I'm not a journalism major-- advice please!

Seeing as how you’re applying for art positions, you’re totally fine! If those positions ask for any major, it’s art/graphic design not journalism or writing. And since you’re in art education, sounds like you’re exactly where you need to be.

The first thing you should think about is what do you really want to do. Magazine art staffs consist of the art directors/designers and the photo editors. Some staffs are so small that the art director(s) also does the photo stuff. However, very few magazines actually have staff photographers. So be aware that if you want to take pictures for the magazines, you’ll need to do that on a freelance basis. And to get experience in that (besides shooting a lot), you’ll need to assist experienced photographers. But that’s a whole different world than magazine staff art positions.

Assuming you want to be a magazine staffer, you could be on the art/design side where you design the pages and come up with the overall artistic ideas. Or you could be on the photo side, where you’re finding the photos or assigning them and producing the photo shoots.

Either way, most magazine art/photo internships will have you doing some administrative work, helping with stock photo research, archiving photos and files, maintaining photo logs, processing/returning film or files to photographers, making printouts/copies of the mag pages and putting them on the wall or in a book to keep track of what’s been done, stuff like that. So play up your administrative and organizational skills. As editor of your yearbook, you surely have tons of those skills … so show them off.

Sometimes the intern gets to do some minimal design work. And sometimes the intern gets to take some last-minute photos (usually this is the case only at mags where the staff is small and the budgets are super-tight). In both cases, obviously your computer and photo skills are very important … play it up that you are well-versed in InDesign and Photoshop and any other programs, especially web-stuff if you know it. And talk about your photography skills, but don’t look like you expect to shoot for them. Just make it known that you’re familiar with the techniques/equipment.

Do you have a portfolio? If not, create one. A simple nice-looking black book (you can buy them at art stores) with examples of your work … whether it’s class projects or your yearbook pages (I actually included my whole yearbook in my portfolio back when I was in college), you need to show what you’ve done, what you’re capable of. And then create a web version of it … you don’t have to show all your work online, but show some … it’s an easy way for the companies to identify you as someone worth interviewing … if they can see you’ve done some real publication work, that’ll put you over many who haven’t. Obviously, if you don’t have much to show, you should work on that … create your own projects. Prove that you have a grasp of what editorial design is all about.

Also, do a lot of reading … there are some really great magazine design books out there, they give you great info on what is expected, what it entails, etc. It certainly won’t answer all your questions, but you’ll be able to ask more specific questions which shows you have an understanding of the industry.

If you’re still in school, try to take as many graphic design classes that you can, especially any that are editorial/print design focused. Your yearbook involvement is excellent. And if you have time for any other extra-curricular stuff, try designing for campus/department newsletters, literary magazines, your alumni magazine, etc. And check out your local publications and see if you can intern/work there while in school. Basically, get yourself as much hands-on design experience as you can.

Also, check out the Society of Publication Designers student blog:
http://spdstudents.blogspot.com/
They hold an annual competition where the winners get internships at top name mags, so you could enter next year’s competition (entries are due every March). They also host several events throughout the year … they ARE in NYC, but if you’re not, you should still try to go when you can … their events are well-worth it, in my opinion.

Hope that helps!

I’m a sociology major. I’ve learned that it’s all about how you phrase it in interviews. I have a little speech prepared for when anyone questions my major. “Well, I know most people expect an English or journalism major, but I believe studying sociology will actually better prepare me for a career in journalism. I am learning how society works, as well as politics, economics, religion…etc. etc.”

Basically, explain why you chose that major, how you feel your tendency to follow your passions shines through in your work, how your major relates (in ANY way) to magazines, a specific class that might help with magazines, or something that otherwise does NOT leave you completely deer-in-the-headlights. All about confidence.