THE PROJECT:
Create the inaugural issue of the Healthy NewsWorks magazine, By Kids, For Kids. The magazine is distributed to students in the Healthy NewsWorks school network and for teachers to use in their classroom.
Role: Designer, Art Director
THE CHALLENGE:
Since this was a brand new project, the challenge was to request specific content from students but work with the actual content that was delivered from the local schools and students. Planned articles were not always up to par to feature in the magazine, and we often didn't know what artwork would come in until we saw what students submitted. For example: we requested images for a cat sitting on top of a pile of books for the book review section, but that image wasn't created by any of the students. Instead, we received other creative interpretations of the topics that often shifted the layouts or the direction of the spread entirely.
REFLECTION:
This was a project of discovery and collaboration - with Healthy NewsWorks and with their student journalists. The reporters worked hard to write articles about the environmental and health benefits of activities like walking instead of driving, drinking water from reusable bottles and disposing of electronics. They explored their own feelings about climate change and beautifully created images from the heart. Each and every student lit up with pride when they saw their article or image featured in the magazine.
This project reinforced the important of flexibility. We created mock-ups and used story boards and envisioned everything we wanted to include - from articles to art to games and coloring. But the students delivered with their own brand of creativity and that resulted in recreating from the ground up. But that is the magic of this project - it truly is a project By Kids, For Kids! To see a flipbook of the entire magazine visit the Healthy NewsWorks site.
Thank you for your message. I'll be back with you shortly. -Andrea, Miller Tan Creative
