In 2012, when I completed writing iPad Design Lab:Storytelling in the Age of the Tablet, I wrote in the introduction:
“This is a textbook about storytelling. Although its central premise is storytelling on the new platform we refer to as a tablet, it has its roots in the processes that lead us to capture the essence of a story, think about all the possibilities to present it and explore the most effective ways to engage an audience.”
I then proceeded to mention three essentials when designing for the tablet:
“— Make the story the protagonist.
— Explore the potential of the tablet to enhance the story, but do not add unnecessary bells and whistles simply because it can be done.
— Design your tablet edition to be sophisticatedly simple.”
The two stories profiled here accomplish this well.
The Montreal Gazette: Farewell to Jean Beliveau
This is a story of remembrance, a tribute to Jean Beliveau, one of Canada’s most revered ice hockey players who died in Montreal December 2.
In another wonderful example of storytelling for the tablet, the team from the Gazette has utilized video to open the segment, followed by combinations of text, audio and photo galleries.
The Montreal Gazette’s evening tablet edition is definitely a textbook example of how stories can be enhanced with simple, but effective, multi media elements.
The New York Times: 9 Kisses
What a surprise to see a tease to this story titled 9 Kisses in The New York Times tablet edition.
Total fun to see some of our favorite film stars (Steve Carell, Reese Witherspoon, Kristen Stewart, Rosario Dawson and Laura Dern, among others) in these silent movie segments, all involving a kiss.
Here is how the Times' editors framed the story:
“In our annual gathering of the best film performers, our longstanding tradition has been to photograph the actors one at a time and (more recently) invite each to do a brief solo turn for the video camera. But though
there has always been a place in the movies for solitary screen heroes, the real action — romance, rivalry, struggle and shtick — takes place when two people are in the frame. Once the camera is rolling, why not pucker up?”
Both of these stories got us interested from the first moment. The Gazette's story has a timely news component, and it shows what a creative team who is aware of the storytelling opportunities that the tablet offers us and thinks about it when planning how a specific topic will be presented. While the impact is immense, the Farewell story does not involve multimedia elements that would be difficult to gather, once the planning has been done.
In the case of the Times' 9 Kisses we have a more complex and demanding set of requirements, from concept to completion you have art director, editor, production editor and video expertise the likes of which one might find in the making of a documentary. 9 Kisses is NOT a multimedia story.
Two stories, two winners. One showing us what is possible to do with a daily news story using basic essential tools. The other taking us to a higher level of creativity and complexity.
We applaud these efforts and encourage you to study them and to aim for incorporating these techniques in your own newsrooms.