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This is the second year that COMM337: Understanding
Magazines has been running here in the Communication
and Media department at the University of Liverpool,
and it goes from strength to strength; this year saw
almost twice as many students as last year studying
magazines as part of their third year curriculum.
The module aims in the first part of the semester to give
students an understanding of the magazine industry,
looking at its history and development, the impact of
the digital era, magazine production inside and outside
the mainstream, and how titles relate to their readers.
We welcomed guest speakers working at both ends of the
industry to talk about what they do, from bringing digital
success to major publishing companies around the world to
publishing a feminist zine here in the north west of England.
One of the first things that students discovered was how
radically desktop publishing had altered the production
of magazines since its arrival in the mid-1980s: now anybody
with a computer can make a professional-looking magazine. So,
students were asked to demonstrate their understanding of
the industry by coming up with the concept for a new magazine,
and taught to use the industry-standard software [Adobe
InDesign, which is loaded on to the machines in our dedicated
Mac suite] to create the front cover of its launch issue.
As well as allowing students to develop practical skills
that will appeal to employers in the creative industries,
the assignment also required them to think critically
about magazines: how do they send signals to their readers
about what kind of text they are and who they talk to? How
do they find and address a gap or a change in the market?
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