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Some photos of my final magazine!

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Evaluation

Learning Outcomes / Agreement

I am definitely proud of my final magazine, however, there are a few things that changed since writing my learning agreement. For example, originally I hoped for the project to give me the opportunity to study some of the techniques I wanted to further my knowledge in like different kinds of photography (e.g. analog) or printing techniques (e.g. letterpress or screenprinting) - this did not take priority later on, but I focused more on the best execution of my idea and project, and I did not want to force a medium into my project just for the sake of it. I also wanted to do posters for the exhibition but this also was not the priority – if I get the chance to do an accompanying poster for the exhibition I will definitely do so because I still think it would add to the exhibit, rather than ‘just’ having a magazine; this would be more of a promotional item. In terms of applying skills and knowledge I have learnt in my degree I feel like I have put these well together in my editorial – from doing rigorous primary and secondary research to finding an appropriate way to realise my idea and then executing it to a high standard – it was like proving to myself that I am capable of doing a complex project like this by myself. What I used to struggle with was relating research to my outcome but because with this project I have such a large amount of personal experience and therefore research and can see how it would be used, in what context, by what kind of people exactly, it becomes clear how my research fed its way into my final piece. I think it is such an important social ‘issue’ that is not addressed enough and believe there are many more like it that can be addressed (by me) in the future. The realization of this project felt like a way of giving myself a place in a professional context.

Self and Peer Evaluation

For constant and various feedback I relied on different people. Obviously there were several group and one to one tutorials which helped me develop and shape my project, but there were also a few people who helped me in particular along the way. Isy, from my course, I showed my designs again and again so I could talk to her about improvements along the way which was helpful because she has a design background and could give me tips about things like layouts and hierarchy etc. Rachel, also from my course and also diabetic, I also had various chats with about both our projects (both Diabetes-related), which was valuable because she has both a design and a diabetes background, her project inspired me and made me look at my magazine in different ways. Last but not least Tom, who is not on my course but a history student, looked at my magazine from a completely different point of view, which was good because people that have no clue about grids or layouts or type look at a magazine in a very different way and therefore might find some things very ‘avant-garde’ that a designer might find cool. With all of these influences I could develop my design quite a bit from start to finish, which becomes evident in my numerous mock-ups. A constant comparison to other magazines helped me a lot to critically look at my own designs and see if something did not work.

Managing My Workload

Starting out with a timetable written for my learning agreement I built up on this with frequent updated To-Do lists before updating my timetable when the outline of my self-written project became clearer. Soon after I found that I work better when I give myself detailed To-Do Lists whilst keeping for example weekly goals in the back of my mind because otherwise I will be less productive thinking I have to do certain work on one day and other work on another, rather than just doing work. Therefore I did not make a final updated timetable but rather a lot of ticked off to-do lists. What helped me a lot with being effectively productive was writing my own brief and then going back to answer it, keeping myself aware of what I wanted to achieve.

Content Acquisition

The poster I wanted to put up in the Diabetic Clinic in Royal Hospital Bournemouth to ask for Diabetics to help with my project could not be put up due to hospital regulations. Contacting the Ward Manager got me an answer and he said he would do what he could but never got back to me after., so that was one way less to get content. Furthermore no one replied to my post on the AUB Facebook page so I could not use all means of gathering research, however I compensated by adding another question to my survey, which had already been quite successful, and contacting more people to interview on Instagram. I also got back to my friend and parents for face to face interviews instead, so not getting results from the Diabetic Clinic was not a problem in the end.

Subject/Written Content

First of all, I am very happy that I chose the topic I did. Research has shown that Diabetics respond to support and community, therefore I thought it would be a good idea to add to this support - there are not enough products, specifically printed publications - aimed at the Type 1 community. Thinking that this could improve even only one person’s life, or motivate them, was my motivation. Speaking from personal experience I thought of questions to ask Type 1s in order to get stories and answers that would have helped me to read about in rougher times. I wanted to create a positive picture of the disease and the people, not weighing it down - staying optimistic is an important part of having a chronic condition. The interaction with the contributors only proved how open and supportive the community is – most of them got back to me and provided me with nothing short of amazing answers. One thing I did realize when reading the finished piece is the difference in their writing styles – it is very clear that my father for example is a lot more experienced than the younger Diabetics and this also shines through in his writing style. While I do think this is not a bad thing because it makes their personalities shine through more and after all this is what an interview is, it is good to be aware of the difference because for some readers it might be a big jump when reading the different interviews, simply because the ‘quality’ or standard of writing is varying a lot.

Design Process

When designing my magazine I wondered if I needed a baseline grid to make my text align - this was problematic as I was also using paragraph styles including a space after, therefore it clashed with using a baseline grid. Because of this inconsistent style a baseline grid was more of a hinderance than a benefit, which is why I aligned my text boxes at the hangline (usually) instead to not overcomplicate things.

Physical Copy

Printing on my final paper stock worked well, for once there were no printing complications. After colour matching the printed red to my paper stock red many many times, the final print colours worked well together. Wanting to perfect bind my magazine with a hot glue machine turned out to be problematic as I had different sized inserts which would be very hard/impossible to align when not binding by hand. This meant that I also couldn’t put on my cover with the machine as it’s not recommended to mix two different types of glue. Therefore I had to face my fear of the creasing machine which I was trying to avoid in order to get a better result (or simply not mess up the cover). In terms of binding and aligning my pages by hand everything went well; this was important because I printed on translucent paper and it had to align perfectly with the type underneath, as well as having smaller inserts that needed to sit on a certain height on the page. The alignment went perfectly fine. However, one thing I would like to perfect is my cover. In contrast to my body copy, which I ordered and tried many paper stocks for, I did not for my cover as this was the last thing I finished about the magazine. Therefore, I only tried two paper stocks, one of which was matt and one was smooth. Having preferred the smoother one, because it would match my paper stock of the body copy, I decided to use the matt one as this was bright white whereas the smooth one was off-white which did not match the white in my publication. The matt paper turned out to ‘crumble’/lose its colour on the spine after being cut down and put into a press, which makes the first impression look flawed and a bit cheap. I hope to improve this for the show by either using a different paper stock or only having to crease it twice when using the hot glue machine, or both. Whilst the content is of high quality the cover now does not seem to have an equally professional standard. Last but not least the creasing machine was a bit wonky so my crease ended up a bit diagonal and off ever-so-slightly, which I would also like to improve for the exhibition.

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Cover of my final magazine.

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Very early experiments for a possible cover for my publication. (front and back without spine)

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Another great resource site, about diabetes in relation to sport. 

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A great website for everything and anything on type 1. Leads you to further links and websites depending on what topic you want to know more about. Definitely worth a look when trying to gain a deeper understanding of the condition.

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Social cognitive theory

Social cognitive theory (SCT), used in psychology, education, and communication, holds that portions of an individual's knowledge acquisition can be directly related to observing others within the context of social interactions, experiences, and outside media influences. The theory states that when people observe a model performing a behavior and the consequences of that behavior, they remember the sequence of events and use this information to guide subsequent behaviors. Observing a model can also prompt the viewer to engage in behavior they already learned.[1][2] In other words, people do not learn new behaviors solely by trying them and either succeeding or failing, but rather, the survival of humanity is dependent upon the replication of the actions of others. Depending on whether people are rewarded or punished for their behavior and the outcome of the behavior, the observer may choose to replicate behavior modeled. Media provides models for a vast array of people in many different environmental settings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_cognitive_theory

I would refer to this theory when trying to explain what I want to achieve with my final publication; when reading my magazine/book/journal and about people’s T1D stories, what they have done or accomplished, I would hope for other T1D’s to be encouraged to do whatever they dream of doing, just like the people that I report about. If this is simply about being positive and not letting your condition bring you down or a certain activity like running a marathon or going climbing doesn’t play a role, it could be any sort of behaviour that could be copied. This is also why I want to look at the ‘positive’ sides of the condition, like connecting with others, having or getting support, an achievement, being proud of yourself etc., so people don’t read about scary things like becoming blind or losing your foot or whatever consequences type 1 could have - whilst it is important to know what risks there are and that it is also okay to feel sad about the condition I do not want people to copy this and concentrate on it. My magazine should be all about a ‘can-do’ attitude.

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Stress and Coping Mechanisms

Coping mechanisms are ways to which external or internal stress is managed, adapted to or acted upon. Susan Folkman and Richard Lazarus define coping as "constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing".

Defining Coping Mechanisms

Psychologists Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman scientifically defined coping as the sum of cognitive and behavioural efforts, which are constantly changing, that aim to handle particular demands, whether internal or external, that are viewed as taxing or demanding. Simply put, coping is an activity we do to seek and apply solutions to stressful situations or problems that emerge because of our stressors. Actually, the term "coping" is more associated with "reactive coping", because in general, we see coping as a response to a stressor. On the other hand, there's also what we call "proactive coping", wherein the coping response is aimed at preventing a possible encounter with a future stressor.

While coping mechanisms are brought about by a person's conscious minds, it doesn't mean that all of them bring about positive coping; there are some types of coping mechanisms which are maladaptive. Other psychologists say that maladaptive coping is also synonymous to "non-coping", since a person who responds to a stressor using a coping mechanism but isn't able to positively ward off the stressor or solve the stressful situation hasn't coped with the stress at all.

https://explorable.com/stress-and-coping-mechanisms

When asking different people within the type 1 community about their experiences with support it has become very clear that opening up and telling your story (especially relevant when looking at the online/instagram community where I interviewed a few people) is a way of accepting your condition. Finding other people and going public in a way can be seen as a way of coping with your condition and also constantly reminding yourself and others to remain positive, so trying to change/influence your behaviour.

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A really lovely blog.

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Another magazine, which you can get in german pharmacies.

https://www.diabetes-ratgeber.net/

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Issue 1/2015 of the camp fire magazine (spot me)

Looking at the design and composition as well as content.

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A german magazine focussing on everything diabetes, releasing four issues a year.

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The archive of one of the few magazines I know in regards to Diabetes, connected to a camp for young diabetics.

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Red Dot Design Museum - Creative Exchange: World’s Best Communication Design and Highlights from NRW

One technique I’ve used before myself - printing on tracing paper and using this as a page-divider/title page in a way. It was nice to see this in a professional context too, rather than ‘just’ my process book for example.