Evolution happens mostly in small, subtle steps, but there are also times when it can occur in leaps and bounds. You might have realized there’s something a little different about GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine this month, and as I write this, I am eager to see the results myself!
Last month I alluded to a change to help solve a few inherent problems in our previous print format. Though November was particularly bad for color alignment, it was a problem that has cropped up less severely, but still quite frequently in the past. Supposedly the move to glossy paper stock will eliminate this problem, and our hope is that the proof will be in the pudding. It makes for a good selling point - aside from producing much sharper images, glossy also has the advantage of rendering brighter colors, and it doesn’t smudge! Having experienced the irritation of pitch-black fingers from handling magazines on a daily basis, nobody is gladder to do away with the smudging than we are!
When we first started the magazine, glossy was a popular suggestion for us, albeit a lofty one. Looking into the option, we quickly discovered that the cost would be prohibitive even for just the four outer pages. In addition, it would have required us to submit those four pages nearly a week earlier than the rest of the magazine so that they could be farmed out and back on time to be stapled in. We abandoned the idea because it just wasn’t feasible for us.
Obviously things change. Our regular printers merged with another printing company, giving them access to a whole slew of new equipment. The problems with the November edition prompted them to alert us about the new capabilities at our disposal, subsequently cheaper than farming jobs out to other companies, and the price was right – several hundred dollars less than that quote for the 4 outer pages, for us to do the entire 32! We decided to start 2009 shiny and new.
The other noticeable change has been the magazine’s entire layout. In past years we have designated January as our time to make major revisions to our designs, and fix anything that has gone amiss from all the wear and tear of moving, copying, pasting, and deleting the design elements. This year we finally retired the templates that we had been using since our first edition. They served us well, and though they had undergone a great deal of evolution to accommodate our growth, it was about time for a complete overhaul. The new design stays in the spirit of the original, but jazzes things up a little. It’s friendlier not only for the reader, but also for us as we assemble the content each month – it finally gave us an opportunity to fully explore and implement the handy capabilities that our computer program can offer.
Keep in mind that the Classified Ads section has been moved; it will no longer appear at the back of the magazine. You can find it straddling the end of the black and white section so that we don’t have to squander prime color space on the Classified Ad Form.
I’m particularly excited over the new layout in our Directory and Events section. Though we’ve included boatloads of useful community information every month since the very start, there was always some degree of difficulty finding specific information quickly. I grumbled over this every time I had to look up an address or phone number for an out-of-towner…so much that I committed a lot of the information to memory to save myself time. Eating your own dog food is sometimes the only way to garner insight about what things need improving. I’m happy to say that we have incorporated a number of visual elements to ensure this new design would be easier to browse through, and drill down for details. We’ve even gone so far as to list which venues are wheelchair accessible!
This change comes in time for a new product that we are launching in March, known as the GayCalgary and Edmonton Pocket Guide. Imagine our community map, directory, and events in a compact brochure, along with year-round GLBT tourism information for Alberta. The pocket guide will be released once a year, and go out to around 300 locations in Alberta, and 200 locations across the rest of Canada and the US. These aren’t just any old locations though – we’re talking hotels, shopping malls, car rental outlets, tourism centres, attractions, and more. Many of these are places where standard magazines can’t go, so we will be reaching a whole new audience!
The pocket guide will be a general resource about Alberta’s GLBT scene. It will inform GLBT visitors to Alberta about all that our province has to offer them, through listings, advertising spots, and mini travel features. It will give incentive, when they’re here, to seek out the monthly magazine at the venues that carry us, in order to get more specific event information. Some outside of Alberta will invariably use this information to plan their trip here, and the internet will provide them quick access to our website, and those of local businesses and non-profit groups that have listings in the guide.
Although this comes at a time when money is a bit tight for everyone, this investment offers to bring new money into our economy for everyone. However, we have the daunting task of reaching out further in Calgary and Edmonton, and tracking down any GLBT/friendly businesses and organizations across Alberta that we may be unaware of, to bring a wider selection of listings than what we currently provide in the magazine. So any referrals and leads that members of the community can give us would be much appreciated. Not only will it be beneficial for ensuring we produce a useful resource in the pocket guide, but it will also be helpful to the magazine in mapping out the rest of Alberta as we grow inevitably into our role as the resident GLBT community magazine for our region.
Goliaths
Some of you may have noticed that Steve and I have been in and out of Goliaths an awful lot over the past month, and wondered why the two of us have been hanging around behind the counter with the attendants.
I was commissioned to develop a computerized till system to handle transactions, memberships, rooms, and other aspects of their daily tasks. Though I’ve worked out the critical bugs in the system, my job will be ongoing as I implement unforeseen features, and ensure that the program facilitates their procedures and policies.
Industry programmers are sadly known for developing egos, and they say the best way to deflate their almost parental pride in their creation, is to make them sit in the room with someone as they use their program for the first time. That is when they realize that no matter how well they’ve thought out their product, or how well they have tested it, they can never get it perfect on the first try. The field of computer science that I studied, prescribes that this process is a very wise thing to do because it leads to better designs that are informed by the people who actually use the end result.
For the first several days, I hung around to solve problems as they cropped up. The first shift with my system in use was humbling, to say the least. I was frantically fixing the things that I could, and making notes about the things that required more attention. I even had nightmares about employees running into problems, which were put to rest in the days to follow as I made corrections. I anticipate I will still have some work to do in the coming months, so expect to see me in logic mode!
One thing I want to emphasize is my attention to customer privacy in this design. All sensitive information is encrypted so that even I as the system designer cannot read it. Goliaths has a privacy statement available on request.
Reader Survey
Well we took a break for a year and now our Reader Survey has returned. We were humored to see that another publication appears to be following suit, but then January does make a lot more sense than when they used to do it annually in October. No matter, we’re doing things a little differently now.
First of all we, we plan to only do our reader surveys every 2 years from this point forward. This is because we realized that it got pretty tedious for people to do them every single year. The survey is a great deal shorter and to the point, so it won’t take as long to complete.
The Reader’s Choice component has been mostly removed, since sadly it caused some strife between category competitors in the past. Most businesses are one-of-a-kind in their niche so it doesn’t make sense to ask most of the questions that we did in the past. The only Reader’s Choice question remaining is an opportunity for you to nominate an individual for outstanding community service, and explain why they deserve to be recognized for their efforts. If you can’t think of anyone to write down then it’s time to open your eyes; if you don’t know their name, then take the opportunity to learn it. We want you to take notice of the people that help to make the community go round, so that the rest of us can have our fun.
You’ll notice that we are not deploying ballot boxes this year; we encourage you to fill the survey out on our website. If you cannot access this, then we encourage you to mail or fax your survey forms from the magazine, on page XXX.
If you are nervous about your personal information online, then you will be happy to know that we have taken your privacy into consideration. The online survey is protected by a security certificate much like when you do your online banking/shopping. Additionally, because the survey is hosted on our own website, you don’t have to worry about any third parties having access to your answers. It’s our eyes only, as intended.
The prize draw will happen once again, and I’m a bit jealous of whoever wins the grand prize. It’s a large selection of brand new music CDs (you know they’re new ‘cause they are still in the wrapper) from Universal Music. It includes some really good albums that I reviewed in recent months by Lady Gaga, The Pussycat Dolls, Solange, Nikka Costa, and a whole bunch of others that I didn’t even get to hear (pout). It comes to a total of 18 CDs and 2 DVDs, a retail value of $300! There’s a wide selection, so feel free to keep the ones you want, and give the others to your friends.
January 2009
Yeowzers was it cold! Toys for Tots and the Living X-Mas Tree still managed to draw a modest crowd, but the low temperatures and heavy snow really put a damper on December community events this year.
New Years was the usual deal of running around to all of the GLBT-related parties. This time I had a whole 7 stops to make, starting with New Kinky Eve at the Speakeasy, all the way through to the Eagle, just in time for the countdown. Steve was naturally doing the same thing up in Edmonton, but he only had the standard 5 locations to visit. It felt a little lonely to be without him for that night, but he was back first thing the next morning and we were finally able to have our New Years kiss.
January sometimes feels like a long, drawn out hangover from all the celebrations the month prior, but it’s obvious to see that Albertans are experiencing a hangover of a different kind. It seems like most people are reeling from spending more than they should have during the holiday season, and are now sleeping it off, so to speak. January is looking to be a depressingly slow month all around.
We want to hear what YOU have to say about the topics in this article, and any other articles in GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine. Visit our chat forums at www.gaycalgary.com/forum and write your heart out! Or write us a letter to the publisher by post or by E-mailing publisher@gaycalgary.com, and we may publish or respond to it in the magazine!
