Lessons from a Community Magazine
I decided to volunteer for our in-house residential magazine, and what unfolded afterwards was an amazing adventure in creativity & diversity!
I was still licking my wounds after a disastrous startup attempt, figuring out how to come out of the fog. But there was a lot of calm after the storm too; failure had become just an annoying twitch inside my head that I had grown accustomed to live with. I’m not exactly a socially-dextrous being either, but somehow wanted to contribute to the activities of our small but vibrant residential complex without being too conspicuous. And Lo! A perfect opportunity arose to volunteer behind-the-scenes when a revered senior citizen and an enthusiastic entrepreneur decided to come up with a community e-magazine — christened ‘Communaute’.
The Pitch:
I sent a note to our chief editor who is in his 70s. Although neighbours, we had not met before as was typical in a busy, growing city like Bangalore. OMG! The meeting turned out to be the most grilling interview I’d ever faced. Of course, he was skeptical because I was from a much more ‘whimsical’ generation (well, relatively speaking!). After an intense discourse on life’s secret sauces, the conversation finally steered towards the e-digest. I pitched the advantages of using free web tools tailored for the endeavour versus getting into a combat mode with MS Word. By the end of 2.5 hrs, the proposal piqued his curiosity. The next day, he came over to our house and I showed him a demo of online graphic design tools(e.g. Canva, Adobe Spark etc). Finally, he became convinced and I was promptly added to the editorial board!
The Task:
The objective of the magazine was simple: bring the community together; showcase talent (especially children); post interesting tidbits; family interviews; health tips, etc. And we live in India, where residents belonging to different states or region happen to have a distinct take on almost all matters. Also, it was important to cater to sensibilities and cultural diversities of three or sometimes even four generations living in the community. This was indeed a one-size-should-fit-all mandate! The commitment on my part was that I would make the magazine more appealing in order to make people curious enough to actually read. All eyes were on me. Now I was terrified! The annoying twitch inside was beginning to feel a little ominous…
Taking a deep breath and appealing to all the gods, I prepared myself for the ride. The original issue was a darn good foundation which sparked everyone’s attention, so it was crucial to retain the same spirit. I then started to work on the next draft while adding my own take on it. I wasn’t an artist nor a designer by any means, but managed to put together free stock images to create an emotional connect for every article. Using online tools certainly made the process more efficient and faster. To my pleasant surprise, it felt therapeutic applying makeup to the content contributed by the residents themselves. It was important to make sure the artwork augmented but never eclipsed the original writing. After all, every piece was an unadulterated expression from a grandparent / mother / father / wife / husband / son / daughter / child. It was our duty to maintain it’s sanctity.
The Verdict:
The team loved the proposed draft. Our commander-in-chief-editor, was over the moon! Meanwhile, he smartly announced that a doctor from the complex had agreed to sponsor for printed hard copies — at least for a few months taking into account the comfort levels of the older generation. We released on time. The magazine was accepted with so much love and appreciation! And my worries flew out of the window. Our finest moment came when a mother of a 5 year old mentioned that her daughter spent a few hours just tinkering with it! There was also feedback from a few residents not to waste paper unnecessarily so we further restricted the hard copies for those who opted for the same — mainly households that had senior citizens and children.
Progress:
Over the next few months a couple more neighbours volunteered and have now become a part of the bubbling editorial. The insanely fun whatsapp debates in the team feel as if we are being catapulted back to college. Most have hectic day jobs too, but so far we’ve never missed a delivery on the first Sunday of every month. At first, the editorial members would approach the residents for articles, but now we find more and more coming forward to write for the magazine! Surely, that is a sign that more were reading!
We are still learning, refining, evolving; we will continue as long as articles keep trickling in or there could be a new set of people coming in suggesting new formats. All I know is, in the years to come, if the 20-page monthly rekindles a memory in a young adult strong enough to re-imagine the same, we’d all be so thrilled!
Key Takeaways:
1] Diversity & Inclusion Begin at Home
“There are not more than five primary colours, yet in combination,
they produce more hues than can ever been seen.” — Sun Tzu
Armed with nothing but a common conviction, a whole community participating in the creative process facilitates a rich exchange of perspectives— age-wise, gender-wise, culture-wise, personality-wise, sensibility-wise. An environment that fosters empathy, goes a long way when compared to the repetitively prepped and orchestrated diversity conferences that have become the norm nowadays.
2] Everyone is a star
There is mind-blowing creativity everywhere. Every painting, poem, photo, story, article, interview made me sit and ponder for some time. Not one item was a copy-paste of another. We all have something unique to offer in this planet!
3] Happiness doesn’t have to be your own
The wonder in a child’s eyes seeing his/her photo in print — priceless!
