Designing for story
What makes a story? Rhythm, tone, character, surprise.
- Guest speaker: Jacky Myint, The New York Times
- Schedule in the next few weeks.
- Talk about your weekly assignments.
- CSS: Positioning.
- Work session on group + individual midterms.
Assignment Individual midterm assignment. Due Thursday, March 6.
Midterm: One Block You will design, report, and produce a visually driven Web feature about a single block. The block can be anywhere in New York City.
You will determine how you would like to focus the piece, but at a minimum your piece should include photos, a headline, body copy, the location of your block, and other typographic elements such as subheaders or pull quotes. You should visit the block. You can take your own photos or rely on (rights-allowed) photos you find using a geographic search on Flickr or a historical image archive.
You should write your own copy, but we’re not looking for an article-length piece or a ton of reporting. We are intentionally asking you to do this in a short period of time so you can focus on your impressions, your reactions, a few facts gleaned from basic research. Think extended captions more than an article. 200-400 words should cut it. But make them count.
A few things to consider:
– Tell me a visual story. The easiest thing to do would be to make a list of facts with a few photos. Be more intentional than that. Think about the visuals and words you want to lead with, and how it will end. Apply some of the storytelling concepts we’ve talking about in class: rhythm, scale, contrast, tone, designing for emotion. Make something with a personality.
– Narrow your angle. One New York block will have a lot of stories. Here are a few ways you might consider narrowing your piece:
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People: Talk to people who live or work on the block. Ask them what’s changed about it. Or ask them who are the recognizable figures from the neighborhood.
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Photos: Let the photos to the talking, with extended captions. (But be careful that there is a beginning, middle, and end. Don’t make a slideshow).
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History/architecture: Focus on the history of the block, using sources like the New York Public Library website (for photos) or the City of New York Building Information System (for construction dates and histories).
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Whatever you find. Find one interesting thing about the block and focus on that, to the exclusion of everything else.