Editors Note, by Kris Makuch, September 2015, We’re changing the world!
Well, will you take a look at this?
Issue number four! This is a revelation!
I am renowned for coming up with ‘super-awesome’ ideas, trying them, and giving up after three months.
Last year I tried doing yoga every morning before work… That lasted three months. The year before that I tried ‘getting up with the sun’ every morning… That lasted three months too (turns out the sun gets up pretty damn early in summer).
I even tried to do a ‘seven minute workout’ every single day. Again, that also lasted three months.
Three months is my wall. It taunts me every time I start something new and it laughs every time I fail.
Well look who’s laughing now, ey?
That being said, I’m now in completely uncharted territory. I’m just like Neil Armstrong pioneering on new ground for future generations who will remember this issue as ‘the time that guy tried to force a moon landing reference for no apparent reason’… Hell yea. Just like Neil Armstrong.
Three awesome things that I’ve figured out that this magazine does in three months:
I’ve noticed a few things while creating this funky, hunky website. But the main ones are:
It’s freaking fun
This is a great excuse for me to connect with people, old and new! I’ve spoke to people I haven’t spoke to for years because they have something they want to write about. I’ve also met a bunch of new people too and it’s turns out on the whole, people are quite nice and helpful. Who knew?
It’s changing the world
It’s totally changing the world… Ok maybe not the world, but It’s changing my own perception of online media. I often stare mindlessly at my smartphone scrolling past hours of cute pictures of kittens, not really paying attention to the subtle adverts that slowly creep into my subconscious; where they hide, waiting to pounce as soon as I start thinking about a holiday or new internet provider. (Which is ALL THE TIME, judging by the amount of ads I get).
Being on the web-design side of that and having the option of adding adverts has made me think twice. Do I really want to make a couple of quid at the expense of exploiting my friends’ attention? No. It turns out I do not. (Again, who knew?). I would much rather give genuine reviews of stuff that we’re interested in and tell you if stuff is good or how it could be better. That’s just how communication works, man!
I still have no idea what I am doing
Write this. Design that. Speak to them. Edit those. It’s all a lot of work. I spend a lot of time texting and emailing people asking if the java plugin we’ve installed shows up correctly on their iPhoneZX (or whatever version they’re currently spooning out at the moment). But that’s awesome. In my real-life-job I’m a digital designer (nerd), and what I’m learning is invaluable. This is like a living, breathing, working testbed for ideas. Example: Go check out the zombie article we did this month. We tried to create a web page that operated like a video game. Will it work? Who the hell knows. But we can find out.
So keep reading and keep recommending – we don’t do adverts. We do quality articles instead.
