Check snd.org starting Saturday morning through Monday evening for continuing coverage of the competition.

It’ll be a fast-paced three days. It’s an honor to invite you to follow us along online and to share a bit of insight into what you’ll be seeing and hearing about on the various digital channels.

What do these words mean?

A glossary of sorts:

Judges: These 21 people (plus five more who will be here next week to judge World’s Best Designed Newspapers) were picked from a database of more than 500 nominees and will be charged with determining winners and losers in this year’s competition.

Facilitators: Fellow journalists and students (thanks, Syracuse U) will be in attendance helping set up, tear down and generally keeping the competition moving along. We have three days to sift through more than a couple of entries.

Award of Excellence: Put simply, it gets you in the book. Five judges vote on each entry. Three or more “yes” votes gives the entry an A of E.

Silver and gold medals: Four of more “yes” votes brings the entry back later during judging to be discussed for either of these honors.

Drumlins: Judging takes place at Drumlins Country Club on the edge of the campus of Syracuse University.

What’s new this year?

Plenty! You can find the full rundown of rules changes and the 33rd Call for Entries here, but the highlights are:

Changes to the Best in Show process
This year, judges will narrow the field of entries down to a single Best in Show finalist. If three fourths of the voting judges then agree the finalist is Best in Show, then the entry will be awarded as such. (Previously, Best in Show required unanimous approval of all judges.)

Added subcategories
For the first time, “features content” is a standalone Editor’s Choice category. Did you do a week-long food series? Cover the royal wedding in your lifestyle section? It fits in here

The addition of staff portfolios
All portfolio categories now include options to enter eight-page staff portfolios. The competition committee hopes the quality in these categories is matched only by the competitiveness with which they are judged.

What’s up first for those attending?

On Thursday, competition coordinator Josh Crutchmer finished up work with print competition chairman Marshall Matlock and audit coordinator Shamus Walker to wrap up nearly a month of entry auditing on their behalf. We sorted “miscellaneous” entries (Category 19) into appropriate judging groups, addressed rules issues and ended the day with the 10,000 or so (check back Saturday for official numbers) entries ready for judging.

On Friday, judges arrive en masse. They will be introduced to their teams and the judging process, told (in vain) to get a goodnight’s sleep, and generally introduced to the lay of the land.

A group of facilitators spent Friday setting up the ballrooms at Drumlins for judging. We’ll address lighting, set out the first categories and be ready to go first thing Saturday. Follow along with us at snd.org, and if you’re so inclined, get creative with ways to donate to the SND Foundation after the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Thank you and welcome.

To view the speakers presentations and read an archive of our “Cover It Live” blog from the event.

http://www.snd.org/2012/02/live-streaming-video-of-syracuse-student-symposium-1245-4-p-m-feb-2/ 

Jonathon Berlin:
Mistakes I’ve made

(For video of Jonathon’s speech, click here

Jonathon is the current President of the Society for News Design and graphics editor for the Chicago Tribune.

Journalism is personal. You’ll never be able to remove yourself from the journalism you do. But remember, it’s not about you. The story comes first.

The more stuff you can do, the better. But be self-aware of what you’re strong at and what you’re not-so-strong at. And know the people in your organization who can help you.

You can have the best of intentions, but if you get it wrong, it doesn’t matter. It degrades your reputation. Whether you’re making something large or small, give it your best. Backstop yourself ont the things you KNOW you don’t do well.

You have to be the person who sees the forest for the trees. It’s important to have a perspective of what the work is. You’re the one who has to make things all come together. You have to be aware of what your publication is willing to do.

You are explaining how things work. Your stuff has to be understandable or it’s not worth it. We have to think about how people use what we do.

Your work doesn’t exist in a vacuum. You have to do a lot of extra work (not in front of a computer) to get it published, especially if it’s something radically different.  You have to get your colleagues used to what you do.

Take care of yourself. You’re not going to be a great worker unless you take care of the other aspects of your life.

You’re going to have a million choices and as you go out and decide what you want to do. The choices are going to be tough. Don’t sweat making the wrong choice. Just make the best decision for you at the time.

Richard Johnson:
You have to experience what
you want readers to care about

(For video of Richard’s speech, click here

Richard Johnson is graphics editor at the National Post. His work has taken him all over the world, from nation building in Africa to stadium building in Detroit. He began as a war correspondent for the Detroit Free Press in 2003, embedded with the U.S. Marines during the invasion of Iraq. He used pencil and paper to capture life on the front lines for a national series titled, “Portraits of War.”

One of the frustrating things about journalism for him is a great deal of it is done via the Internet or over the phone. It’s important to get out there and experience things we’re trying to get readers to care about. Combat photos can begin to look the same. He was desperate to find a way to put sketches together in a different way so people would read the stories.

Johnson had rules for drawing (his own): the experience has to be immediate and fresh. He only draws live or from photographs (but only in the first 24 hours).

In order to sell the idea of going on these journeys, he blogs, he writes for the paper, sketches for gallieries, shoots photography, straps a video camera to his helmet. “The price I have to pay to get my ass in the field and draw pictures,” Johnson said. He thinks about 50 percent of the live sketches make it into the paper.

Johnson said it can take around 90 minutes to complete a sketch and it tends to get easier as the tour continues. To file, To file, he takes photographs of his sketches and emails the photo back to Canada.

He said there are three or four stages to embedding. The first people you encounter are press affairs desk jockeys. Then, if you get out of the base you get closer to real soldiers. If you get to combat positions, you meet the ones that hate journalists. But you need those guys to tell the story. But you are “baggage”, something they have to carry and one more thing that can go wrong. But soon they adopt you and you’re “their” journalist.

When he was embedded with troops he works 14-18 hours a day. When he’s not drawing, he’s writing.

You can see some samples of Richard’s work on his website:

http://newsillustrator.com/FieldWork/Iraq/index.html

Adonis Durado:
Going from good to great

(For video of Adonis’ speech, click here

Adonis Durado is design director of Muscat Press and Publishing House, publisher of two major dailies in Oman — Times of Oman and Al Shabiba (in Arabic).

Good design is howthe designer brings together the pieces and apply the elements of good design. Does this page instantly grab your attention? Does this page excite you? Does this engage you to read on?

Durado used to think there’s a thin line dividing good and great. But he says compelling evidence shows there is more than meets the eye. Design is visual manipulation. And a great designer is a great manipulator. The design is more than just the elements. It evokes readers’ emotions. A great designer also knows when to exercise restraint.

He says a great page is full of conceit. And if you design with conceit you give added value to the contextual form.

Visual conceit is a method of dressing up, enriching, adding layers or dimension to a story.

Conceptual conceit is using the concept concept as controlling metaphor

Stylistic conceit is visual style as the dominant force. Not the concept or idea but the look.

A great page embodies organic and architectonic qualities. Design is not just a vessel or container. It is the physical shape of the story. Durado said everything in a great page is  ”architectonic” (Everything gels together and removing even a small part makes it all collapse.)

Durado said the designer who succeeds is the one who writes his own headlines. Durado says he does that and then has others check them or debate whether it is the best approach. 

Craftmanship is extremely important and execution is critical. Having a good concept alone is not enough. Style alone is not enough.

Summer Internship

The Society for News Design Foundation will fund one 12-week internship for Summer 2012. The internship will pay one deserving student $500/week to work at one deserving publication for a period of 12 weeks. Interested students and publications are invited to apply. In order to qualify, a newspaper must demonstrate that it has no paid internships in the areas of design (print and/or digital), information graphics, or photography/videography. Interested students must submit an application that includes a cover letter, resume, 10-piece digital portfolio and letter of recommendation.

Publications that wish to apply for funding and students who wish to apply for the internship should fill out and submit this form by March 31.

Annual workshop travel grants

SNDF offers students grants to help them attend the Annual Workshop and Exhibition in Cleveland, Ohio, on Oct. 11-13. Each grant covers the $220 registration fee to the workshop as well as a $500 travel stipend. Grant recipients agree to volunteer at least eight hours assisting on-site, either with conference logistics or live Web coverage.

To apply, fill out and submit this form by May 28.

SND Foundation Scholarship

Annually, SNDF awards this scholarship to a deserving student interested in and showing promise for pursuing a career in visual journalism. The cash award is $2,000.

This award is open to sophomores, juniors and seniors at any accredited four-year school worldwide. The student must be a member in good standing of the Society for News Design. The annual award is renewable once, but recipients must re-apply for consideration.

The scholarship recognizes potential for excellence in print, interactive design and both.

All applicants must be a journalism major or major in a field of related study with the intent of pursuing a career in visual journalism.

All applicants will be assessed on four areas: talent, scholarship, service and character. Submission requirements are outlined in full at the link below.

To apply, fill out and submit this form and requested materials by June 4.

If you have questions, please contact:
Jennifer George-Palilonis
Assistant Professor
George & Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Multimedia Journalism
Ball State University
765-285-8216
jageorge2@bsu.edu
Vice Head, AEJMC Visual Communication Division
Education Director, Society for News Design

You can watch all three presentations live on video here. You can also follow along and participate with our live blog. Send in your questions through Cover It Live or send them to @SND on Twitter. If you’re tweeting about the program, use #sndsyracuse in your tweets.

Two of the presentations are also available as Slideshare slideshows below.

You can also find handouts to Adonis’ and Richard’s presentations here.

Here are their first of what will be monthly updates this year:

Shajan C. Kumar

What I learned this month: I have taken a deep plunge into the sea of tablet content design. (I have) gone through the models of numerous apps produced by Indian newspapers and magazines. All of them have tried their level best to achieve greater reader satisfaction levels. Some have treated tablet design close to their web page design. Comment boxes, Contests and Videos run popularly.

At first look all pages look alike! You have a headline. A bit of introduction, a lead picture and, very rarely, an infographic. The news videos are treated as a separate section altogether.

An analysis of research statements made by readership survey companies on tablet sales in India in 2011 leave you with clear answers when it comes to the quality of content: We need to improve a lot. A sensible understanding of the medium and the target audience should get the first preference.

Knowing how readers use the publication is vital for any optimisation process. The Adobe Digital Publishing Suite offers sound features to analyse how readers engage with both editorial and advertising content. Publishers can track and analyse application installs and launches, measure reader engagement with individual articles and ads, and much more.

Where I learned it: Adobe InDesign 5.5 and QuarkXpress 9 are the two software packages I was keen to look at in detail to achieve better design for tablet content. It happened just because of my experience with the print design.

Below are some links Shajan used in his research:

• RIND Survey, A journal of the Press Institute of India
• The Hindustan Times  iPhone app
• The Indian Express iPad app
• The Times of India iPad app
• Dinamalar iPad app for Tamil newspaper
• Dinikbhaskar iPhone app for Hindi newspaper
• Malayala Manorama iPhone app for Malayalam newspaper
• WoodWing multi-channel plugin for InDesign

What was most challenging about what I learned: It is just a beginning. I may need some more time to research on the subject. As with print, having created a stunning tablet issue is just half the battle. Publishers need to think about how to monetise their tablet content successfully.

What I plan to do next month: Want to look beyond Adobe InDesign and QuarkXpress 9. Many third-party solution providers are seriously pitching in to the tablet content design area, which I believe will make a quality difference. So I really want to follow them for better results!

Carrie Cousins

What I learned this month: I made it through my first few lessons in Codeacademy’s Code Year program. I am learning about computer coding and language through weekly hands-on tutorials that pop right into my inbox. The first lessons were pretty simple and made me feel like I was going to get this faster than I ever imagined, but Weeks 2 and 3 set me straight. Coding can be pretty tough. On the flip side, I have been working more with HTML and love it. I am working with a couple blogs (one in WordPress and another through Blogger) and I have learned how to see what all the marks mean. I have been working with some HTML web tutorials as well.

Each Code Year lesson is almost like a little game. You get a description of your goal and then work with code in the box on the right. Each time you get the code right, you can move on to the next lesson.

Where I learned it: I started only with Codeadacademy tutorials. But this was just not enough to give me the context that I needed to be successful. So I have added in a little web reading as well. I started with the basics of HTML at w3schools.com. The lessons are super simple and allow you to see exactly what happens when you try to use certain HTML tags.

Tutorials at w3schools.com explain how HTML formatting works in a visual way with great examples and then breaks down how to use tags to get those results.

What was most challenging about what I learned: The coding is difficult. I am finding success in the tutorials because I can follow and imitate the patterns that make things work. What I seem to be lacking is the why. I am not sure why the languages, the most recent lesson was in JavaScript, work the way they do. Things seem clunky on the screen and don’t read well. I really think finding a book that details some of the background and framework will really help me move forward.

What I plan to do next month: First, I plan to find a book on coding. I really want to understand more about what I am doing and not just make things work by following patterns. I also plan to really start using more HTML and get into more tutorials about more than just formatting type. I also registered for a webinar on Jan. 31 “iPad Publishing for Everyone! Learn to Create Your Own iPad App.” I know I am not quite ready to take the leap to tablet design quite yet but I hope to soak up some great information and tips in the webinar.

Donnita Fisher

As the managing edtior of five weekly newspapers in one of the fastest growing counties in the country, life is often a blur. As a journalist in her early 50s who started her career on an IBM selectric typewriter, I can’t afford to get left behind in the digital age.

What I learned this month: This month my learning experience included attending the Texas Press Association‘s Mid-Winter Convention. I always learn something from the sessions and this year was no exception. Visiting with In-Design expert Russell Viers always provides insight in to working smarter.

This year’s convention also included a publisher roundtable where Mark Engebretson, publisher of The Lake Country Sun, provided information about how his paper used Facebook to cover wildfires that swept through the area last year.

Engebretson speaking earlier this month at the Texas Press Association’s Mid-Winter Convention.

With a subscription base of close to 2,000, The Lake Country Sun has almost 7,000 Facebook fans! Mark attributes this to his paper commitment to using Facebook as a means to get information to its readers on a daily – and sometimes hourly or minute-to-minute basis.

What I plan to do next month: One of my goals for the year is to somehow use our digital product to bring readers to our print product and vice versa. So this month I made charts from our on line poll results and included them on our opinion and commentary page (at the bottom):

We’ve also made a more concerted effort to update our Facebook page with different kinds of information … local sports teams, an ad for a salesperson, water hazards, etc.

I’m hoping to find the time to take the Poynter online course Mobile Content: Seven Business Strategies for News Media in February.

Wesley Watson

What I learned this month: I purchased a new Wacom Intuos4  tablet (large version) and have been teaching myself how to use it. There are two programs in which I’ve been practicing: Painter  and Illustrator. Painter has been for painting, obviously, and Illustrator I’m using for digital inking. The examples I’ve included are for an illustration that will accompany a story about backwoods ski safety.

Wes’ sketch and his inked image using Painter on his Wacom board.

Here’s more of his inking for the ski safety project.

While it’s serious information, we’re making it into a game of sorts. Our thinking is this: A kid is not going to read 30 inches on safety. But they’ll play a game; and illustrations will help cement the information into their memory. The illustration I’m showing comes about at a part of the game where if you make a wrong choice during an avalanche you end up in forest where the safety you seek is replaced by trees hitting you with the force of baseball bats.

Where I learned it: There’s not a lot of resources here in Wyoming for some of the things I want to learn — tablet-based drawing and painting, 3D modeling — so I rely a lot on books and the Internet. The setup I’m using is my home one. With a drawing tablet, I’m quickly learning that it has much more to do with becoming familiar with the technology than it does anything else. It’s all about the feeling. But when you get it, you begin to forget that you’re using a tablet.

What was most challenging about what I learned: The tablet is surprisingly easy, so outside of coughing up the money for its purchase (I’m usually a cheapass), the hardest thing has been to jump in and just start doing it. … and not put my bowl of Cheerios on top of it. Once I started, though, it began to feel like I should have been working this way all along — especially with the Illustrator work. In Illustrator, I’m using the tablet to do my inking for comic-type illustration. I’ve been amazed at how much faster it is to work this way. I still sketch on paper, but scan the image and apply my digital ink. For me it’s faster, cleaner and much tighter than the inking I do on paper.

Talo Chileshe

What I plan to do next month: I have multiple illustration projects coming up, so I’m going to continue to stay in that area for the time being. Animal illustration ­— my favorite — will pop up probably twice, so I’ll be exploring traditional, realistic illustration with the tablet. Among other things, we are going to be beginning our project on mountain lions.

What I learned this month: I have made a head start with InDesign. I want to be using InDesign to design magazine and newspaper pages. I work at a University Newspaper, the Lusaka Star, so I am changing from CorelDraw to InDesign to design pages. I will post the actual work by the end of February.

Where I learned it: www.learnindesigntutorials.com

What was most challenging about what I learned: Creating paragraph styles. Placing and cropping images. Wrapping text.

What I plan to do next month: Working on an advertising leaflet to go in newspaper that has over 300,000 circulation. Want to create a website using HTML 5 and CSS3.

What are you doing to improve yourself this year? Leave a comment and tell us about it.

Joe Greco is the corporate design director for GateHouse Media.
Contact him at jgreco@gatehousemedia.com.

My name is Ben Barry and I’m a designer at Facebook. I do a little bit of everything, including design, lettering, illustration, photography, motion design, environmental design, web design, screen printing, letterpress, programming, etc. At Facebook, I mostly focus on our visual identity, internal culture, and special projects.

Also, check snd.org all weekend and Monday for live coverage of the competition. 

What to bring

Pack comfortable clothes and comfortable shoes, a heavy jacket and clothing to LAYER. (Not to be confused with information layers. Layers of all types are recommended.)

Friday

Expect to take the shuttle from the airport to the hotel with someone else who is attending the conference. It will probably be someone you haven’t met. You will recognize them as an attendee when you see them eyeing your Converse All-Stars, nerdy glasses, and other hipster attire suspiciously. Introduce yourself. This will be your first of many introductions, so get used to it.

When you check in at the hotel, you will receive a packet with an itinerary at the front desk. If you don’t, say “Where is my packet with the itinerary?” The most common reason (I have encountered) to not receive a packet is because you look like a student. Assure them that yes, this is your hotel room, and yes, you are a professional attending the conference and just give me my packet, already, OK?. There will be an ID badge in your packet. DO NOT LOSE IT.

If you have time, go to your room and take a nap. Trust me. I know you didn’t get any sleep on that plane, and you’re going to need it.

You may get a note under your door regarding an impromptu facilitator dinner. Attend. Attend everything you are invited to, even if you are exhausted. It’s worth it.

At dinner, introduce yourself again, many times. Talk about design. Talk about your dog, cat, kid, pay wall, furlough, mobile apps. Go to bed. Introduce yourself to somebody on the elevator on the way up.

Saturday-Monday

Early in the morning, you will meet in the hotel lobby and be bused to Drumlins (the judging facility.) Don’t miss the bus or you will be shunned. Wear your coat — it’s cold out there, folks. Introduce yourself to people on the bus.

Eat bagels and fruit for breakfast when you get to Drumlins. Hang up your coat. Not necessarily in that order.

At some point, your team captain will contact you and let you know that you are there to serve them until Monday when the contest is over. Get over it. Get used to being ordered around. Introduce yourself to others in your group. Every group will eventually fall into a judging routine. The mechanics of how the judging itself works will be explained to you by somebody who is not me.

You will see judges looking around blankly and standing by a page. They are looking for YOU. They probably need you to read a translation on a page, or check to see if they have voted or some such. Get off the floor where you are likely sitting and ask them what they need.

You will eat lots of fruit and small blocks of cheese. Not because you are hungry, but because it is there. You may witness a Cheez-It eating contest. All part of the experience, move along.

You may be mistaken for a student once or twice. This may become a running joke at your expense. Wait, maybe that’s just me.

Do not sort the bingo chips that the judges use to vote. Make a student do it, unless you need an excuse to sit down and look productive. In that case volunteer to sort the chips. If you see a judge sorting chips, tell them to go judge and find somebody else to sort the damn chips.

Expect to work long days and be exhausted. Expect to be ordered around by people who have been there before. Don’t take it personally. Expect to nearly fall asleep on the bus ride back to the hotel and need coffee in the morning. Expect to see and speak more design than you will for the rest of the year.

You will be fed breakfast, lunch and dinner. There will be opportunities for you to donate to the Foundation through betting on things like sled races.

Introduce yourself to more people, people not on your judging team, at meals. If you see their name tag and you’re a HUGE FAN, tell them so, but try not to faint. Fainting is not a good first impression.

Expect to have extremely strong feelings about some of the work you see on the tables. Try to keep it to yourself. Never tell a judge how you feel about an entry or let them hear you talking about it. Keep the judging pure. If someone wanted your opinion, you would be a judge and not a facilitator, and even then you wouldn’t be allowed to talk until the medal discussions.

Take note of who is standing around you before you speak. Always.

Expect to listen to lots of discussions about design. You will learn more than you thought possible. Try to soak it all in and feel encouraged and inspired.

Learn. Network. Work your butt off. Sing Karaoke. Syracuse.

Andrea Zagata is a sports designer for The Detroit News. This will be her third year as a facilitator at the creative competition in Syracuse.

Karaoke and visual journalism, two great disciplines that go better together. POLL: What's your go-to karaoke song? Tweet your replies to @sndkaraoke / hashtag #sndkaraoke

Soon judges and facilitators will be flocking to Syracuse, N.Y., to enjoy tens of thousands of pages of excellent design and unspeakably awesome weather.

Few people know that the real reason they winter in The Empire State is for the annual tradition of SND Foundation Karaoke Night. This year the pandemonium will begin immediately following the Super Bowl on Feb. 5.

Every year we raise an impressive amount of money from the people who come to Syracuse, but you don’t have to brave hours-long flight delays to play along from home and help the cause. You can contribute money to SNDF and challenge your friends and colleagues to perform songs.

Just visit our donation site here. Make a donation through PayPal. Then send a tweet with your song request to @sndkaraoke. We’ll be sharing the performances and photos through Twitter and here on snd.org.

Our goal is to raise at least $6,000 to fund the SNDF summer internship program which awards a paid internship to a student and a publication or website that otherwise could not afford to employ a paid intern. Money raised will also fund university-level scholarships, travel grants for students to the Annual Workshop & Exhibition, grants to the student designers of the year and training such as the Syracuse Student Symposium and other Quick Courses.

So, think about the most embarrassing songs you could hope to unleash on your unsuspecting friends and colleagues. Make your donation, and send your song request to @sndkaraoke. We promise to gently coax/force them to comply for the sake of a good cause and our gleeful enjoyment at their expense.

First, you need to enter your work in SND’s annual competition. We will honor the best breaking news presentations, data-driven projects, redesigns, mobile and tablet experience, projects and coverage of single stories and events. You will have the chance to weigh in on the entries. (?)

In addition to that we are looking for suggestions for the world’s best designed sites and apps. We want to find the sites and apps that have a beautiful, clean design, easy user interface and unique content delivery. Our judges will go through hundreds of sites and apps that you helped narrow down to one in each of three divisions:

• News website
• News tablet application
• News mobile application

But we’re not just looking for newspapers sites or apps, we want you to dig deep and give us the unique places where you keep coming back for news, day after day.

So we’re challenging you to help us find the best. But more importantly, we can’t wait to get your input.

Interested? Please scour the Interwebs to help us find the sites and apps that are truly worthy of the title “World’s Best Designed”:

How to contribute

http://digital.snd.org/worlds-best-nominations/

If you’d like to see the winners of our 2011 Digital Design Competition:

http://digital.snd.org/2012/01/04/2011-winners/

Would you like to enter the competition?

SUBMITTING ENTRIES: http://digital.snd.org/submit-entry/

LIST OF CATEGORIES: http://digital.snd.org/categories/

DIGITAL COMPETITION RULES: http://digital.snd.org/entry-requirements-and-policies/

DEADLINE TO ENTER: The site will be open for entries (anything published in 2011) until Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 (midnight PST). The original deadline was earlier but because of delays in adding all of the new features to the site, we’ve extended it to this. The new ratings system and World’s Best submissions area of the site will be available in the next week or so. Thank you for your patience.

JUDGING: Will take place during the last weekend in February at Ball State University. Winners will be announced before the end of March.

Last week in Washington, Laura Amico and her husband, Chris Amico, talked about the site the pair developed to track homicides in the nation’s capital, Homicide Watch D.C. at the Online News Association meetup.

The site features this signature line:
Mark every death. Remember every victim. Follow every case.

“We believe that how people live and die here, and how those deaths are recognized, matters to every one of us,” Laura Amico writes in explaining the site, which launched in September of 2010.

She was an out-of-work crime reporter who had moved from Northern California because of her husband’s new job in Washington — Chris had landed a developer/journalist position at PBS NewsHour and subsequently moved to NPR. Unable to find a reporting job, Laura decided to create her own, developing a site she’s passionate about and tapping into the power of community.

Less than a year after the site launched, it became a notable entry in the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism.

It also, importantly, forces more accountability among the people who investigate the crimes. Because the site now features the written reports from each homicide (the site uses DocumentCloud for much of this and, trust me, it’s an arduous process to get all these documents), Laura said she has noticed that some officers are more careful, knowing their work will receive a more public viewing.

The site added a custom database to track homicide cases from crime to conviction last summer, offering the easiest and most-comprehensive way to monitor where a case stands at any given moment. It also features mapping and a calendar to help keep tabs on homicides.

Laura said she also keeps a close watch on the site’s analytics, which act as a tip sheet. “I think of my analytics a lot like my scanner,” Laura said. “If I know what I’m listening for, I can find a story.”

In effect, it works this way: Someone may be searching for information on a crime, which may not have been written about yet. If Laura keeps tracks carefully, she can see something that may not yet have surfaced in other media. (Hear Laura talk about that more here in an interview with On the Media’s Brooke Gladstone.)

A robust Twitter account also aids in getting out information, as well as serving as a tip sheet. Laura said she follows anyone who follows the account so people can direct message with sensitive information.

The site has broken news many times. It’s also getting the attention of the political establishment — Mayor Vincent Gray and U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen both participated in the site’s Year in Review 2011 — and other media, with various news outlets around the region crediting Homicide Watch D.C. with being first.

The next major step for the site will be finding a sustaining business model.

Right now, the project exists on donations and benefits from expertise Laura has gained through various fellowships. A lot of her time — when she’s not reporting — goes into business development, while Chris spends much of his time building out the site (and, he will candidly tell you, learning how to be a better designer).

The couple aim to license the model to newsrooms. The pair said at last week’s meetup that they hope to be able to announce partnership(s) soon. Here’s hoping.

Laura was kind enough to share on her Tumblr the last slide of the presentation, which resonates for anyone who’s ever tried to design anything.

Lessons learned

(Laura offered brief explanations for each point in an ONA post.)

Many of us talk about starting something, only to retreat. It’s refreshing to see the opposite, people plunging right in — in an incredibly public way — to test the waters and prove out concepts in real time. It’s an added bonus that the work is such an astounding public service.

The WAN-IFRA, SND news design conference in New Dehli this week brought together visuals leaders from around the world for the first workshop of its kind.

Featuring Javier Errea, of Errea Communications, Adonis Durado, of the Times of Oman, Tyson Evans, of the New York Times to name only a few. Here is a summary of the workshop.

More about news design in India here as part of SND’s Year-Long Conversation.

The conference started with the key note from Javier Errea of Errea Communications and director of SND Spain. He emphasized that “I am not a designer, but a journalist.” Javier stressed the need for alternative story forms. According to him, story telling is of the utmost importance as decorative designs alone cannot win the hearts of the readers these days. He is also not in favor of using templates in newspapers. “It makes newspapers too predictable,” he said. News designs must carry surprise elements for the readers. He also advocates that every journalist must think visually.

Errea said he is now on his way to Kottayam, India, where he is redesigning one of the largest circulated dailies in India-Malayala Manorama, relaunching Feb. 1.

The second speaker was Deepak Harichandan, design editor (west) of the Times of
India. He explained the challenges Indian designers are facing compared to their European counterparts. To Deepak, Indian designers will get only limited space and time to work with design element because many of the newspapers are printing in Lakhs.

Next address was by Gulf News star information graphic artist Douglas Okasaki. He started his presentation by pointing out India is a land of graphics. Douglas illustrated it with Indian stamps, paintings and so on. And he wondered why this is not reflected in Indian newspapers. The general response to this was that it is due to the constraint on space and also that in India
text rules over visuals.

In the next session, Peter Blak explained the importance of using exclusive fonts and how vital it is for print and web.

Next up was Hans Peter Janisch, of Germany. Unlike other page designers, he said, sports designers have total freedom in the world to bring out more surprise elements in the pages for readers.

Adonis Durado of the Times of Oman described his newspaper’s winning formula in the last SND competition through 25 points. And he also explained how successful he is in extracting the best from his designers. He also had discussed about scope of Indian news design in his chat with some delegates later.

Next was Abel Robinson of Mint and Tyson Evans of The New York
Times. Abel talked about the tablet design. Tyson spoke about present and future interactive graphics.

T.K. Sajeev is also the visual editor of Kerala Kaumudi newspaper and the creator of India’s first newsdesign site www.newspaperdesign.ning.com

This is an introduction to the news design world in India, as part of SND’s Year-Long Conversation.

• Registered newspapers: 14,508
• Registered English newspapers: 1,406
• Other language newspapers: 13,102
• Top-language newspapers: Hindi, 7,910
• Registered magazines: 82,237

Reading culture: Despite having new platforms available for news reading, there is still a strong preference for print media. One supporting factor is the high literacy level among people and the other is the culture of regular newspaper reading from the Colonial times. So there is a steady, promising increase in readership which makes India a fertile land suitable for new publications.

The Times of India

It was in the late 1970’s that the Indian newspaper industry familiarized itself with the science of newspaper design. And after a few decades only stalwart publishing groups could hire foreign design consultants to redesign their newspaper to make their space in the international market.

Big names like Mario Garcia, Ron Reason, Peter Ong and the like, thus, made their entry into the Indian news design world. Later the publishing groups realized that cut, copy and paste of western design is not tasty for Indian readers. This was evident when after expensive relaunching of their newspapers; many were forced to alter design elements due to the pressure from readers.

They want more to read.

Circulation departments would definitely get phone calls threatening to withdraw subscription with the complaint that there is nothing to read if pictures were run 4 to 6 columns on a regular basis. Big pictures are looked at as a waste of space by many still.

The Deccan Chronicle

Design trends: How to design within limited space while catering to the requirements of readers is the biggest challenge faced by Indian designers. Consultant and SND/Spain director Javier Errea said this in an interview with www.newspaperdesign.ning.com: “I like hearing that people are used to reading in India. Newspapers are a crucial communication channel in India. Newspapers are still a key point within the social debate, the way people are informed, and a main channel to share facts and thoughts. The Indian market is now a privilege. You just have to compare this situation with Western markets. Limited space shouldn’t be a problem for a news designer ever. News designers must be intelligent enough to take advantage of any situation and improve the quality of the product. What does it mean? Many things. News design is not about aesthetics and superb displays; but mainly about the news and make people understand reality better.”

Color is another highlighted aspect of news design this region. Because of the diverse culture India is very vibrant and colorful. This is reflected in every aspect of the country, its growth and people. So we have colors playing a great part in the newspaper industry.

Big headlines are very appealing for Indian eyes. Indian language newspapers always go for a minimum of six column headline in an eight column grid for the main story.

The Hindustan Times

But recently many newspapers have realized the importance of design in a newspaper and are trying to reach out AND embrace new trends in news design. It is an encouraging sign.

SND’s entry at this point to the Indian region is very apt and appropriate. It hopes to open a new window of design knowledge and culture for India.

The WAN-IFRA-SND News conference at New Delhi on Jan. 23 is a great step forward.

T.K. Sajeev is also the visual editor of Kerala Kaumudi newspaper and the creator of India’s first newsdesign site www.newspaperdesign.ning.com