TAKEAWAY: The job description has changed, so has the job. What are the characteristics that best describe a media house’s visual presentations editor?
Editor in chief Abdul Hamid Ahmad reviews our final dummy version of the Gulf News Tablet and offers suggestions
Tuesday in Dubai, and , at the Gulf News, we work hard polishing that Gulf News Tablet which is ready to appear on an iPad screen very near you soon. It is a busy time,and we now display the dummy app on our iPads, let our fingers navigate through it, find the hiccups here and there, find out why we touch this button and nothing happen, or let our brilliant editor and chief Abdul Hamid Ahmad put his fingers on a feature of the Gulf News Tablet and ask the question: why can’t I go from here to there?
We all look at each other. Yes, why can’t he? Then we move on to find the solution.
It is all part of the process, not unlike what happens before a print redesign goes live. Except that here, technology demands are greater, jitters more abundant and we are designing for the eye, the brain and the finger, while carrying the essence of a well known publication into a new platform that is not print nor online.
Challenging and fun. Stay tuned for more as I continue my work here with Miguel Gomez, Gulf News design director, and Anupa Kurian, Reader’s Editor and iPad project leader. Miguel, by the way, represents the true visual presentations editor here, wearing many hats to make sure that the Gulf News brand/look and feel are effectively carried out through the various platforms.
And that brings me to the topic below: what constitutes a good presentations editor?
Wanted: Visual Presentation Editor—-must be an angel
Twice the past week, publishers from very different newspapers, and countries, have contacted me about the hiring of a Visual Presentations Editor (you may feel free to change the title, as is often the case, although the nature of the job remains the same).
In each case, a mejor metropolitan newspaper is interviewing to find that key person who will advance graphics, design, the brand across platforms. First, this is no longer the “let’s hire an Art or Design Director” situation. Not at all. Whoever handles this job today must be well versed in visual presentation beyond the printed edition.
This is where it gets problematic: there are not enough qualified people out there who can present a portfolio across platforms. Naturally, most of the applicants are heavy on the printed side, and quite light on the digital.
I understand how difficult it is to find the right person who can do it all well.
What do I tell these publishers?
First, I remind them of what they already know: the job of the Visual Presentations Editor is a big one and not what it used to be. It takes a very special, devoted, conscientious person to give print its due, and advance the digital platforms at the same time.
Second, I suggest that they conduct interviews and go beyond the portfolio of work completed. Talk to the candidates about “feelings” for design in various platforms. Ask plenty of questions, but keep focused on what the job really should entail:
1. To make each platform unique, but make them all first cousins at the same time, that is the task.
2. To elevate typography, color and design, but not at the expense or sacrifice of any one platform.
3. To share in the power of storytelling
4. To realize the tremendous importance of photography—-taking it to a level where photos are shared across platforms, but each gives photos its unique display. Tease me with a great photo in print; then take me to a full gallery of 10 plus photos like it in the photo gallery for online/iPad. But the best photo of the gallery goes to print, where you have one chance to make me go for the rest, sort of like the Tiffany ring in the Tiffany window, just one, but, boy, it gets you in the store. That is the key.
The good Visual Presentations Editor will not create feuding platforms, but cousin platforms pulling for each other, knowing that one cannot do what the other does, but all telling one singular story.
And, of course, the rest is the same common sense when hiring editors and art directors through the ages: make sure this person is a good communicator, a leader and a teacher.
There is no place for solo performances or inflated egos in this industry. Team and alliances are the key to successful visual presentations. The best idea wins.
A good hire is a person who is ready to share the winning moments. Indeed, hire an angel.
In a good publication, it is the readers who reap the benefits of such hire.
Review of The Daily’s typography
Stephen Coles sends us a link to his marvelous typographic analysis of the new The Daily. Go take a look at his detailed dissecting of how type is used in this, the first ever newspaper created for the iPad only:
http://fontsinuse.com/the-daily/
Today’s pop ups
Bild today pops up a story about stuttering, inspired by the Best Picture Oscar to the film The King’s Speech and Best Actor to Colin Firth, who played King George VI of Britain, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped with a stuttering problem. Bild uses a take off on the story for its health section, mentioning that 800,000 Germans stutter.
Here Bild editors take you on a gold expedition: where is the gold? Let your finger follow the leads on this pop up.
Of special interest today
If you are a real fan of Apple’s iPad—-as we are—-then you will be happy to read this report:
“A whopping 102 tablets are on sale or in progress from 64 different manufacturers, according to a new study from consulting firm PRTM……With almost a full year to catch up, no other manufacturer has yet come close to matching the iPad’s technical specs and aesthetic allure. And on Wednesday, Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) is poised to take another leap forward when it unveils the second-generation iPad.”
Read the full story from CNNMoney:
http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/01/technology/tabletmania/index.htm?source=yahoo_quote
And “just when you thought it was safe to enter the tablet market, along comes iPad 2”:
http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20110301/ipad-2-just-when-you-thought-it-was-safe-to-enter-the-tablet-market/?reflink=ATD_yahoo_ticker
And….from Apple’s CEO