Internship at iN Magazine

Being an intern at iN magazine I thought I would be getting coffee’s, helping with paperwork and photocopying, but Publisher Zoe Hopkins had bigger plans for me.

My internship started with a staff meeting at a nearby hotel where I was informed that I would be helping the website designers launch iN’s new website from a journalistic view –Coffee girl I was not.

Over the next month I worked closely with web designers at AreaFiftyOne to try and create a website from magazine material, which requires more than just a quick copy and paste.

My first task was to compile a directory of local business which would attract traffic to the site and be used as an advertising base in which companies can upload their logo and more details about themselves. By doing this I became familiar with the magazines customers, which made it easier when I needed to ring them about advertising or events later in the month.

It also gave me an insight into internet advertising, and the many different ways in which it can be done. Looking at magazines you can see the advertising clearly, even in editorial. Online it's a whole different ball game however, with unrestricted advertising space with the use of expandables, links, directories and pop ups.

This task took around a week of calls and excel spread sheets, and after this I worked closely with Editor Rose Keen and Director Ashleigh Mandie to upload editorial content onto the site template. As the content was submitted to the team from writers I would sub edit it for magazine use; once it was set on a page I would receive the PDF and convert it to the website.

I did this by using the operating system Joomla, which was made easier with the application Flexi Content. This made it much easier to lay out articles and upload pictures, and we started making plans to install slide shows to feature the photo articles the magazine included.

Working with Ashleigh I became a lot more aware of the look and layout of articles, rather than just content. Layout and look are extremely important to web pages and magazines as whilst browsing the web or flicking through a magazine you stop on a page that catches your eye. As I work mainly on Video Journalism at University I hasn't really focused on the look of articles before, and I think this has really strengthened my editorial skills in that area.

I also got to see how advertising works within a magazine environment, again something I haven’t experienced at University. Seeing the advertising girls sell and the freelance designer set the adverts it has made me aware just how important advertising is, and how a lot of the editorial is based around advertisers (the BBC have it lucky). When I think about my future work I think about writing whatever features I wish with no guidelines, but being in a real work environment I see that small independents solely rely on the advertising revenue, so a lot of the editorial is sold to local businesses -a clever extra I hadn’t noticed before.

Although I did learn a lot from the experience, It made me realise my training at Winchester University is better than I thought. After going into the big wide world of work and seeing a magazine created from scratch to print I noticed a lot of mistakes even my University Publication adheres by. For example we are very strict about copyright laws regarding pictures, we have set Subs to make sure the articles are ready for submission and are a lot more organised (amazingly!). By working in the magazine It amazed me at just how many mistakes commissioned writers make when submitting articles for a distinguished publication –there were many more careless mistakes submitted compared to what I receive from my reporters at an unpaid University Publication.

I really enjoyed working at iN magazine, and even got invited to their Charity Valentines Red and Black Ball as a goodbye gesture, which was fantastic.

I hope in the future that I'll be lucky enough to bag myself a job at a similar publication, the buzz of going to print is addictive and after working at iN I now see myself (hopefully) working as an online editor to a features publication.