The final page of a magazine is the toughest one to plan. It's the last thing readers will see, so it needs to be memorable. But it's only a single page, so it needs to be brief. It stands on its own, so it needs to encapsulate the vibe of the magazine for one last quick take before the reader closes the cover. The Brown Alumni Magazine "Current Obsession" is designed to bring readers straight into the life of a current student (or sometimes faculty member) but just for five minutes. In their own words, the subjects describe something they are passionate about. We have our student interns conduct and record the interviews, transcribe them and use them as the basis for crafting the final piece. We capture the subject's speech as it actually was, so the resulting first-person narrative is always intimate, often surprising, and 100 percent authentic--"umm's," "err's," and "like's" included. To complement those narratives, a portrait occupies the top half of the page. In each case, we try to capture the subject engaged in their "current obsession."
From the Judges
Authentic, thoughtful, a bit quirky. We all appreciated the creativity and concept here and thought with a few composition and lighting improvements the entry could really shine.
