The Willamette Living is a magazine that specializes in local business and relies on local residents, trying to cater to them. Willamette Living has articles that are actually written by local business owners. For example, Justin Read, the owner of a nursery in Corvallis, writes an article about planning your garden for spring. These articles are exclusive to the print version of the magazine. It also offers advertisements for local businesses, art programs, restaurants, and community members. All of these ideas combine to build a great theme of a local magazine that cares deeply about its community.

The biggest difference between the online and print versions of the magazine are the amount of ads. Online, the website contains 3 ads on the home page. When you click on an article it only contains a single ad, located at the bottom of the page after you have finished reading the article. This ad doesn't interrupt your reading, which is a large strength and makes the reading experience much better than many modern news sites and magazines. For the print version, there are significantly more ads. In a total of 55 pages, 14 Pages are full pages of ads. Of those 55 pages, 34 pages contained at least one ad on the page. Around 62% of this magazine’s pages have at least one ad, with many pages having more. This difference in print vs online advertising is the most noticeable, and I believe it makes for a far more user friendly experience when reading online.  

 

Another noticeable difference is the events page, which is featured on both the online and print version. Despite this, the online version is much more digestible, and provides easy access to the events it is supporting. There are links to the events websites, when and where the event will take place, and short descriptions of the event. These aren't able to fit on the print version, which leaves the events section a little lacking. The print version also features paid advertisements next to the events. This makes it feel less like community events that the Willamette Living supports, and more like a paid advertisement that supports the Willamette Living. 

  

The print version features a publishers update, which provides some insight and commentary about what articles the Willamette Living will be looking into this issue, as well as upcoming issues. This helps provide some character for the print version, and feels like a love letter to the local community who continues to support the magazine. I think this is a strength and helps contribute the overall theme of the magazine.

This issue included multiple different delicious recipes from local Corvallis restaurants. I personally tried the Beef Birria recipe from Del Alma, and decided I would like to make it for a work Christmas party! There were many other holiday recipes, and these were by far my favorite part of this month's issue. I may not be the target audience, but it does help me engage with the Willamette Valley, and the community as a whole.

 

This assignment let me take a deeper look into the Willamette Living, and become a little more in touch with the community as a result. Without it, I wouldn't have taken a second look at the random magazine sitting in our work office. I wouldn't have learned about the Corvallis holiday parade. I wouldn’t have discovered a great new recipe to make for our work Christmas party. I never really thought about the world of print, and it was fun to take a deeper dive and see the dramatic differences between an online article and one that was in print. The content may have been the same, but how it feels to read it feels much different. I think both mediums have strengths and weaknesses. Despite my complaints about the annoying ads of the print version, I believe I enjoyed sitting down and taking my time to read the physical version more. It may be less convenient, but it's still fun following a recipe from the magazine. I enjoyed doing the crossword puzzle at the end of the book. Overall, I'm glad I took the time to sit down with it, and this project has made me realize I should invest some more of my time into enjoying print versions whenever I come across them.