425 Magazine Showcases Creative Work

By Steven-Ross Bugayong | Published December 19, 2022

If you have been on campus at Kean Union, you have probably seen stickers and flyers with the logo 425. You might have thought to yourself, what does this mean? What is 425? What do they do? What they are is Kean’s newest club, with a primary purpose to promote their new student-created magazine, 425.    

The club’s origins started in the 2022 spring semester, as most founding members were in the same graphic design class. The inspiration for the club arose when members wanted a new way to highlight the creative side of Kean students, and what they came up with was an idea to create a magazine.

Kristen Goble, a junior graphic design major and co-president of 425 says the magazine’s primary purpose is to showcase creativity.

“The idea was a group effort,” Goble said. “We came up with the idea of a magazine that didn’t limit the creativity of students, but instead encouraged it.” 

The magazine’s name, 425, was inspired by Michael Graves, who the college of design at Kean was named after. The title refers to the 425th Avenue building Graves designed in New York City.

Like any new club at Kean University, the members of 425 magazine have had their ups and downs. From a successful outing at Kean Day to the retention of the club, minimizing. The stress of managing a budget and planning fundraisers is a daunting task, even for any club, new or old. 

Olivia Heyer, a junior graphic design advertising major and co-president, says that being in a club is not always fun but has taught the members a lot.

“There’s a lot that comes with it,” Heyer said. “It’s just inexperience because this is the first time we are creating a magazine for all of us. It’s everything from the magazine’s layout, what size it should be, how to print it, and contacting a printer. This aspect is an added element to our club that we have to deal with.”

With all the stress that has come with the magazine’s planning, there have been some positives. For Goble and the other members of 425, they emphasize at the end of the day, the creation of the magazine is a passion project.

“Yes, it’s been very stressful,” Goble said. “But that’s the good of it too. Now there are people apart of the club who don’t design, but have become interested in it since joining. Plus, it’s made all of us closer and has helped us in our careers. 

The club accepts creative work, drawings, designs, short stories, and poetry and plans to have the first magazine printed by the spring semester of 2023 and a full-on launch the next academic school year.

The future of 425 magazine seems bright as there are potential plans to expand the magazine past a print version. Eventually, the club wants to do a digitally animated online magazine version that can include student-created GIFs and videos. But no matter how much the magazine may change in the future, the goal of 425 magazine will always be clear.

“I think the overall goal of the magazine is to show that anyone can be creative,” Goble said. “425 is an outlet for them to showcase it.”

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