New Biolan Designer
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MEMORANDUM FOR A.S. SENIOR VP / SENATE
FROM: Alex Elmore, Biolan Editor-in-Chief
SUBJECT:
1. Proposal: For the addition of a paid Designer position on next year’s Biolan Staff making the total of such positions two, with a Design Editor over them.
2. Amount Requested: Minimum wage; 10 hours a week.
3. Problems with Status Quo: For the past few years the Biolan staff has slowly become more hierarchical in nature. The most significant step in this process was the conversion of three staff positions into editor positions responsible for the various areas of production. This year this system has continued to develop and I have seen the greater efficiency and the potential of this structure. Instead of locating all of the training, editing and oversight in my position, it is now diffused throughout the staff and given to students who have far more skill in their particular field than I can possibly have in all three. In addition to creating more accountability to create good work, and having more knowledgeable editing, this hiring structure presents the opportunity for the less experienced staff members to be trained and managed by their editors. In my mind this is a significant point and one that contains much potential. If this isn’t readily apparent to you, it may a little later on.
Everything I have said thus far, is background, and largely describes the current situation of my staff. The addition of the second Designer position would be beneficial in two ways. First, it would help balance the amount of time my Designers work. (See attached sheet). Adding another Designer would help even out the workload. Secondly, adding this position would help the Design Editor become more effective in two similar ways; (1) in organizing and directing the look and content of the book, and (2) teaching, training, and integrating the other Designers. For the past several years (as far back as I know anything about the staff) the Design Editor (or functional Design Editor) has basically made the book entirely. She (it has been for the past few years) has not only set the tone/design of the book, but because of time and the amount of work has been unable to substantively coach, train, or learn how to manage/deal with the other Designer. Usually this means that the Designer is assigned much less work, and the pages of little consequence, or those that require little skill, and when editing time comes, the Editor merely changes (essentially redoes) the pages to match the tone of the book. I was aware of this pattern at the beginning of the year because my Design Editor, Jehoaddan, had been the Designer last year, and had experienced this. We both resolved early in the year to bring Katie, the Designer this year, more fully into the process, so that she could get involved and grow in skill, etc. We quickly, however, ran into the difficulties mentioned above and Jehoaddan has frankly been unable to adequately coach or manage Katie and the yearbook simultaneously because whatever she doesn’t assign Katie, she must do herself. This year, I think we have struck a good balance and made Katie a part of the process, but there is still a great deal of tension and much we could not do because of the amount of work and the current structure. Adding another design position would allow the Design Editor to take more of an editor’s and manager’s role over the design of the yearbook (rather than doing two jobs at once: designing and editing) which would both bring down the Editor’s work load (while raising the Designer’s out of obscurity) and enable him/her to do his/her job well. This will, in short, make the current structure more effective, and create an atmosphere of cooperation and growth/learning that is currently repressed by deadlines.
4. Miscellaneous: See attached.
Alex Elmore Biolan Editor-in-Chief