CAFME Recap for February 15: Terence Oliver

Wednesday night, J-School professor, Terence Oliver came to speak to us about the Magazine Design class, working on publications and the iPad.

Miss the meeting? Need a refresher? Keep reading to see what he had to share with us!

About the Magazine Classes

• The writing and design classes come together each semester to collaborate on two magazines.
• The process is entirely student driven, bringing in student photographers, editors and ad classes.
• The writing class pitches ideas to the team and the professors (Linda Brinson, Magazine Writing professor) pick to two to move forward with. Students break into teams and look at the target market. Designers then create a style guide and writers create stories. Leadership structures resemble the real world, with editors, art directors and assistant art directors. The entire time, the magazine evolves as teams reevaluate the work being done.
• In the past, the classes have produced Earth + Sky (which won first place in the nation for a start-up magazine), Carolina Fresh, Men's Retirement, Bean & Leaf and Wabi Sabi.
• "Really the whole goal is to have our magazines be a real experience on the job, but also to help people...it become more than an experience in the classroom and becomes research into our design and storytelling." Terence Oliver

Moving Toward the iPad

• "No matter what, we have to move forward with digital connections. It's was all about risk tasking. For me, it was all about opportunity." TO
• In fall 2011, Terence wanted to raise the bar and incorporate mobile devices into the curriculum. With no guarantees of its success, Terence added the component to the syllabus. Using InDesign CS5.5 with iPad design capabilites, the class went to work to create two apps for each magazine, re-purposing the designs of each story.
• "Every page, we look at it and think, 'How can we make it interactive?'" TO
• The app is free now, but monetizing it later on could pull money into the J-School and the class in later semesters. This would create more funds for printing and give the magazines a higher circulation so the community can get their hands on it. 
• Each semester, the opportunity becomes greater. Terence is considering future classes to work on one start up magazine, and one continued magazine from a previous semester which can feed money back into the classes.

Terence Oliver on Success

"Just have fun, explore, go crazy, then reel yourself in -- that's the most fun. When you do that, it shows in your work and people feel it and enjoy it."

"Even if you're not in this class, you got to have progessive thinking. You have a legacy to uphold in journalism. Step up to the plate and hit a home run."

"Success is planned. Surround yourself with people of the same mindset."


Thanks to everyone who came out and to Terence Oliver for speaking to us!

CAFME Recap for Jan. 25: Pace Communications Associate Editor Kelly Thore

From Chapel Hill to Manhattan to Greensboro, UNC alumna Kelly Thore's magazine career has taken her far in the two years since she graduated. Kelly spoke to Cafme during our second meeting about her time at Cosmopolitan and her new job at Pace Communications.

Miss the meeting? Looking for the key points? Keep reading to see what she said!

About Kelly

• Kelly graduated from UNC in 2010. Around this time, her friend and fellow UNC alum Robin Hilmantel, who was working as an editorial assistant at Cosmo,, got a promotion to associate editor. Robin contacted Kelly and asked her if she'd be interested in applying for the open editorial assistant position. Kelly did, and after she took an edit test and flew up to NYC for an interview, she got the job.
• After about a year and a half at Cosmo, Kelly received a call from an editor at Pace, where Kelly had interned as an undergraduate. The editor told her about a job opening for a custom publication called Hotline The Americas, which covers the hospitality industry. Kelly loved the job description, especially because the job involved traveling, so she interviewed for the position and got the job. Kelly has worked at Pace for about six months and says she loves it.

CAFME Recap for Jan. 18: Jennifer Abella of Washington Post Magazine

Welcome back, Cafme members! We hope you were able to make it out to the first meeting of the semester. We had a great Skype session with UNC alumna Jennifer Abella, who is a copy editor at Washington Post Magazine.

Miss the meeting? Need a refresher? Keep reading to see what she had to tell us!

Meet Jennifer

• Jennifer graduated from UNC in 2000 as a political science and journalism major.
• She knew that she wanted to be involved in copy editing after she started working at The Daily Tar Heel during her first year of college.
• Before landing her first job at The Washington Post, she interned at the Salisbury Post,The News & Observer, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Washington Post.
• Jennifer worked at The Washington Post from 2000 to 2010, when she began working at Washington Post Magazine. She's worked at Washington Post Magazine for a little over a year.
• At Washington Post Magazine, Jennifer is a copy editor, but she does much more than copy editing. She also helps with web production, is an assignment editor for front-of-book stories (articles that appear at the beginning of the magazine) and works with other assignment editors and writers to fact-check, perfect and assign pieces.

About Washington Post Magazine

• The magazine has a staff of nine, which includes designers, production chiefs, copy editors, assignment editors and the main editor.
• There are no staff writers on the magazine, but sometimes staff writers from The Washington Post will write stories for the magazine. Jennifer estimates that 80 percent of the staff is freelance.
  
• The magazine works really far in advance. For example, someone who is writing an article now may not see it published until December.

End of the Semester: Have a Great Break!

It's the end of the semester, and we just want to thank you for joining or remaining involved in CAFME this year! We hope you've had as much fun as we have, and we can't wait for an even better second semester.

Thanks, too, to everyone who came out for our end of semester party. We had a lot of fun at Back Bar, and we enjoyed getting to know some of you better!




CAFME End of Semester Party at Back Bar.

New York City Trip 2012

What: An NYC trip to visit THE ACTUAL Ed2010 (our national organization) in the spring and meet its national founders. Talk about fulfilling a love for magazines.

Trip Dates: Sunday, March 25 – Tuesday March 27, 2012

Application Deadline: Friday, January 20, 2012, at 5 p.m. EST.

Notification: Sunday, January 22, 2012, at 5 p.m. EST.

Cost of Trip: ~ $300 (currently $200 for round trip plane ticket, $100 for two nights)

Money Due: Friday, January 27, 2012, at 5 p.m. EST (more details TBD)

Email unccafme@gmail.com if you have questions!

The application was e-mailed to the listserv, but if you didn't get it, see below!

CAFME Recap for Nov. 9: All About Beer Magazine Advertising Manager Amy Dalton

This Wednesday, Advertising Manager Amy Dalton from All About Beer Magazine came and talked to us about the magazine, what it's like to work for a smaller publication and much more! Keep reading to see what she had to tell us!

About All About Beer

-All About Beer is located in Durham, N.C. It's a small magazine, but it has an international distribution, with the largest audience in the U.S. There are seven full-time employees, including Amy, a managing editor, an operations manager and a publisher.

-All About Beer is a bimonthly publication. Every year, a special issue is released around the fall, Amy says. For example, two years ago, the magazine had an issue celebrating its 30th anniversary. There have also been a beer styles guide and a guide to beer festivals.

-Amy says All About Beer caters to consumers of beer, but more specifically, people who want to drink more than Miller Lite and Budweiser. But, at the same time, All About Beer wants to cater to people who are accepting of all beers and want to learn more about them. Amy says the magazine's job is to educate people about beer.

CAFME Recap for Nov. 2: Chapel Hill Magazine Editor Andrea Griffith Cash

This Wednesday, Chapel Hill Magazine editor Andrea Griffith Cash came and spoke to us about the magazine, her duties as editor and much more! Read on to see what Andrea had to tell us!

About Chapel Hill Magazine

-Chapel Hill Magazine caters to the town of Chapel Hill, Andrea says. By doing this, the magazine is intensely local. Only Chapel Hill is covered as opposed to Chapel Hill and surrounding cities, such as Raleigh and Durham.

-Topics and stories featured in the magazine include homes, food, weddings, artists, photo essays and character profiles.

-Six issues are published during the year.

-The magazine is conversational and has a celebratory tone, Andrea says. The magazine is meant to show how much pride there is in Chapel Hill. As a result, the magazine doesn't cover too many bad events or topics that are more likely to be seen in a newspaper, such as city council meetings.

-Andrea says that she hopes to improve some aspects of the magazine, such as its web presence and audio and video use. Since the magazine is published every other month, updated content on the Chapel Hill Magazine website helps to keep the magazine relevant and interesting between issues, Andrea says.

-Andrea also hopes to organize more events that are hosted by the magazine. She says this will help to enhance the brand of Chapel Hill Magazine as well as create more goodwill in the community.