CULTURE CAPSULE
Publishing + Visual Storytelling
Students document the culture around them—and publish it for the world to see.
Culture Capsule is a six-week, project-based publishing Lab where students become the editorial team behind a professional publication about their own community. Working as journalists, photographers, designers, and editors, students research, document, design, and publish stories that capture the people, culture, and identity of their school or neighborhood.
CAREER PATHWAYS
Culture Capsule exposes students to careers across media, publishing, photography, design, and communications, while showing how these disciplines work together professionally.
Journalist • Photographer • Editor • Graphic Designer • Art Director • Digital Publisher • Content Creator
PROFESSIONAL MENTORSHIP
Professionals from media, publishing, design, photography, and other creative industries can join students throughout the Lab for career conversations, editorial critiques, and portfolio feedback. Students get to see how the same creative decisions they're making in the Lab translate into professional work.
WHAT STUDENTS DO
Students work together like a real editorial team, rotating through the creative roles involved in taking a publication from idea to release:
Discover — Explore the people, places, stories, and cultural details that define their community.
Report — Conduct interviews, research stories, and gather material.
Document — Use photography and multimedia to build a visual record of their surroundings.
Write — Turn research and interviews into stories, headlines, captions, and editorial content.
Design — Combine writing, photography, and graphic design into professional layouts and digital experiences.
Publish — Release the finished work and share it with the school and wider community.
WHAT THEY MAKE
Each cohort creates:
A professionally designed print magazine
A companion digital publication
QR-linked multimedia stories
A public showcase for families and community partners
Students leave with published work that reflects both their individual voice and the community around them.
WHAT THEY LEARN
Culture Capsule brings several creative disciplines together around one shared publication:
Journalism + Storytelling
Students learn interviewing, research, narrative and informational writing, headline writing, captions, and editorial revision.
Photography + Visual Communication
Students use portraiture, street photography, image selection, and visual storytelling to document their environment.
Design + Publishing
Students learn how typography, photography, layout, and editorial choices work together to communicate with an audience.
Collaboration + Creative Ownership
Students contribute individual work to a larger shared product—building confidence, accountability, communication, and a sense of ownership over how their community is represented.
THE EXPERIENCE
WEEK 1 — DISCOVER
Explore community identity, identify stories, assign editorial roles, and begin interviews.
WEEK 2 — DOCUMENT
Learn photography and reporting while collecting interviews, portraits, and images.
WEEK 3 — WRITE + DESIGN
Develop stories, headlines, captions, and the first editorial layouts.
WEEK 4 — BUILD
Refine photography and layouts while developing the digital publication.
WEEK 5 — PUBLISH
Complete the magazine, prepare digital content, and connect multimedia elements.
WEEK 6 — LAUNCH
Release the publication through a public exhibition and showcase.