From one culture to another
The editorial departments at Egmont’s Norwegian magazine publisher Hjemmet Mortensen now work more closely together – and most staff have retrained to become more involved in the entire process from idea to end product.
Why can’t journalists lay out magazines and layouters write articles? Rather than discuss possible answers, in spring Egmont’s Norwegian magazine publisher decided to take the bull by the horns and sent 230 Hjemmet Mortensen employees on competency programs to learn new ways of working. Journalists get professional toolboxes that give them insight into layout, form and composition while graphic designers take courses in copywriting, words and language. All the company’s employees have been given greater responsibility for the underlying magazine publishing process – from planning to copywriting, layout and image processing.
“Many other Norwegian media companies have decided to cut their training budgets. Instead, we’re investing in upgrading our competencies and acquiring new skills to generate the competency enhancement that is part of our restructuring process,” explains Trude Susegg, who has been project manager of the “competency enhancement” project.
Cross-organizational teamwork
Part of the modernization plan entails increasing the collaboration between editorial departments. The teams will continue to be associated with a certain magazine or function, but will work far more closely together across magazine titles and websites.
The old editorial teams have not disappeared – but there are more general and cross-magazine editors-in-chief alongside regular magazine editors. Many have brand-new roles. In principle most editorial employees are now either editors or journalists. Gunnar Bleness is editorial director of the “young women” and “topical events” areas. He explains that a key tool was the introduction of templatemanaged layouting: “This means our magazines have some set formats and layouts that journalists write in directly. They have to focus not only on the text but also on the visual impression.”
Editorial staff face the biggest change. They have to learn about layouting, form and composition as well as such new tools as InDesign, Adobe’s layout program. But all groups have got new roles and new ways of working.
The two new editors
Katrine Strøm from the parenting magazine Foreldre has a journalist background, and Åshild Kristoffersen from the women’s magazine Kamille is a graphics designer. Both are now editors and attending courses to acquire copywriting and layouting skills. Katrine used to be editor-in-chief of Mann, while Åshild worked as a designer on Familien.
“I didn’t think copywriting would be for me, but now I think I’ll learn to enjoy it. To be quite honest, I was a little skeptical in the beginning. I thought the layouts would probably become terribly monotonous. Now I can see that instead we’ve gained tasks that add variety to the working day. And I can still use my core design skills,” Åshild explains.
For journalist Katrine, focus has been on the visual side, and she urges everyone to test their own skills. As she explains: “The course in basic visual skills is very useful for anyone who works with magazines. The course taught us to understand our new roles, and I would like to have learned some of this earlier. Now I sometimes find myself so absorbed in the layout that I almost forget to revise the text!”
“Many other Norwegian media companies have decided to cut their training budgets. Instead, we’re investing in upgrading our competencies and acquiring new skills to generate the competency enhancement that is part of our restructuring process,” explains Trude Susegg, who has been project manager of the “competency enhancement” project.
Cross-organizational teamwork
Part of the modernization plan entails increasing the collaboration between editorial departments. The teams will continue to be associated with a certain magazine or function, but will work far more closely together across magazine titles and websites.
The old editorial teams have not disappeared – but there are more general and cross-magazine editors-in-chief alongside regular magazine editors. Many have brand-new roles. In principle most editorial employees are now either editors or journalists. Gunnar Bleness is editorial director of the “young women” and “topical events” areas. He explains that a key tool was the introduction of templatemanaged layouting: “This means our magazines have some set formats and layouts that journalists write in directly. They have to focus not only on the text but also on the visual impression.”
Editorial staff face the biggest change. They have to learn about layouting, form and composition as well as such new tools as InDesign, Adobe’s layout program. But all groups have got new roles and new ways of working.
The two new editors
Katrine Strøm from the parenting magazine Foreldre has a journalist background, and Åshild Kristoffersen from the women’s magazine Kamille is a graphics designer. Both are now editors and attending courses to acquire copywriting and layouting skills. Katrine used to be editor-in-chief of Mann, while Åshild worked as a designer on Familien.
“I didn’t think copywriting would be for me, but now I think I’ll learn to enjoy it. To be quite honest, I was a little skeptical in the beginning. I thought the layouts would probably become terribly monotonous. Now I can see that instead we’ve gained tasks that add variety to the working day. And I can still use my core design skills,” Åshild explains.
For journalist Katrine, focus has been on the visual side, and she urges everyone to test their own skills. As she explains: “The course in basic visual skills is very useful for anyone who works with magazines. The course taught us to understand our new roles, and I would like to have learned some of this earlier. Now I sometimes find myself so absorbed in the layout that I almost forget to revise the text!”
