Magazine service package 2
“Scarlet, Gray and Read All Over” is a multi-story feature package about Ohio State’s longstanding independent student newspaper The Lantern.
Year: Spring 2020
Employer: The Ohio State University
Position: Associate editor, Ohio State Alumni Magazine
The headline of the package is a cheeky play on Ohio State’s scarlet and gray school colors and the joke “What’s black, white, and read all over?”
The Lantern is one of the nation’s longest running independent student news operations. The brand is most closely associated with its printed newspaper, but the Lantern experience for students today is primarily online, on social media, and in broadcast. Each medium is a high-pressure training ground for journalism students at Ohio State.
This multi-story feature package pivots on an immersive longform feature that takes readers into the Lantern newsroom on deadline. Readers also hear from alumni who have had distinguished careers in journalism and communications. They meet a 19th century Lantern staff. And they see how student journalists made news decisions on some of the most consequential days in American history.
I had the idea to hire only freelancers who had worked for The Lantern to work on this package, a thrilling experience for the writers and story subjects. The resulting conversations had a buoyant family reunion feeling—totally relatable for people who had been through the pressure cooker environment of The Lantern.
Lantern alum Shelley Mann wrote an immersive longform feature that threads throughout the package. Other story forms: as-told-to interviews with noteworthy Lantern alumni and technology snapshots.
Role and process:
Honed the valuable but vague idea “We should do something about The Lantern” into stories, story types, lengths, and forms.
Located and hired freelance writers who had worked for The Lantern as students, enlisting personal and university networks for connections. We hired many first-time and one-time writers for this package, but the extra contract work was worthwhile.
Assigned and managed all content through source review and approval, internal stakeholder review and approval, and publication.
Collaborated with art director, designers and photographer for presentation concepts. When developing a nonlinear story type such as the image of the 19th century Lantern staff and their bios, I typically sketch a concept for the art director or designer, estimate word count based on that sketch and instruct the writer to write specifically to the design.
Ohio State’s archives are a treasure trove of images and information. We knew our readers loved some nostalgia with their magazine content and we were delighted to give it to them. For this package, we published this charming photograph of the Lantern staff of 1892 and assigned a freelance writer to track down biographical information about some of the people shown. One takeaway message: Some things never change!
Coordinated with UX/UI designer to determine how best to translate the package to the magazine website.
Consulted with email marketing and social media colleagues to schedule strategic release of package content through email and social media channels.
