Portrait’s Publication Process
Written By Katherine Lim ‘22
Though Portrait is a relatively new magazine, we have a very streamlined publication process. Our team isn’t that large, but everyone works extremely hard. We put our hearts and souls into creating the pieces and designing each issue to share with the world. So, if you have ever been interested in how we are able to have such amazing pieces featured in such a beautiful magazine twice a year, here is a little insight to our process!
The beginning is always my favorite part. There is a combination of new and old faces in our meetings: people who have been part of Portrait in the past and people who want to be a new contributor to something so special.
Step 1: Of course, we have to start by coming up with a title and theme for the issue we’re working on. If someone has a lot of ideas of what to write, this can narrow their list down to a piece that fits the overall theme, or it can inspire new ideas.
Step 2: The next step is for members to decide whether to be a writer, editor, designer, be part of the launch committee, or part of the publicity team. Portrait is unique in that it’s possible, and in fact quite easy, to have multiple roles. For example, I’m both an editor and I write blog posts for our website (obviously)! It’s also easy to switch roles from issue to issue if you want to try out different aspects of the creation process.
Step 3: Once everyone has decided on their respective roles, it’s time to write the pieces! The writers spend a lot of time and are very dedicated to their written pieces for the magazine. It’s not all just written pieces though. There are also art pieces and photographs, which are all amazing as well.
Step 4: The first round of editing begins! Editors leave their revisions and talk with their writers, and the writers revise their pieces.
Step 5: Designing begins. Each piece has a designer who creates the layout of each page so that it looks beautiful. As the pieces grow closer to being finished, the designers are hard at work arranging everything.
Step 6: Publication! Our issue for the semester is sent off to the printers to be distributed to our readers.
Step 7: Launch, the most exciting part! The newly printed issue is showcased at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center right here at Vassar. It’s open to the public, so people can pick up their own issue to read through, and we invite writers to perform readings of their pieces. It’s always exciting and we can’t wait to have Launch again once the COVID restrictions allow us to.
And that’s it! A lot of work goes into creating this magazine, and our wonderful executive board members work tirelessly to make sure the process goes smoothly. If you ever wanted some insight to the workings of a magazine publication, here is ours. You can see just how effective it is in each issue we release.
