Ellipse, RIT’s Newest Magazine

Ellipse is the continuation of a magazine called Positive Negative which started at RIT in 2007. Since its founding the magazine has won several awards and accolades such as an ADDY from the Rochester Advertising Federation and even multiple Platinum awards from the Annual CREATIVITY INTERNATIONAL AWARDS and has been an incredible showcase of what a team of creative RIT students are capable of. 

With its new name, Ellipse is now ready to change its subject matter for its 10th edition. Previously the name was used to convey the parallels that the magazine covered which were the positives and negatives of modern day society. For example, in the 8th volume of the magazine one article talks about the adverse effect technology is having on our sleep cycles while another informs us about the evolution of cosplay and how it can be beneficial to dress up in a superhero costume every now and then. All past issues of the magazine can be found online.

In the past the magazine has been mostly crowdfunded through sites like Kickstarter and USEED with $1,500 pledged by Dr. Destler allowing the magazine to be ad-free. This year they are strictly sticking to USEED as its main crowdfunding platform. It has recently raised its goal to $6000 on USEED after meeting its $5000 goal to make sure this special edition is as polished as can be.

Now titled Ellipse, the new special edition issue will move on to topics strictly about the positives that the evolution of technology is having on society’s future. According to the magazine’s mission statement, the new edition will “ Inform and inspire our generation to be more involved with the future. Through articles on new technology, lifestyles, philosophies, cultures, people, movements, and the like, our reader should feel that the content of the magazine leaves them with the knowledge they need to influence their world.” Thought up by creative directors Garret Chase and Dennae Makel, this showcases that this issue shying away from some of the bleaker articles in the earlier issues. However, although the content seems to be changing the focus on striking visuals is very much there. 

I was lucky enough to to be allowed to sit in on a meeting for the editorial class where the team meets up to discuss ideas and progress on the magazine. At the beginning of the meeting, students were asked to post their current article spreads on a board that went across an entire wall of the room. Some spreads looked like they were ready to be a part of the finished product while others were still pretty barebones, without a working title or even pictures. With almost 30 articles for everyone to see, each only had five minutes to be critiqued by the entire team out of the three-hour class and even then they didn’t get to every article. 

Catherine Sharp, a producer for Ellipse and an Advertising Photography Major at RIT had this to say about the magazine’s creative process, “My most favorite and least favorite part of working on Ellipse is the process of presenting and getting your project taken apart. Like ripped apart and critiqued. You bring this baby into the world and they tear it all apart, and you have to restart and you find out your idea is crap, and then you try again.”  I observed that during each critique it felt as though it was mandatory to make at least one negative comment just for the sake of “improving” something and the stress of making a visually appealing award winning magazine by the end of a semester creates a type of tension you can just feel when you enter the room. 

As the entire room shifted their gaze to one of the more colorful spreads, an article that talks about sensory deprivation tanks. Faculty advisor Lorrie Frear spoke up and commented “This seems like sensory overload rather than sensory deprivation.” it was her way of saying the punchiness of all the color had to be toned down.

This magazine consists of a production team that is entirely made up of about 40 RIT students, some with experience and for others it is their first time working on anything like this.

 “Going in there were a lot of things that I just didn’t know how to do and haven’t learned and still haven’t learned, but you still have to get it done” Sharp stated. 

These students along with two faculty advisors are creating work that competes with nationally renowned magazines such as Vogue, and they are hungry for real world experience in their respective fields and this editorial class gives it to them. The magazine is set to release December 15th, 2016.