Master's in Publishing at the University of the Arts London

The Project Assignments

Learning and working with real-life practical publishing projects is unique to the the MA Publishing course at LCC. This is due to the practical assignments and the formidable printing and digital resources generously made available by our equipment sponsors. 

Experiential learning, or learning through experience, forms an important part of the course's ethos. This unique applied learning opportunity, which is only available on the publishing master's at LCC, challenges each student to use theory alongside real publishing professional practice. Accordingly, LCC graduates are highly prized by publishing employers as publishers know that the course forms excellent new talent who can hit the ground running.

The MA Publishing Group Practical Project:

  1. Helps to develop creative, research and analytic skills to make better judgments in future professional publishing practice.
  2. Advances planning and project management skills and the learning of communication and people management capabilities.
  3. Provides an understanding of collaborative behaviour and leadership norms across different cultures and publishing functions.
  4. Allows the actual production of a publishing idea from start to finish: a new book, or magazine, or/and an online product or event.
  5. Communication and research abilities are assessed with the follow-up group presentation and written reports of the project. 

This practical learning is advanced within Publishing Management in Phase 2 after students have sufficient knowledge of core publishing competencies and exposure to industry speakers and the Phase 1 group work assignments. The teaching and industry speakers in Phase 2 also provides the additional knowledge and perspectives on business general management and project management to support the execution of the group practical project.

Project Assessment: Presentation and report

For the assessment of the Publishing Management learning unit each team makes a group presentation and each member submits an individual report. The report critiques the project from strategic and tactical qualitative approaches taken in the organisation and project management of the project.

The rest of this page showcases some of the group practical projects by past MA Publishing students at LCC. First, take a look at this three minute video for an overview of the 2008 MA Publishing project artefacts at LCC.

Or see this on YouTube.

 

Catch Magazine

Photo

Catch magazine was planned as the UK's first free women's weekly to be distributed throughout London Underground stations and gyms. Catch is targeted at female London commuters aged between 20 to 45. The editorial is a light mix of health, beauty, fashion, lifestyle, gossip and news. Catch is every woman's free weekly gift. Project management co-ordination and project administration was assisted by the project team's own blog. 

To view the Catch team over the key stages of their practical project see this 3 minutes Catch video.

Production Specification: Magazine, Colour, Digital Printing, 48 pages, 120gsm, 214mm x 282mm

Project Team:

"Catch magazine allowed me to recognise the true nature of this live project. I was able to put into perspective all the factors needed to publish and produce a successful magazine. The most important thing learnt was, good teamwork encourages excellent results. With Catch's realistic project management strategies it was rewarding to see the magazine grow and develop into a working product" 

Priya Kukadia, 24, First Degree: Graphic Communication, Bath Spa University.

 

SHAG

Photo

SHAG is a collection of shags of all kinds: hairstyles, retro carpets, swing dance, birds, booze, tobacco and all other shags under the sun in the form of poems, stories, and illustrations.

Production Specification:  Book, Colour, Digital Printing, 90 pages, 120gsm, 148mm x 210mm

Project Team:

"SHAG realised my idealistic ideas of what it took to make a book: teamwork, skill, passion, creativity, and pure unadulterated love. Pragmatism coupled with romanticism provides me with an edgy form of professionalism that couldn't have been possible without the LCC MA Publishing opportunity.

Clarissa Dolphin, 24, First Degree: English Writing & English Literature, University of Pittsburgh

 

FOOTPRINTS

Photo

Footprints is a monthly multicultural children's book-a-zine, a mix of book and magazine formats, aimed at 7-11 years old. Multicultural London was its inspiration. Footprint's editorial mission is to promote that diversity and to broaden the children's knowledge and respect of different cultures. A sense of travel was important with stories from around the world. Footprints characters, Effi and Cass, lead readers to stories from around the world and from different times, showing them the way among pages full of games, challenges and a lot of fun. In one day, kings throw challenges to their beautiful daughters throughout medieval Elephant & Castle; in the other, let’s travel all the way to Russia and learn some popular tales and poetry from that country. The content includes a rich array of illustrations, which were commissioned from some LCC BA Illustration Design students. A chocolate bar was supplied as a covermount as an extra incentive for parents and children to buy!

Production Specification: Book, Colour, Digital Printing, 64 pages, 120gsm, 210mm x 235mm

Project Team:

"This realistic publishing scenario stressed how a team should meditate, outline, sketch and dissect every single aspect of a project before rushing into completion to avoid missing the point of the brief and ensure success. It also showed that "I" really does not exist in a team."

Vanessa Bolosier, 24, First Degree: Social Science, Ecole de Travail Social Rabelais.

 

Snippets and Snapshots: Hackney from a Barber's Chair

Photo

Snippets and Snapshots is a cultural art book which documents the everyday lives of five barbers and hairdressers and their shops in Hackney, London. It is also a book about local history, people, and streets - a community constantly changing and moving - of people coming, and people going. Hackney encompasses London's most richly diverse communities and the book has fascinating stories, illustrations and photography. 

Production Specification: Book, Colour, Digital Printing, 70 pages, 120gsm, 173mm x 160mm

Project Team & Documentarists

"This real life publishing project at LCC helped me untangle those confusions of selfhood and pure aesthetic motivation, and channel the creative drive into a project or concept of sustainable worth and artistic value"

Chris Hart, 28, and AHRC Scholarship candidate. First Degree: American Literature, Goldsmiths College, University of London.

 

B Magazine - Spring 2008 Issue1

Photo

'B' is a book review magazine which presents intelligent criticism in the style of the London Review of Books, in an visually stimulating way and relates books to contemporary issues, lifestyle and current events.

The driving concept was to produce a magazine that combines the small portable format and modern look of magazines like Glamour with the high quality content of literary reviews that the London Review of Books prides themselves on. The magazine is plit into seven sections: Entertainment, Lifestyle, Society, Health and Fitness, Food and Drink, Art and Architecture, Travel. Each part reviews books associated to the theme of the section, discusssing events, films, exhibitions and issues people with literary interests might enjoy. 

Production Specification: Magazine, Colour, Digital Printing, 86 pages, 90gsm, 150mm x 210mm

Project Team:

"Each team member brings his own unique experience, knowledge and... personal problems. Get along with everybody and try to get the most out of each is simply an art. Being professional is not easy especially when as a matter of fact you are a student that has to do with the real world. With the project you can step in this real world ahead of time and gather a better understanding of your skills and your vocation."

Annalisa Lottini, 27, First degree: Foreign Languages, University of Pisa (Italy)

 

Sketch - the world's no.1 street fashion magazine: London Issue

Photo

Sketch magazine's first issue portrays the vibrancy and zany street fashion of London's diverse communities. This gorgeous feast of colour and photographic collection of street scences takes the reader through various neighbourhoods of London where Vogue or GQ would not dare, except perhaps for the street fashion in Notting Hill!

Production Specification: Magazine, Colour, Digital Printing, 144 pages, 120gsm, 270mm x 123mm

 Project Team

"The practical project taught me that though project management and team work theory is invaluable in managing time and resources the final result however depends on how effectively you deal with different people. That is is the most important thing I learnt."

Chenyu Zhao, 28, First degree: Graphic Design, University for the Creative Arts, Kent and Material Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing

 

Blurb Magazine 2008 - Arts London Publishing Annual Issue 4

Photo

Blurb is a magazine which is created, published and printed once a year by MA Publishing students and printed at the LCC. The magazine is distributed to all of the six colleges of the University of the Arts London and also to publishers. This issue, the fourth, since Blurb was originally conceived, boldly takes the magazine in a new direction with a wider range of features, and a sharper design layout. The sumptuous matte and environmental paper supplied and sponsored by Robert Horne marks the magazine's entry into sustainable publishing. In addtion, a companion website and blog allows the publication of an online version, plus new stories between issues. Blurb's print edition has an exclusive interview with Andy Cowles, the Editorial Director of IPC Media, and Blurb Online has an further exclusive interview - with Tyler Brule, the founder of Wallpaper* and Monocle.

Print production specification: Colour, Offset Printing, 72 pages, 120gsm Revive matte, 270mm x 120mm

Blurb Digital: Ceros software Flash generated digital magazine http://www.blurbmag.co.uk

Project Team:

"Blurb magazine gave me the chance to realise the production of a magazine from scratch, from the editorial to issues of marketing, sponsorship and printing. This valuable experience has helped me cope immediately after my graduation with managerial responsibilities."

Nikolaos Koumartzis, 24, First Degree: Computer Science, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

 

Still Reading? Publishing Innovation annual conference 2008

Photo

Future reading trends was the theme of the 2008 MA Publishing Innovation Conference (see http://www.publishinginnovation.com) which was organised by this group of students as their real-life project. The conference explored, with eminent industry figures, the future possible impacts and solutions on book and magazine publishers of reading behaviour with digital culture. The conference was sponsored by Macmillan Publishers and attracted over 100 delegates.

Project team:

"This real-life publishing project gave me confidence in managing people and resources to create a successful event. It highlighted how important it is to identify the skills, abilities and sensitivities of the group working together."

Danielle Innes, 24, First Degree: English Studies, The University of Nottingham UK

Have a look below at a three minute video of the 'Still Reading?' Publishing Innovation Conference 2008.

 

shadow-left2
books-pile
books-pile1
shadow-left2a
magazine-pile
magazine-pile1

2008 Project Artefacts

Blurb Magazine

Blurb Magazine - MA Publishing Management project

Snippets & Snapshots

Snippets and Snapshopts

Catch Magazine

Catch Magazine

Sketch

Sketch magazine - publishing project

Publishing Innovation conference 2008 programme

Conference programme

Books (literary magazine)

Books literary magazine - publishing project

Shag

Shag book - publishing project

Footprints

Footprints - Publishing project