A look at creating Flux
by CASSIE DEFILLIPO
photos by MONICA SELLERS
It all started weeks ago with applications when a host of students majoring in magazine journalism lined up to be part of the award-winning Flux magazine, attracted by its reputation within the journalism school as a challenging and rewarding experience. These people filled out the forms and wrote a letter in the hopes of becoming part of the staff. By the end of winter term, the staff was picked and members found out which positions they would hold — some having never before held such a position and some not sure what such a job title entails.
Creating a magazine in seven weeks is an overwhelming task no matter how experienced a person is, but creating a magazine in a new setting with nothing but a job description and a group of unfamiliar people is scary. By the time the first week of spring term had started, the editorial and photo staff had already met to hand out story pitches for the magazine.
The process of choosing the articles for the magazine was well under way by the time the photo, design, editorial, and online staff met together on the first day of class. Everyone listened to the editor in chief give a motivational speech, wondering what in the heck they were supposed to do; that revelation would come weeks later.
Flux Memories
"The best thing about Flux is watching a selection of the best J-School students come together as strangers and end as a family in just three weeks."
- Brittany McGrath
The Flux ball got rolling this week as final stories were selected for the magazine, and others were chosen as special online content. Associate editors began meeting with the writers in order to develop the stories into a publishable form. The photo staff began making plans — it has concepts to finalize, shoots to plan, and a few short weeks to do it all. Some of the photographers will end up taking trips around Oregon and California in order to shoot scenes and subjects. The production staff also start planning the production of the magazine — what type of paper to use, how thick it should be, what printer to go to — the details that most people are happy not to know but that make a huge difference in the end. The business manager started working on the budget, and marketing started selling advertisements. This is the first real week of work for the staff, and every department has begun its tasks with nothing more than a light at the end of the tunnel to guide the way.
If the ball got rolling last week, it picked up speed over the next two weeks. Each department continued developing the different elements of the magazine. The managers of each department met once this week to check in on progress. Communication is essential in such a speedy and detailed process because a change in one department could affect the others. Managers update each other on issues and tasks and work together to make this inevitably chaotic situation a little less so. This was the part of the process where we created something out of nothing.
During these two weeks, there were so many little things to be done. Part of being on the staff together was learning and growing with each other and watching others learn and grow. Sometimes this was in the magazine creation process, other times it was in the realm of communication, and sometimes it was learning life's simple lessons.
Photos started coming in, designers began the critiquing process, and editors hurriedly tried to finalize all of the stories, which were due in their complete form that Friday. People started spending more time in the lab as deadlines got closer, and late nights became a way of life for some staff members.
But late nights in the journalism building have their own nuances. Sometimes some of the best things happen at night. Nights in the computer lab can be compared to days on a deserted island — people find ways to keep things interesting. One night, the editor in chief, Lucas, grabbed a book of William Carlos Williams' poetry from his car on the way in. We took poetry reading breaks throughout the night, which proved to be nothing short of inspiring. Our favorite poem was called This is Just to Say:
"I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast. Forgive me; they were delicious, so sweet and so cold."
Brilliant. The process of creating a magazine is powerful and interesting in itself, but memories like this sustained us at three in the morning and will stay with us long after we've moved on. The magazine is more than a collection of articles; it is an extension of the people who produced it.
This was the last full week before the magazine went to the printers. We would get to check the printed version, but changing things at the printer was harder and not ideal. Everything had to be fact-checked and edited — photos, designs, and copy.
On Wednesday of this week, a design critique of all the stories included members of each staff and the advisors. Students worked with professors who had taught them the concepts they were now practicing. This time, they weren't teaching. Nor were they leading. The group of teachers and students sat as equals and discussed the best way to portray a desired message to the reader. The teacher-student dichotomy had left, and all that remained in its place was an environment where, despite the disagreements, the people in the room respected and learned from each other.
Flux Memories
"Let me see, there seem to be more stressful moments than funny ones, but the stress and lack of sleep usually lead to delirium which is always funny in its own way."
- Faith Stafford
Wednesday of this week was the big day when the full magazine went to the printer. In order to get it there, we had to double-check all the facts, re-read the copy two last times, and complete a long list of about eighty other things. These days ran together in a blur in my mind. On Tuesday night, most of the managing staff stayed up finishing the magazine. These people were responsible for double checking all the final elements of the magazine before it went to print — even if that meant staying up all night, which we basically did. Our production manager had the best attitude about it, stating that she'd always wanted to watch the sunrise on campus anyway. I wasn't so positive — I fell asleep in my chair and woke up to find the editor in chief laughing at me. The next day, the magazine was taken to the printer, and we were a few steps away from finishing.
Earlier in the week, one of our designers, Molly, had baked a cake the week before in order to make an advertisement. The cake gave a simple but profound message: "Happy Birthday Influx.¨ It was perfect in every way except for one little thing: the online site was no longer called Influx.
This year, the site name was changed from Influx to Flux Online. Thus poor Molly had to bake an entirely new cake. However, we weren't allowed to eat the cake until the advertisement was finished in case a re-shoot became necessary. The cake rested on top of a file cabinet in the computer lab for a few days, while work continued as usual. After finishing the advertisement, Molly would invite people to eat the cake to no avail — who wants days-old cake? Then, well after midnight during another late night in the lab, the cake was pulled off the cabinet, cut with a pen (the closest thing to a knife around), and stuffed in the mouth of Molly and another cohort. Well, I love cake. I had to join in, and so did most of the others in the room. It tasted delicious. And there we all were, stressed and tired late in the night, laughing as we tried to clean up the crumbs that got all over the floor because we knew we weren't allowed to eat in the lab. Not long after that, I got a stomachache from that cake. This taught me a valuable lesson: sometimes there can be pain in eating three-day-old cake just as there is pain in the magazine-making process homework from other classes is put off or not done, time with friends and family diminishes, and sleep becomes a luxury rather than a requirement. In the end, however, the stomachaches were all worth it.
Flux Memories
"During a not-so-sunny weekend of last-minute design touch ups, I looked out the lab window and saw Trevor hunched over a BBQ under a giant tree grilling chicken. The chicken was a much appreciated (and needed) lunch break." -Desiree Affleje
After a short sigh of relief over the weekend, I realized two important things. The first is that we still had to dedicate a lot of time to proofing the magazine. The second: We had to create a Web site. And with that, the process continued. The online staff became very busy, and the managing staff worked out the kinks with the printer.
For the first time in a long time, staff members not part of the online department got to take a deep breath and possibly even catch up on sleep — or other classes. Those working on the online or management teams still had their work cut out for them.
All the online elements are coming together this week. From page linking to finalizing the documentaries, the staff plans to finish the Web site by Friday.
In the meantime, the magazine has come back from the printer. Staff members got copies of it on Monday during class. Most of the staff hadn't seen the magazine in its full form before. Just like the last day of school when everyone signs each other's yearbook, people stood around reading and talking. Some clutched the book with pride, while others became engulfed with articles they've heard about but never read. We'd dedicated ten weeks of our life to the making of this magazine, and in the end we are left with the knowledge that the product we ended up with is greater than the sum of its parts.
Flux Memories
"The best part of being on staff came June 4 when I held Flux for the first time. It was so rewarding to flip though the stories, smell the pages."
- Megan Clark
