Updated Friday, May 29, 21:54
IFRA Conference in Paris
I chaired the 2nd IFRA Design conference in Paris yesterday, and did a presentation titled Storytelling in a Multiplatform World.
Other speakers included: Hans-Peter Janisch, a design consultant and international director of the Society of News Design; Steve Dorsey, deputy managing editor for presentation, Detroit Free Press; Etienne Mineur, co founder and art director, Incandescence, design studio; Frederik Ruys, founder and CEO, Vizualism, Netherlands; Geoff McGhee, multimedia editor, LeMonde.fr.
Overall, although the title of the conference was “design”, and the audience consisted mostly of art directors and layouters, I was happy to see that the majority of the presentations dealt with discussions of how to best develop and execute ideas across various platforms. I was also happy that 50% of the program had to do with online presentation.
I covered the conference via Twitter, and those interested can go here http://twitter.com/tweetsbydesign
Here, highlights of each speaker’s presentations:
Hans-Peter Janisch: The change of newspaper design in Luxembourg
Janisch, who has worked as a design consultant with two dailies in Luxembourg—-Tageblatt and Le Quotidien—-tells us that the arrival of free newspapers in the tiny country, has prompted the traditional titles to take a look at what they do, and “become sexier”. Janisch has incorporated front pages that serve more as navigators, with less text. For Le Quotidien, he has proposed a large visual lead of the day, referring readers to read the story inside. For Tageblatt, a more classic concept, text accompanies stories on page one, but a more complete navigator has been introduced.
Etienne Mineur: The future of online publishing
Mineur, who is art director for Incandescence (France), believes that newspapers need to take a serious look at how they present information on their websites. They need to be more flexible with the layout and architecture of their sites. “Nobody wants to scroll down several screens to find information. Be more fluid. Move horizontally. Create blocks that lead to zooms, more direct access for information.” He recommends looking at video games for inspiration and excellent ideas that are readily applicable for news websites.
Frederic Ruys: The transition from 2D to 4D
Ruys, who is founder of Vizualism (Netherlands), showed the importance of graphics online, with emphasis on how the Dutch newspapers have introduced video and animation to their websites, with much success. Ruys reminded participants that infographics online can thrive when taken out of the limitations of print, and said that the real purpose of graphics is to help clarify complicated stories, not just to simplify the information.
Geoff McGhee: New frontiers in online infographics
McGhee, who is mulmedia editor for LeMonde.fr (France), was previously at The New York Times, and he showed many examples from how the Times has perhaps one of the most advanced displays of animated infographics, with high levels of interactivity for users. McGhee emphasized the importance of talking to journalists in the newsroom, and developing good relationship with those who initiate stories. He offered tips for training of staff: “Hire someone who can come in and train your people, with the reversal taking place as your staff helps the new guy learn more about traditional graphics; there is also a ‘rental option’, where you bring in a consultant on a retainer, and pay him/her in advance for a set number of hours, then that person is there when you need him, to assist with training.”
Steve Dorsey: SND winners of the best designed newspapers in the world
Dorsey, deputy managing editor for presentation/innovation, Detroit Free Press, presented the five winners of the latest SND contest, and showed the judges’ comments on why each newspaper won in this category. Common traits of the winners: all five of the winning newspapers display poster style front pages; most don’t carry much advertising, which opens up the canvas of each page for the display of large images (emphasis on illustration), long stories, ample white space and color experimentation. Not a single U.S. newspaper was on the list, with one judge shown on video to state that she was “appalled by the lack of inventiveness” of the American newspapers, as if they were “in a real slump”.
They are writing and reading
All is not lost. When editors tell me that young people simply don’t read, I tell them: how about the Harry Potter phenomenon? Of course, teenagers are reading. Statistics show that the average Harry Potter reader is about 14 years old, reads the book in 2 hours, and many go back and read the book MORE than one time.
Today we learn that American teenagers (and, no doubt, similarly around the globe, since I see young ones texting away in every city, every country I visit) sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages a month in the fourth quarter of 2008—-that is almost 80 messages a day, and more than double the average of a year earlier.
An article in the International Herald Tribune reports that the excessive practice of text messaging among teens worries pediatricians, psychologists—-not to mention teachers! The practice of text messaging, they say, leads to anxiety, distraction in school, poor grades and sleep deprivation.
However, going back to editors who say that the young don’t read: well, we now know that they are indeed, reading and writing. They are also rebelling, in a way, against what they call the hypocrisy of parents who tell them to stop text messaging, and threaten to confiscate their mobile phones, while text messaging and constantly attached to their phones themselves. Makes for interesting times, if you have a teen at home. I am happy to say there were no mobile phones around when my kids Mario, Brian, Ana and Elena were teens.
Plato Not Prozac
Have you ever sort of peeked into the book that the guy sitting next to you on the plane was reading?
I could not help myself this morning, as my fellow traveller apparently could not put his book down (even during a couple of turbulent minutes on the Paris to Frankfurt flight). He was reading Plato Not Prozac, and it probably had a calming effect on the man: peaceful look on his face, unfaced by turbulence over Luxembourg countryside, and also refusing all forms of food and drink. Could that be more Prozac than Plato in the book’s contents?
Anyway, now that I have landed I have done the ritual thing that we all do: enter Google’s temple to see what this book is all about.
What did the Google gods tell me:
First, the author, and obviously a new guru to get to know: Lou Marinoff, Ph.D
Second, I need to know about a new field of endeavor: Philosophical Counseling
Third, and very important, as it may forever take away the stigma of therapy with the not so well balanced. Now it is called therapy for the sane.
Sign me up, pronto.
The best news, in case you sort of dismissed Freudian thinking: When people come to see Dr. Marinoff they do not get endless discussions about their childhoods, quick prescriptions for antidepressants, or tedious analyses of their behavior patterns. Instead they learn how the ideas of the world’s greatest thinkers can shed light on the way they live.
I asked the man reading the book if he found it helpful:
Well, I think the book has helped me more than my own therapist. I have personal family problems, and the tips from the philosophers has been much stronger than what my own therapist tells me. And, by the way, my daughter is reading the book too.
For more: http://www.loumarinoff.com/books_pnp.htm
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TheMarioBlog posting #272