Young residents put across their Perspectives

A team of young residents have produced their very own magazine in just one day on a special media course organised by L&Q.

The five L&Q residents – who ranged in age from 15 to 23 and came from all over London and the South East – had never met before and arrived for the course with little or no previous knowledge of magazine production.

They wrote their own articles in advance, then came along to a design studio in central London. Here they were given a crash course by professionals in reporting, editing, photography and design and were asked to produce an eight page magazine, which they decided to call Perspectives.

With a deadline that would make even the most hardened hack wince, the team rolled up their sleeves and worked through lunch and into the early evening to get the magazine finished.

Course organiser James Howell from L&Q’s Communications Team said: “All too often young people get a rough ride in the media and apart from social networking websites they don’t really have a platform to put across their own views and opinions. We advertised this magazine project on our website and through our tenant magazine Homelife, and were subsequently approached by a number of young residents who were keen to volunteer. Their enthusiasm, maturity and commitment was evident from the beginning and for them to produce this magazine in just one day was an extraordinary achievement. The issues they discussed and the professional way in which they worked as a team has showed there is some real talent among our young residents.”

Some of the young people have now decided to join L&Q’s Communications Forum where they will join other residents in giving their views and opinions about how we communicate with residents.

Quddus Akinwale, 15, from White City in west London, said: “Creating a magazine in one day sounded like an impossible task, but we all pulled together and got it done. Thanks to L&Q for making it possible.”

Frances Fadipe, 23, from Southwark in south east London, added: “I am always open to learning new things. Photography and magazine editing is an exciting area to learn about and L&Q provided a great opportunity to learn about it for free. I’ve now learnt the professional skills of putting together a magazine, an opportunity I probably wouldn’t have otherwise had.”

The magazine has now been reproduced as an interactive, electronic version that will serve as a pilot for a new electronic version of Homelife. By moving towards electronic communications we hope to greatly reduce print and postage costs across L&Q over the coming months and years.

If you have Flash player you can view the interactive version of Perspectives here.

You can also download a standard PDF version of the magazine here (pdf, 2.28mb).