett, Managing Director (MD) of BBC Magazines Worldwide.

I took some notes during his presentation. Below are some of the key points and questions I took away.

Can you take a company property and turn it into a magazine?
What is a magazine?
1) the dont disappear
2) companion & friend
3) people feel they own them
4) advisor
5) personal and community

Key Points to take away:
build (what the readers want) and they will come.
build a community around peoples common passions and interest.
set and lead trends. do not follow.

Keep the audience at the heart of everything you do.
Build a brand with international appeal.
Embody that across several channels; print, web, motion, newsletter, social media, podcasts, events, etc.
Define the role each channel will play in embodying the brand playing of each ones strengths


Market Segmentation: Present reader with (illusion of) choice?
same topic/ different viewpoint.

The Problem with children's magazines: (do other publications face same/ similar issues?)
forced to find new audience every few years.
feast and famine because of age group

____

At the end of the seminar I approached him to speak about internships of work experience at BBC Magazines and Nicolas was nice enough to give me the contact details of

Having wokred on the student newspaper I can now see more of the strengths of print, digital and online so I plan to learn the following.:
Learn HTML, CSS & javascript
Learn to develop for the iPad, iPhone and Android devices


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Flex Student Newspaper #29

Design & Layout for Flex #29 May 2012 page 4 & 5

Design & Layout for Flex #29 May 2012 page 6 (advert) & 7

Design & Layout for Flex #29 May 2012 page 8 & 9

Design & Layout for Flex #29 May 2012 Centre Spread pages 12 & 13

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