CS Magazine Guidelines

The statements and opinions on this page are solely those of its authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of CouchSurfing International.

This is part of the CS Magazine that we are working on.
You are looking at drafts which will be revised, edited, and eventually published.

1 Magazine Guidelines

Magazine Guidelines

Layout

64 pages (initially).
Copy threshold is 1cm in every side.
Paper size A4, full bleed. International standard, easy printing.

Publishing

The first 64 pages that are created by users will be the ones published on the first issue. There is no article more special than other.
Publishing via online reader (zinio or similar) and PDF.
All CS users will receive an email with the magazine link for online reading and the PDF.

Advertising

If you know anyone interested in donating to CouchSurfing via advertising on this magazine, please contact creative@couchsurfing.com
Accepted advertisers are all green companies, non-profits, companies that help other companies, or groups of people that help other people.
If you know any company that would print this for free, in exchange for advertising, Contact us please!

Design & Copy Writing

Edgy, clear, artsy, original, nothing short of amazing
Collaborative. Get designers together, thinking together. "Make fun and have love" imagination.
Think of cool magazines like Adbusters or Wired.
It is key for the design and copy to move people in the direction of creativity. Make sure you always make a person feel like their can write an article like that.
Don't voice your opinion, but your inner voice. Your reality, what feels right. If you are in doubt, know that you have not yet opened your heart and there is people to help out.
Help other express their emotions, by expressing your own.
Get someone to always expand on your idea and don't take it personally. Groups rock yo!
revise it again. be patient.
Think of ways to make art to illustrate it and be open to change.
respect copyright but do not be afraid of it.
Respect people's work and intentions. Teach, learn, Share. RESPECT. This is not a designer heardbreak office, but a place to work together
Mention everyone involved in the project. No article will be published without everyone be given credit. Even if it was a humming bird that quickly passed by your backyard and you got an idea from it.
Look around and find inspiration everywhere. Connect the dots, make it happen. i.e: The wright brothers did not make the airplane. No! God made a bird, in which DaVinci drew a bunch of drawings, some dude created the combustion engine, people researched with aerodynamics for a long time, then the wright brother got it done, alongside 2 or 3 other people around the world.
So, don't let your brain think that creativity is in your mind, because it isn't it is out there for your to discover.

Thoughts

It should break through the fog of infinite complexity in CouchSurfing to touch on a few common philosophical ideas. We want to entice people to dream and to realize their dreams, bring CouchSurfers together and spread the word about this wonderful phenomenon through a series of complete articles and small features.

By creating opportunities for others, you create opportunities for yourself.

The magazine will avoid labels and editing will be done collectively. It's very wiki. Magazines are by nature periodicals meaning that unlike a standard wiki article with is constantly altered, CS Magazine would publish editions on a periodic basis (every month for instance).

From Ego to Collective.

Nothing short of amazing.

It is amazing how much quality work CouchSurfing.com has gotten so far only by the people's ability to collaborate. Our CS Magazine, in a sense, is the same way: It is for and by couchsurfers, that working together, can get the message out there to the crowds of a great world to be explored, inside yourself, in your community and around the world.

It is all about getting the best work out there to inspire the community. So, if you can teach a skill or share your skill, make sure you do that. If you see a good idea and want it on the magazine, get it up to par and make it happen.

Please make sure you create a personal page on the CS Magazine Portfolios page of wiki. That way, anyone can contact anyone to work together and have independent teams.

Here is a proposed work flow for us:

Post on the Portfolio Page, a little bit about yourself, what you like to do, what kind of works you like, examples and so on. See other designer's portofolio pages for a template.
Post your Idea for an article on the main page. make sure you write the type of copy you want, what type of art you are looking for the article. If you are not sure, ask one of the artists on the Portfolios page for some inspiration.
Ideally get 3 people to work together. There is so sides. If there is a problem, have the other person mediate the discussion. Work together
Make sure you follow the guidelines.

Mutual Understanding

Please understand that in order to have some structure and quality control, we cannot allow for anyone to just come up with any random idea and just publish it. I hope that everyone here understands that we are bound for a huge worldwide success with this and many other publications to come. In order to benefit the community and for all of us to learn where we are in our lives/careers/etc we need to respect the decisions of the group. People, Power to all of you!

The sizing, design, and quality and style of writing is to ensure that this magazine is an inspiration for everyone and not a gigantic group portfolio. It is to ensure that everyoen gets a chance to see the magazine and it is easy to work with it anywhere in the world. Only the absolutely real people that are interested in CS will stick with this and understand the power of the community driven design.

SO, people want to hear stories, be inspired by adventures, learn to think and to feel accepted in a community and inspired their own communities. TO follow a dream is to respect where you are and grow together. If it okay to share fears, if you feel excluded, of if someone did not respect you. Always share, understand, make sure it feels right. Ask why to the people and to yourself.

If you want this magazine to happen share your skill. Learn from others.

A few inspiration sites:

These websites below are used to inspire all of us creative people to find inspiration for our works. Works from artists from all over the world are posted on them. You can see some amazing stuff and get shit done. Remember, nothing is really invented, but only inspired by our experiences and exposure. re-invent! Soak in world art!

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