Archive for the ‘Commentary’ Category
Haiti’s disaster: Regarding the pain of others
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
Tell the truth. Bear witness. Explain. Connect. As visual journalists, these abstract ideas never seem more real than when we’re confronted with the unreality of a disaster on the scale of the earthquake in Haiti and its aftermath.
El poder de las infografías está por venir [Spanish]
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009
By Cristián Bego, Universidad del Desarrollo/SND
Iniciando las charlas del segundo día, John Grimwade dejó la vara alta para los siguientes expositores que le seguirían. Y es que el británico entregó una cátedra de infografías y su futuro a las cerca de 100 personas que disfrutaron de los consejos del experimentado.
On being laid off: ‘Nothing stays the same’
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
Editor’s note: This essay is published in the next issue of Design, which will be mailed to Society for News Design members this spring. The new double issue, “Hitting the reset button,” helps you reboot your career, your soul, your creativity and your journalistic moxie as the industry faces epic transition. ‘Hello, this is the
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Next for news design? Predictions for 2009
Thursday, January 1st, 2009
Fearlessness in the face of a scary time. Innovation alongside disruptive change. Human stories and out-of-this-world technology. New ideas and old fundamentals. These are the threads that weave through a set of ideas from a formidable group of industry experts. SND asked what’s ahead for news design in 2009. Looking into the crystal ball after
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No. 1: End of the boom — and the innovation ahead
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
After more than a decade of increasing concerns and warnings about the impending doom of print journalism, 2008 turned out to be the year the sky actually was falling in on American newspapers. Looking back on the year in an article in The Toronto Star, Ryan Bigge wrote, “Newspapers struggled to disprove media guru Jeff
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No. 2: Layoffs, buyouts change the face of design
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
There’s no getting around it: 2008 was the year of the layoff. The forecast was already grim for U.S. newspapers. We all know the story of sliding circulation, increased competition online and the rapid reduction in revenue. Then, when the economy tanked, it suddenly got worse for news organizations. The method of choice for handling
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No. 3: Redesigns roll out at a stunningly fast pace
Monday, December 29th, 2008
2008 in Review: As the economic footing for U.S. newspapers began crumbling even faster in 2008, it seemed something else was gaining speed as well: the pace of redesigns.
No. 4: Embracing our social, microlocal world
Sunday, December 28th, 2008
A distinct thread in online news last year revolved around the idea of connecting people — to each other, to the reporters in the newsroom, to what was happening down the block. A few of the most innovative changes to the social landscape of journalism in 2008: We mentioned Twitter in our year-end review of
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No. 5: Print news design thrives around the world
Saturday, December 27th, 2008
2008 in Review: The news was bad for struggling papers in the United States and Canada, but the global view on print was markedly different. In fact, newspapers are thriving around the world.
No. 6: Multimedia and interactives grow up
Friday, December 26th, 2008
Multimedia and interactive projects continued their rapid evolution in 2008, becoming more central to the storytelling process in newsrooms of every size. It is these types of undertakings that underscore Jeff Jarvis’ proclamation: “The building block of journalism is no longer the article.” This year saw projects with incredible breath and depth, incorporating a spectrum
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No. 7: The Obama effect – A big event moves papers
Thursday, December 25th, 2008
No.7: The Obama effect – A big event moves papers. Yesterday we looked at how new skills are emerging as newsrooms evolve. A victory – for print It’s Christmas, so we thought it was appropriate to take a moment to cherish a big present the American press got this year: The election of Barack Obama.
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No. 8: New skills emerge as newsrooms evolve
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
If you’re not seeing how to move beyond print, you’re already behind The days of living the rest of your journalistic career as a print page designer are nearing an end – and that’s a good thing. As the revolution in media radically changes how people experience news and information, the way the people formerly
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No. 9: Untangling the migration to mobile
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
Mobile technologies created huge ripples in 2008, both in and out of the news industry. Some milestones: The iPhone become the top-selling handset, with more than 13 million phones sold. Plus, Apple created a rapidly expanding and diverse marketplace for third-party applications. Google’s open-source mobile operating system, Android, made a big splash. Along with the
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No. 10: Is the best design really outside the U.S.?
Monday, December 22nd, 2008
Each year we take the last few days of December to look back on the news design year that was. It’s been a crazy time for our craft and the industry, so take the trek with us over the next 10 days as we recount the biggest moments in a year filled with extraordinary change.
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Was there no innovation in Obama election pages?
Friday, November 14th, 2008
Alan Jacobson over at Brass Tacks Design has an interesting essay today that posits this point: News design needs to evolve. In an essay (headlined “Designers should heed these lessons from Obama”) that runs next to the recently relaunched Best Front Design, Jacobson speaks smartly about what he saw as an ordinary approach in too much of the design of too many newspapers on Nov. 5, the day after the election.
‘Here Comes Everybody’
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
In “Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations” Clay Shirky’s hindsight is even sharper than 20/20. Though the book doesn’t explicitly target journalists, his ability to parse the opportunities we’ve missed or misunderstood reads like gospel in these tumultuous times. Because we have spent so much time ignoring or poorly imitating the rapidly
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