Well, I've been meaning to start blogging about my design endeavors for a while. I suppose now – after the thrill, excitement and exhaustion that is election night – is as good a time as any.
Let me first introduce myself! I'm Adam Baumgartner, a student in the journalism-graphics program as Ball State University. I've interned at the Indianapolis Star as a page designer, and I am presently graphics editor for the Ball State Daily News.
It's quite a task.
Though I've taken a multitude of journalism classes, I've only taken one design class to date. Thus, most of my design and visual storytelling experience has come from practice, the patience of peers and self-education. I like to think it's hard work that's paying off.
Last night, hard work definitely seemed to pay off. It was election night. Designers occupied every computer in our section of the newsroom – a occurrence. The design and assistant design editors were both in to oversee the production of the paper. I was managing two staff members – Jennifer Prandato and Michael Boehnlein – in the creation of graphics for the appropriate pages.
Maps of the U.S., Indiana maps, maps of counties, maps of districts. Breakdowns of Indiana's General Assembly and the U.S. Congress. Pie charts, stacked bar charts and bar charts of voter breakdowns. Pie charts of local election statistics.
Together, I, Michael and Jen tore through the data, changing it from numeric values to graphic representations. Counting tiny dots and fact-checking every issue. Live-updating as new information came in.
It was incredible.
Everything that could be done ahead of time, we did. My staffers already had maps of Indiana and the U.S. prepared, so we could mostly fill in the blanks. This made things run much more smoothly.
Still, we had to toe the line between providing the most accurate, up-to-date information and meeting our print deadlines. The problems with print media.
In addition to the print graphics, another designer created an online click-through of how each state's electors voted since 1988.
This evening, I'll likely do the same with all the graphics we published in today's paper. I simply have to update them for the latest results and make them into an interactive.
Of course, I've been looking through the paper and noticing all of the mistakes. Some numbers would have been better represented in different forms. Some maps could have used explainer text.
These are things I'll mention in our next design meeting so we can all improve for next time.
All in all, I'm just humbled to be leading and working with such an incredible, talented and dedicated staff.
That's all for now.
Happy to get the ball rolling on this blogging thing.
Adam
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