DIY Communication: Why I opted for making a zine

For our college unit relating to Communication, I opted for doing something that was perhaps a little outside of the box (as I had spoken about in a previous blog post) and make a zine.

At first, I wanted to work around the way the media portray certain people, social networking, and advertising, but as I moved along with the project, I realised that I was taking to much on board, and instead, it would work a lot better for the point I was trying to get across about certain media manipulation if I focused on one particular topic – ‘celebrities’.

Celebrities and the celebrity culture has always been foreign to me because I have never gotten the attraction of heaping praise on someone that you don’t know, and viewing them as a kind of idol (even to the extent a Godly figure.)

This is something I am going to speak about in another topic, but I’ll give a brief outline of what’s to come before I speak more about my intention with my zine.

My fellow college students and I, have been given two separate industry sectors to speak about (all within Digital Media, of course). We have to speak, or present, these topics in the way that we feel most comfortable (mine is going to be a detailed blog post, that mostly reads like an essay, but is fed with a series of images, and video clips to add to the Digital aspect of the work). Through speaking about our two chosen industries, we will naturally end up talking about those that we weren’t assigned, which will lead into our understanding of the Digital Media Industry and how it works; how it combines everything from Film to Graphic Design.

You’ll have to wait until my next post to see what two industries I picked, but before I get sidetracked, back to the zine.

The reason I opted for a 90s style of communication, one where it required me to collage my work onto paper, scan the glued paper carefully onto, new, separate sheets so that I wouldn’t ruin the format, and then staple the work together with a special magazine stapler, is because, I believe, it showed a complete opposite to the tech savvy world we live in.

By using a hands-on medium, I think I have made something that has more of an impact than if it had been totally digital.

It’s a statement to the polar opposite of the world we live in now. Speaking about something that is so heavily digital based, so heavily media based, but through a DIY process.

As a society, we ignore anything that isn’t fast, quick, and gets to the point – we like everything to be in the palm of our hand and this tool of communication is the complete opposite.

Pictures to follow of the zine shortly.

The Art of Negotiation

Negotiating is something that we all have to do in life, and, in some cases, it is a craft.  We do it subconsciously, but a lot of the time, to get the better deal, we do it consciously. While we want something out of negotiating whatever it may be, we always have to think about the recipient or the recipients, and what they are going to get out of the negotiation. It is a skill that we pick up from an early age, but one that takes a considerable amount of time to hone into something that can take us to all the places we want to be in life. 

Let’s single negotiating out to working in your place of work, and how it is needed to step up in the ladder of whatever profession you choose.

To get where you need to go, negotiating is not just a tad helpful, but it is a required tool. No matter the work place you reside in, and who you are intending to negotiate with, it can be what makes or breaks your career. Especially since it is linked with communication.

If you can’t communicate yourself well enough when trying to get what you require, then taking this communication to the next step where you are negotiating something important is useless. You won’t be able to get what you want out the negotiation and nor will the person you are trying to sway into whatever scenario it is.  

Say that the situation is a really important one like trying to sell something to a would-be business partner. Without a clear route of communication (which could be through a presentation, emailing, or just talking) what could end up as being an excellent money making deal could fall flat on its face because of how this negotiation is communicated. You need to show the pros and cons of what the would-be business partner is buying into, otherwise, they are just not going to buy into it. 

This is one of the many reasons why negotiation can get you to places you may have not been able to go without it. It can be simple 'negotiating' with family for the last bag of sweets, or it can be broad; one that jumps over to the work place where you have to step up your game if you want to further your chosen career. 

And there you have it, a scenario of negotiation and why it is a must-have skill.