COP: PRIMARY RESEARCH ALEC DUDSON, INTERN MAGAZINE

I had a chat with Alec Dudson, creative director of Intern magazine to understand his point of view on the relationship between digital and print publishing. He explained how the magazine initiated through Kickstarter back in 2013 and due to the time and place, print publishing was on the rise and Intern magazine took off as a major success. It had a small website but nothing substantial, its main funding went straight into the print editions and getting into stockists. It gained lots of US press in its first week and advertising on social media (Facebook and Twitter). After a few years of producing the print edition, Alec and his team reminded theirselves about what their goal was within Intern mag. Alec's passion was to create as much opportunity for young creatives as physically possible and to teach them that they could profit of any form of their work. It was also to educate them on the ethics of the design industry and most importantly, getting paid! At this point he had gained a large readership but believed he could push it further.

In 2017, Intern magazine converted to a fully digital platform. They no longer release their print editions. Alec believes that publishing on an online platform only was a positive move for the magazine as this platform would reach a lot more readers. He believed that the information he was publishing was meant to aid as many creatives as physically possible, it shouldn't be exclusive to whomever purchases the print editorial. This decision has allowed readers to share stories and give Intern's message to more readers, effecting more peoples lives.

Alec also touched upon the topic of how using an online platform grants the magazine to use more new and inventive ways to reel in readers. They can use keywords in the title, interesting illustrations on the thumbnails and so on. This has also allowed them to publish more clear and concise stories that can further continue in future articles in comparison to articles in print, which will be published and remain dormant forever. One of the main tactics to having a successful online mag is having a great online strategy, be it online advertising, social media promoting etc. Its up to magazine how they engage with their target audience and advertise themselves.

Finally, Alec expressed how having an important message that you're passionate about to convey within your editorial is important to making a successful magazine in your eyes. Don't forget that everyone measures success differently, weather that be magazines sales, total profit, changing the world, affecting people's lives or simply publishing work for others to enjoy. In reflection of this conversation, I believe that figuring out what your goal is, is incredibly important when creating a magazine. If its gross profit you're after then maybe you'd follow the path of say Cereal magazine, who base their work on aesthetic and not too many research based topics. Or on the other hand, you could aim to change the world and inform others like Alec has done with Intern.