Newspaper Design Final Project

I created this newspaper over a timespan of two months.  Using InDesign, the project requirements included laying out news pages, a feature page, a photospread, an op&ed page and a briefs page.  I used travel as a theme of my paper and most of the articles I selected from the web are about Paris (my favourite city!).  My photospread is about places in New York where you could easily spot celebrities and my feature story is on places to go for couples who have different things they are looking for in a honeymoon trip.  Finishing this paper was like being in labour, the process is hard work, but when the product comes out, you feel exhilarated and proud of it.  Hopefully you would enjoy reading my paper: I ♥ Travel Newspaper too :)

photojournalism class presentation

Introduction to final assignment:

In this assignment I did street photography where I tried to document people in candid situations within public places such as streets, trains, buses and malls. I try to concentrate on a single human moment and catch a decisive or poignant moment. I try to capture people from different walks of life: storeowners, students, business people and the homeless. I hope that I can provide a record of street culture in Toronto. My inspiration was actually from Greg Schmigel, who is famous for taking amazing street photography with just his iphone. He says, “There's something special and unique about shooting street photography. It's real. It's true. It's slices of life as we see it... and many times, slices of life as the rest of us miss it.” Just like him, I hope to take a quick candid look at everyday moments in the lives of the people and strangers that I encounter on the street or in public places.

My title for this slideshow is 'A Day in the Life of a Torontonian' or 'There's a Dance we All Have to do”. I originally wanted to use black and white for all my photos, but in the end I thought if I have to show that life's like doing a dance, I had to show my pictures in colour. Because life is not in black and white, life is supposed to be colourful. So here's my slideshow and I hope you guys will like it :)

Are Student Food Customers Served Well? The Underground Investigates

Photo Courtesy: Elyas Jeffay

They say the customer is king. Does this ring true at UTSC’s food outlets?

“A woman working at the Grill Works (in the H-Wing Market Place) was too busy chatting to a customer and burnt my patty,” said Nikkie Tong, fourth-year management student.  “I asked her to give me a new one, she wouldn’t.”

Sadly, Tong is not the only victim of poor customer service at food vendors on campus.

When trying to grab a bite to eat during study breaks or in-between classes, the kind of customer service offered by various food outlets on campus influences most student’s decisions about where to eat.

“It’s usually long lineups at Subway,” said Yogin Soni, employee at the sandwich-making franchise. “However, students are happy with the food services provided here.”

V. Jeyalefchum, cashier at A&W, echoes Soni’s point of view.

“We always provide good services here [at A&W],” she said. “We have enough people working on the floor, so the waiting time will be shortened for students.”

In an effort to examine average wait times during peak hours, The Underground monitored the four food vendors in the Student Centre on a weekday at 2:30 p.m.

There was one female student waiting in front of Treats, she waited for approximately 10 minutes before getting the drink she ordered.

Three students were in line at Subway; it took the student at the end of the line 15 minutes to get his sandwich. Two staff members were standing in front of the sandwich counter, only one was serving students while the other stood on the side.

Five students were waiting in line at A&W, three of which were in a group at the head of the line. It took them a bit more than 20 minutes to grab a combo meal which only one of the students ordered.  There was only one person operating the cash register.

Three students were in front of Asian Gourmet, one was at the cashier while the other two were choosing their dishes from the food trays. There were three staff workers: one operating the cash register while the other two served food. Each student spent less than five minutes there.

We also visited the Marketplace just before 3 p.m., which had three lines in front of Bene Pasta, Miso and Grill Works each consisting of at least six students. In front of the only operating cash register was another queue of seven students.

“I find it really crowded in here,” said Christine Lewis, first-year humanities student waiting in front of me in the queue at the cashier. “Students just want food that they can get quickly, but they also don’t want to always eat unhealthy fast food.”

Our last stop was Tim Hortons, which, for the bulk of the day, has a permanently long lineup extending towards the door. On several weekends, there has been only one employee at the cash register and one making food.

Adam Hammond, teaching assistant for the English department who holds his office hours in Tim Hortons, said that students don’t always treat the employees well.

“I’ve always noticed that the staff working here seem really stressed,” Hammond said. “They often look unhappy. I have also noticed that a lot of students tend to not really look at the workers or say anything nice to them, even a simple ‘thank you.’  I think if students did, the workers would really appreciate that. It’s a hard job for them.”

We asked Anurag Dixit, the assistant manager of food services at Aramark Canada for answers to customer service problems at food chains on campus. Aramark controls all of the food vendors outside the Student Centre. Dixit said the company is constantly looking for advice from students to improve food services.

“Most customers are very vocal,” Dixit said. “If they don’t like something, they’ll come and let us know, which is a good thing. We want to be part of the student group; we want to know which areas we are not doing so well in.”

So fellow students, if you have stories of poor customer experiences, don’t just complain to your friends, take the extra step and talk to the food suppliers. After all, they know that even if their customers do not love their bad service, their competitors will.

This article was originally published in the Underground (University of Toronto Scarborough Campus's official student news magazine) on Dec. 2, 2010.