Production Manager
August 2020 - May 2021
The Collegian is Willamette University’s student run newspaper.
At the beginning of the year, I worked closely with other members of executive council to shift the newspaper to digital only operations and publishing. After that hurdle, I oversaw a team of Layout Editors and supported ongoing projects. It was so rewarding to see the staff build confidence in their skills and abilities throughout the year as well as see the community’s trust in the newspaper telling their stories.
As part of the digital shift, I pioneered a weekly newsletter to keep people in the loop. My process was compiling articles from the week, writing summaries, and designing the email on MailChimp. Mock up template by muhazdinata.
Throughout the year, I supported articles through designing visuals, editing, and guiding direction. Here are a few headlines of articles I helped with:
“Memorial for Japanese American WU Students Forced into Camps During WWII More Relevant than Ever”
“Battle of the Milks: Willamette’s Take on Alternative Milk Discourse”
“Willamette Reduces 2021-22 Tuition by Almost $10,000, Net Price Remains the Same”
Maintaining morale and relationships with staff was a challenge considering we were virtual. To foster togetherness, I ordered t-shirts, Collegian stickers, and mailed goody bags to staff members. On a regularly basis, I kept my camera on in meetings, stayed active in Slack, and offered assistance and advice to anyone that asked to create a welcoming work environment.
Increasing engagement with our audience was an ongoing project. For one campaign, I collaborated with our Social Media Manager and Digital Artist to create a duck naming competition for our redesigned mascot. Not only was this campaign fun, but it lead to more views on our articles. Mock up template by muhazdinata.
A win for journalism and a good introduction for Boots, The Collegian duck!
As part of our COVID coverage, my team and I worked on a notification map on InDesign. We recreated our campus’ map and used emails from the university to visually note where the individual was last. Fortunately, there weren’t that many cases Spring 2021.
The university administration also reached out to my team to create a wellness guide that provided tips and entertainment options for students during the quiet period after returning from winter break.
Above is a brochure I designed to build The Collegian’s evergreen recruitment efforts. It included quotes from professors on their perspective on the importance of journalism. Mock up template by muhazdinata.
Other recruitment changes included rewriting job descriptions to be more inclusive, emphasizing the resources and training provided for staff and reaching out to cultural groups about job opportunities.