TAKEAWAY: Wrap-up notes from a terrific SND conference.
I had not attended an SND conference for 9 years, but obviously this was the right time to make a return. it was a superb weekend for meeting many old friends, all of whom I am happy to report are still enthusiastically engaged in this fabulous and ever changing business of ours.
It was also fascinating to meet the new generation of visual journalists, including many college students taking their baby steps into design, asking questions, reminding us if when we, too, looked at the mountains ahead with that combination of anxiety, excitement and without the proper Google career navigator.
But this SND conference was mostly about beginnings.
The incredible Richard Saul Wurman
Above, Mario, Richard, and Mario
Beginnings is what it is all about.
That was one of the many messages the SND crowd received from Richard Wurman‘s informative, entertaining and eye opening presentation. Wurman gave us the term information architecture and is the creator of those inspiring TED seminars.
“I have a single obssession in my life: to help others understand information!,” he told the audience as he paced the stage, gesturing, or using a banana as a momentary prop, like a well trained actor of a certain age doing a monologue from his own living room. Wurman does not preach, he chats and he convinces, although seducing is probably a better word.
“It is all about beginnings,” he said. “You begin with a blank page, curiosity to find out about something you know nothing about, then that curiosity drives you to learn more, and, alas, there is that moment when you understand it. Marvelous.”
It is all about asking questions, Wurman said. “Why is it that schools reward the student who raises his hand to answer the teacher’s question. We need to reward the student who raises his hand to ask a question.”
This reminded me of the culture of so many newsrooms I have visited, where the one member of the staff who asks the most question usually ends up becoming persona non grata, and the first on the list of those who can be replaced?
Meeting Wurman
Although I have known of Wurman’s work for years, we had never met. It happened Friday night at the SND reception. Wurman approached me in a most interesting way.
“I want to introduce myself,” he told me, as he held his capirinha in one hand. “I wanted to meet you because everyone here is asking to have his picture taken with you. So I asked and they told me that you are a man of talent who has been able to capitalize on that talent.”
What an honor to meet you, I said, feeling truly happy to shake hands with this man whom I consider the father of information architecture, such an integral part of what we do everyday, and never as important as today as we design for tablets.
We chatted amicably, then, before he left, he turned to me and said:
“And remember that I am the one who came to meet you. Capture the symbolism of that.”
Indeed I have, and it will remain one of the most impactful encounters of my career.
Bob Newman: having fun with what we do
One practical and inspiring session—-standing room only—-was that of top magazine designer Bob Newman, whose topic was based on a provocative question: why can’t newspapers offer more visual surprises, like magazines do?
Anyone who attended this session left the room with plenty of examples on how to surprise, to offer creative solutions starting on Page One, and how to learn from newsmagazines but also New Yorker, Entertainment and Real Simple, but not Wired, please.
“Wired is designed for a small group that it includes, and the rest of us are not included,” Newman said.
Wise words, Bob.
And, to answer the question why so many newspapers don’t offer visual surprises on page one?
Editors in some of these papers are not having fun doing what they do. That is the key: fun.
I will add more updates later this weekend.