Before creating a proper work schedule (Gantt chart), I decided to breakdown each section of the production phase, creating a brief list of tasks that need to be completed for each.
As this magazine is a new brand, the first thing I need to do is choose a name and create a logo. As shown in section 2, the name must be something that is memorable and relevant to the topic of blogging. I'd prefer it to be one word only as this tends to work best for magazines. As for the logo, it needs to be simplistic so that it doesn't interfere with any of the other elements on the front cover, however it still needs to be bold enough to be seen.
I then considered the different stages of creating articles. Firstly I need to create a list of all the main articles I want to include in the magazine. This list must be flexible as some of them may depend on the co-operation of my collaborators. I will need to be versatile and be able to make quick decisions in the event that a certain article isn't possible, and I need to organise a different one instead.
After deciding the main articles and a list of collaborators for each article, I need to contact the collaborators. Again I need to be flexible and have a list of "back up" collaborators in case my first choices aren't available. I also need to build in time for them to reply as this is something I can't control.
The main people I need to contact first are those who I am aiming to interview. Once I have a confirmed list of interviewees I need to write the interview questions and conduct them. Conducting the interviews will depend on a) when the blogger is available b) when I'm available and c) how I/we decide to conduct the interview and whether or not I want to travel to take photographs of them. It might be easier to conduct the interviews online either through email or "live" via Twitter. This is something I need to consider.
Furthermore, I need to decide which articles require which kind of imagery. I do want to conduct some of my own photoshoots especially for the lookbook. This is going to be a main feature in the magazine and so I need to have control over the style of the photographs, so that they fit with my house style.
For other articles it might be possible to request photographs from bloggers. For example, if someone agrees to write an article on balancing university work with blogging, I can ask that blogger to also take a photograph to go with the article.
Finally, as I am considering including hand drawn illustrations I also need to decide how many I will create and if I want to get someone to help me.
After all the decisions are made I can plan, organise and conduct photoshoots before editing and completing the imagery.
As you can see from the rest of the breakdown there are a lot of other stages I need to complete. With the list of tasks created I then proceeded to make a Gantt chart.
Gantt Chart
To create my Gantt chart I used ganttology. This website allows you to create groups, tasks and milestones, update progress easily and colour code information, all of which I found really helpful. I created 10 groups for each section of the project, in which I then added tasks, milestones and subgroups.
The most "complicated" section I created was section six as this is the main production phase, so requires a lot of tasks and time. I split section six into five subgroups (branding, articles, imagery, design and printing) to fit with my work breakdown structure. Within those subgroups I added the tasks I need to complete such as writing interview questions, conducting photoshoots and designing the front cover. I also added milestones like "front cover complete" so it's easy to see an overview of my progress throughout the project.
I took into account things like Christmas Break as obviously models probably won't be available to do photoshoots over that time etc.
According to this Gantt chart I am aiming to have the magazine completed by Feb 2nd so that I have time to send it to print, taking into consideration how long it takes to print and deliver the magazine. Hopefully the final print should arrive no later than the 29th February.
After this I will need to check it has printed well and evaluate the project.
I will also be sending the magazine out to other bloggers (probably electronically) and asking them to fill in a survey rating certain aspects of the magazine. I can then use this feedback within my evaluation to decide whether or not the project was successful.
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