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Case Study:
VSO Magazine
February-April 2021
The Vietnamese Student Organization (VSO) commemorates every school year in a fully published magazine. Acting as a yearbook, the Multimedia team and their magazine committee is in charge of designing all necessary spreads by their Tết show. ​
This year's theme was an Undying Dynasty. This inspired me to combine strong cultural themes presented in a Vogue fashion.
Skills
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Leadership
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Graphic Design
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Photography
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Photo Editing
Tools
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Photoshop
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InDesign
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Lightroom
Roles
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Me (Editor-in-Chief)
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Magazine Committee
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Magazine Assistants
Problem
How can we create a memorable magazine during the COVID-19 Pandemic?
Core Issues
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Vietnamese Student Organization (VSO) had to cancel or modify several traditional events such as Pho Fundraiser and the VSO'liday Party. This means that there will be a lack of content in the magazine this year. Still, we are required to follow magazine specifications and need a substantial deliverable.
In addition, due to the shift to virtual classes, there was an expected low turnout for committees and events. Photographing and documenting this year would prove to be difficult.
Inspiration
The theme of Undying Dynasty represents the legacy of VSO. A jewel-toned palette was created to convey sophistication and royalty. A Pinterest board was created by the Magazine Committee that captured cultural themes, colors, and media.
Here were the two main images used for inspiration:
Color Palette:
Magazine Assistants
As Editor-in-Chief, I allowed members to freely learn and design their spreads. ​For some Magazine Assistants, this would be their first time designing spreads or using Adobe software. When joining our team, members are expected to have little to no experience. Overall, I wanted them to have a beginner-friendly learning experience in an open safe space.
Work Distribution
I outlined and assigned different magazine spreads. In addition, it was my responsibility to design the cover. ​
The whole of Magazine Committee worked together on the photoshoot. In addition, Magazine Assistants were allowed to pick which spreads they wanted to do. ​
The rest of the Magazine Assistants will pick up leftover spreads. These were distributed based on spread difficulty. ​ The contents of all the articles were written by VSO officers. Thus, Magazine Committee's focus was purely on design.
Meetings
Every 2 weeks, Magazine Committee would meet to review progress and establish goals. These meetings were conducted over Zoom with "Meeting Minutes" to outline what was discussed and allow absent members catch up.
In addition, "Meeting Minutes" acted as a reference document to magazine guidelines and specifications.
During the week, I kept communication lines open since Assistants often had both design and technical questions.
Photoshoot
To solve our problem, we decided to transform the "Meet the Officers" spread into an editorial photoshoot spread. Each officer would be dressed in traditional Vietnamese outfits and have a fun biography written about them. This has never been done before.
The multimedia team planned a location and schedule. Our responsibilities included taking pictures and photo editing for 20 officers. The photoshoot itself took two days.
Challenges + Conclusions
Concerning challenges, there were several team and technical difficulties. Although we welcome everyone of different experiences to help out with the magazine, the constraints that COVID-19 created left little room for mentoring and help. Previously, there would be in-person magazine sessions where everyone would meet and work on the magazine. Instead, I opened communications up for members to ask for help and guidance. This led to requests and inquiries made at extreme hours. However, the entire team was understanding when asking for reasonable response times and we successfully set expectations for communication times.
A technical difficulty that arose was deadlines and magazine progression. For Magazine Committee, we maximized our time by working on the photoshoot and magazine at the same time. This is because despite these responsibilities, we were also required to plan for the cultural show. This led to points where the production pipeline ran back to back. The photoshoot pictures were being edited once they were taken and put into the magazine. Considering time, this was necessary to do.
Overall, the magazine came out as a stunning success. With 70 copies printed, all copies were reserved and delivered at the end of the semester. There was positive feedback from peers and other organizations about our work. In addition, the photoshoot portion became my legacy as Editor-in-Chief. In future magazines, readers will look forward to the photoshoot segment.
Bonus: watch our photoshoot showcase here!
Process
Problem
Conclusions
Final Product
Introduction
Photoshoot
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