We take notes... and never look at them

Notes from SND over the years:

Infographics

• News editors like graphics but don't know what they are. They want fireworks, big colour, but consider you a 2nd tier staffer.
• Not enough space given, too much text (yes, STILL too much)
• Lack of design formats -- is it a graphic or a text box? Less is more, find your voice and keep it strong.
• Software dependence -- the 3D factor. Don't get bogged down, consider doing it by hand.
• We can't depend on assignments. Be proactive, create ideas and projects.
• Too many elements. Focus, choose one angle
• Forget special sections. Focus on ordinary news. We need INFO DESIGNERS. Text and visuals are the same.
• Scrounge, think fast, keep it clean and simple.
• Find a coach.
• Keep it local, do tiny stuff. Get big stuff from wire services.
• UTILITY: create things people can use, cut out etc., not just informative.
• TEACH: teach people things... "how do I..." save gas, cook something etc.
• Make it a talker -- a shape to cut out and save, a poster...

Interactive graphics

• Start by putting static graphics online
• Interactive map: roll over regions for info that pops up
• Learn to load content dynamically -- separate design and content
  
• A graphic with 3 scenes should be 3 separate Flash files loaded into one main container. This allows more than one person to work on the project.
• Pictures, audio, scripting, text(sometimes) should be separate files you load in. To change graphic, just change the one file and the Flash file automatically updates.

Four types of interactive graphics:

1. Process: A linear step-by-step graphic can feel interactive with next and back buttons.
2. Calculator: Charts and graphs that change depending on the user's manipulation of parameters, using a slider or text input, etc. 
   
3. Simulator: Let the user work a machine or build a house. Let people play with variables, for example, create a hurricane generator that lets the user experiment with temperature and water conditions to understand what makes "the perfect storm"
4. Data manipulation: Let the user turn borders on/off on a map, or when you have too much information to display all at once, the user can turn on just the "layers" he wants to see.

Designing the user interface

An interesting user interface design blog that applies to multimedia. It makes a good point about limiting options to the context of what you're viewing. For example:

Too much choice (Word for Windows)

Just the pertinent choices (online video players)

Ready for lift off in Abu Dhabi

The National, Abu Dhabi's new English-language newspaper and website, is set to launch Thursday, April 17.
Editor-in-Chief Martin Newland told the Gulf region website Media ME: "the role of The National is to reflect society, help that society evolve and, perhaps most importantly, promote the bedrock traditions and virtues that must be preserved even in times of change and that is why we have called our paper The National."
The broadsheet will contain 80 pages of news, business, sports, culture and features coverage. An online version is also planned.
The design has been overseen by Montreal-based consultant and former SND president Lucie Lacava.
The National will have an editorial staff of about 200 and is designed to give Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, a national voice. It is owned by an investment fund controlled by the Abu Dhabi government.
Many of the new paper's top staffers were hired away from newspapers in London, New York and Toronto, including design and production specialist Laura Koot from the National Post, and photo editor Brian Kerrigan from The Globe and Mail.

Winnipeg Sun Virtuel edition

This is what the online newspaper should have been like 10 years ago. Instead we got HTML. Now that technology allows the exact print version to be published online, it's interesting (that page-turning effect is great), but what about video, audio and animated Flash graphics? Now, if you could click on the stories and get those extra photos and graphics the physical paper didn't have room for...

Halifax Daily News replaced by 7th Canadian Metro

The Halifax Daily News stopped publication Monday as the tabloid's owner, Transcontinental Media, announced plans to start up Canada's seventh Metro free daily.
The company said all but a few of the paper's 92 employees will be let go. The first edition of the new Halifax Metro will be on the streets Thursday.
Transcontinental acquired the Daily News in 2002. The paper had a weekday circulation of about 20,000 and competed with Halifax Chronicle-Herald, which has a weekday circulation of about 110,000.
The paper was founded by David Bentley and Patrick Sims as the Bedford-Sackville Weekly News in 1974. It was turned into the Daily News in 1979, gradually expanded across the metro Halifax market, and was sold to Harry Steele's Newfoundland Capital Corporation in 1987. It passed through ownership by Southam and CanWest before Transcontinental took over.
The Daily News founded Canada's first online news website -- only the sixth in North America -- in 1994. It won a SND award in the early 1990s for a Halifax Explosion graphic by Jamie Hutt.
"It was an extremely tough business decision," said Transcontinental Media official Marc-Noel Ouellette. "(But) in this context, we are delighted to continue our presence as a daily newspaper publisher in the Halifax market."
Transcontinental employs 800 about people in Nova Scotia, most of them working at 11 weekly newspapers, four other dailies and two printing plants.

Flash Quick Course in Ohio

Major breakthroughs were made in Athens, Ohio on February 1st and 2nd at the multimedia Quick Course. All of us learned something about making interactive graphics. See the photos at the Ohio University School of Visual Communication.

See this crude attempt at a daily interactive graphic. It's not pretty, but hey, I didn't know how to do this even 5 days ago.

As promised, this really was 'for journalists, by journalists'. Scott Horner (top photo) and Don Wittekind of the Sun Sentinel and Swarm Interactive taught the state of the art (i.e. efficient) techniques in programming ActionScript and also how to turn an existing print graphic into an interactive one in a few hours. These guys have also done interactive graphics for the Discovery Channel and National Geographic.

The bottom photo is Justin Stahlman (me) from Le Journal de Montréal and Bill Neff of the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer.

If anyone has some basic knowledge of Flash and some interest in multimedia, sign up for this course in Las Vegas. It's going to be pretty much the same, but those who were here tell me it gets more refined each time they teach it.

Leave it to the creators of the exploded-stadium double-truck to also set the standard in interactive graphics: USAToday's interactive election poll tracker. We actually learned how to do most of this stuff in Ohio -- loading images and data from a server, turning items on or off depending on user choices, and more -- but these things aren't created on deadline. They are created by a staff with money.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if Bill Neff were working on something like this in secret. The way he was shouting at the code and cackling like a mad scientist when he debugged it. I can see the lightning striking his house now as he creates the perfect monster Flash graphic, just because he can.

A bold new presence online

nationalpost.com and financialpost.com have become a whole lot prettier and so much more easy to use!

In the words of the editor-in-chief, Douglas Kelly:

We are proud to introduce you to a rebooted nationalpost.com and financialpost.com, two Web sites completely redesigned and reimagined with clarity and ease-of-use in mind.

The Post has never been known to hold back when speaking its mind. We remain true to form today as we make available to our Web site everything we produce from commentary to breaking news to business, arts & life and sports coverage, to award-winning design and photography — absolutely free. No subscriber walls, no complicated registration process: it’s never been easier for you to find and enjoy everything the National Post and Financial Post have to offer.

You will find the National Post newspaper peppered with mentions of online items providing background, documents and related items to our stories that appear in print.

On the new nationalpost.com, you’ll discover a commitment to delivering a more immediate, in-depth and customizable news experience that works for you and your busy life. You’ll find us telling the stories that matter to you most in new and different ways. We're introducing NP Network Blogs, which include established interactive blogs and news feeds like FP Trading Desk, Full Comment and Posted.

We're also committed to offering National Post and Financial Post content everywhere. You can experience our news and blogs on your BlackBerry or Windows Mobile-powered PDA using our free reader from Viigo.

And you’ll also find us opening the floor to different sources and viewpoints, including your own, because we know that online, we’re just one voice in the world’s most vast and vibrant community. Enjoy the new nationalpost.com and financialpost.com and all they have to offer.

For some before-and-after looks at nationalpost.com, take a look at this entry on the NP Editors blog.