Designing
The Cougar Chronicle,
Print Edition:

Whenever I hear the word "designers," Tim Gunn's voice automatically speaks in my mind in the context of what I am currently discussing or doing. In this case, it is designing a magazine's pages for the very first time. Constructing the magazines this year was not unlike Project Runway, really. Given an assortment of materials, information, an approved pitch, and a deadline, we had a mission: produce a quality result that keeps our community coming back for more.

​

2023 was the year of The Cougar Chronicle print magazine's resurrection. This has completely transformed not only how we run our time in the newsroom, but also how we view the world of student journalism: what belongs in a print magazine? What new responsibilities do we now hold to our community with this new form of journalistic publication? As a staff, we have collectively explored the unfamiliar nightmare of InDesign, and learned (oftentimes the hard way) the many stylistic "dos and do nots" of producing a print magazine. 

​

While we researched, interviewed, wrote, and edited for our first print issue, we also faced the challenge of putting together a quality design for our magazine - as well as determining all of our style guides that aid in its construction. On a non-student day, I and our Assistant Editor Cowley came in to our adviser's classroom and used one of our brand-new Adobe laptops to introduce ourselves to InDesign's tricky terrain. Here, we navigated the platform for the first time, using Cowley's knowledge from studying InDesign tutorial videos to understand its layout. We decided on fonts and font sizes for body copy  (Sitka size 8), growing motivated in spite of our unfamiliarity and confusion.

​

With multiple technical difficulties in our first print issue's production - ranging from Adobe software not being installed or set up on our staff laptops to struggling to find adequate time to learn about InDesign's setup - we hit a time setback. However, rather than faltering in discouragement, Cowley took it in stride, produced our fall issue, and set us back on track for winter's deadline.

​

By the time it came to create and produce our second print issue, Cowley was an expert in the field of page layout. Under Cowley's instruction, we were each responsible for a spread's design in the winter issue of our magazine. With this guidance and support, we were able to produce our first print issue in which all staff members were capable of contributing to the print's construction and completion. We investigated and learned more about what makes a quality page, from drawing the reader in with graphics to maintaining reader interest with a clean page look.

 

As Editor-in-Chief of the first year in which we write for both website and magazine content, it has been an honor as well a struggle to provide a journalistic foundation in publishing in both realms. When it comes to design, I am in the same level of knowledge as any other staffer in the journalism program. In this introduction to magazine design, I have learned the basics of what makes a story's design not only publishable, but impressive to the eye. We do not yet have the expertise to publish masterfully-created page designs with intricate graphics and creative headline details, but it is incredibly motivating and exciting to know that in time and with (lots and lots of ) practice, we will. I will always hear and heed to Tim Gunn's stern words of encouragement: "Designers, make it work!"