From a Day in the Life to Lockdown Life

Lockdown Life magazine front cover

A little while ago I told you about my latest WI project - A Day in the Life - which I started in May and included a blog post about my day under full Lockdown conditions. I had an amazing response with over 31 women taking part, that's around two thirds of our membership. I then spent most of May and some of early June collating it all into a magazine called Lockdown Life.  The picture above shows the front cover with a photo of a local community mosaic which I chose as its colours are similar in tone to everything else. It was such fun to do and I learnt a lot as it was my first attempt at such a thing; I now have a much greater appreciation of the editorial process. 

The magazine's reception has been amazing and I even got to talk about it on local radio recently! It's also going into the Covid-19 archives at our local library, museum and history centre, so we've definitely made our mark on the history of these strange times.

Lockdown Life magazine structure and content


So how did I make the magazine? It was quite an organic process, i.e. I made it up as I went along. With hindsight the steps were:
  • Receipt of entries (via email, Facebook entries, and Facebook Messenger)
  • Collation of entries into one readable document, plus download of images used
  • Identification of content themes and magazine structure - see my scribble above - classy or what? You can see some of the themes didn't make the final cut and the magazine itself is much more colourful than this layout suggests 😉
  • Experimental first layout (books read and on the reading pile) using a spreadsheet (and then realising this was not the way forward for a whole magazine)
  • Further layout experimentation using the free version of Canva (health & wellbeing tips, a programme listing of what we watched, plus our day's menu)
  • Show and tell of the experimental layouts so members could see I was doing something with the information they'd kindly provided. Their enthusiastic response showed I was on the right track
  • Creation of the full magazine in Canva; importing successful experimental layouts, and creation of the remaining content using various Canva templates plus the compilation of a couple of free format ones of my own
  • Sourcing of extra photos to go with some of the narrative - requests to use suitable photos spotted on further Facebook entries; extra photos arrived out of the blue via telepathy; and a last minute scramble for pet photos
  • Creation of a pdf document for proof reading. It was at this point I realised I'd been staring at a typo in a vital word on the front cover for weeks - coronavirus!
  • Proof correction and final document creation
  • Search for an App for a magazine-style online display (thanks to Karen for the Flipsnack recommendation, it was super easy to do)
  • Final publication and publicity
Phew!

And here's the final result - ta dah!



Have a look and let me know what you think in the comments below. Most of the content is in the members' own words and photos 😊

NB Those of you more used to reading garden-related content on Veg Plotting can turn to page 16 of the magazine to see how  members are faring with the free lettuce and sunflower seeds we distributed to them in early May.

UPDATE: Who knew lockdown would go on for so long? Autumn's lockdown 2.0 meant a Winter edition of Lockdown Life was created with My Favourite Things as its theme. Flipsnack's limitations mean I've had to split it in two for the online version with some common content to both so each part flows in its own right. 

Click or tap through to read what makes Pewsham Belles happy or our leisure guide packed with lots of seasonal things see and do! Do pause and admire Wendy's superb sunflower artwork on the cover - the flower which helped our WI get through tougher times in so many ways.

Comments

  1. Diana Studer7 July 2020 at 23:20

    Congratulations - looks as if you enjoyed the challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  2. pat@siteandinsight.com8 July 2020 at 17:49

    Creating something as colourful and accomplished as this is a real accomplishment. Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anna13 July 2020 at 21:29

    Well done you and what a fabulous group to belong too! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  4. VP14 July 2020 at 10:36

    Thanks everyone - it was such fun to do and I love my WI ladies! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. VP14 July 2020 at 10:38

    I've had this wonderful comment via email, I'm chuffed to bits!

    Thank you for blogging

    "Hi Michelle, I love reading your blogs and I've clicked the link to Flipsnack (brilliant, but wouldn't want to live in Canary Wharf). I live in Mid Wales and only see fields out of my windows.

    I volunteer for a local monthly newspaper and we usually meet and use a huge table to spread out the pages, rather like you did in pencil form but we only publish locally and in paper form of 48 pages. I will however pass your Flipsnack link to the editor.

    Anyway, well done you and I hope your WI appreciate your efforts. I was a member once but our WI was full of much older ladies who never wanted anymore than a monthly talk, cup of tea and a natter. A very old fashioned club with minutes and the collect read before each meeting. I formed a break-away group called Tanat Girls and we've not looked back. We do lots of things every month and care and support each other in the same way.

    I am secretary of Llanrhaeadr Garden Club which is why I follow your blogspot as I'm always roaming the internet for ideas, speakers and gardens to visit.

    Thank you very much.

    Sue"

    ReplyDelete
  6. Arun22 July 2020 at 18:55

    Congratulations ! It must be a nice read , I am sure .

    ReplyDelete

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