A visual journalist's survival guide: Finding time for design

[Tim Frank]

How many of your publications have a workflow something like this, essentially treating most content as breaking news?

The problem with this is that most of the time is dedicated to hunting and gathering (reporting) while little time is allowed for the food preparation (presentation).

It's unfair and unreasonable to expect brilliant presentation to happen in a fraction of the time it took to write the story.

Live stories would be the exception, but in reality, not that many newspaper stories are truly live stories.

Here's a greatly simplified look at a parallel workflow, which moves the involvement of overall presentation much further upstream. It's a little like applying a features workflow to news.

Under this scenario, design, graphics and photo can all be working together while the story is being written. Not only does this give more time for presentation, the work is better because it can be collaborative.

That huddle can simply be a quick conversation, but it will get everyone on the same page so that the story forms, photos and graphics all work together. Designers can develop a framework that can be filled and adjusted as text and art become available.

"It will never work."

If you're cranking 20+ pages a night, this isn't going to suddenly make more time for you. What it will do though, is put some things in your hands much earlier and give you more control.

Planning and communication are the keys. And changing the culture of a newsroom doesn't happen overnight. It's not a difficult concept to sell, but breaking old habits takes time. It will take leadership, salesmanship and persistence.

In the mean time, take control where you can and look for opportunities one story at a time.