A primer on informational graphics

These dynamics make visual communication more important than ever to the newspaper.

But today's editor is also squeezed for resources in an era of corporatization. Print staffs are tighter than ever, and many editors at small papers have lose their graphics artists and designers to pagination and company web sites.

What to do? The need for visual communication is still there. The trick: how to do informational graphics on a limited budget?

What is an info-graphic?

Simply put, an info-graphic is any number of visual elements combined with type to tell a story. It is a form of storytelling, and potentially as powerful as writing and photography.

So powerful and valuable, in fact, that many in journalism believe info graphics should be recognized along with photography and various story forms for a Pulitzer Prize, the highest prize in news.

An informational graphic serves as a visual entrance into a story. It can capture a readers' attention and furnish valuable information before the reader gets to the first paragraph.

And it is the quest to help readers understand that is at the heart of graphic thinking.

And no other form of communication works as well as an info-graphic in pushing information into our heads in a multi-dimensional world.

The thoughtful use of graphics separates excellent newspapers from mediocre and good newspapers. The very best, no matter how large of small, communicate information at a variety of levels, from glance boxes, to diagrams, to charts and maps, as well as stories.

What about smaller papers?

Good graphic thinking always begins with the reporter. A graphic can help tell the full story by relieving the writer of what writing coach Roy Peter Clark calls the "heavy cargo," the numbers, complex actions that are best recast visually than in words.

Think of graphics as sidebars or second stories. Sometimes they simply illustrate the story, sometimes they take the story beyond.

Don't use graphics for graphics sake, however. Use graphics because they are news! "A chart can engage the viewer by capturing his or her imagination," says Thibault.

She adds: "Maps orient the reader in space. Time lines and chronologies orient the reader to events in time. ... A graphic can explain a procedure. It can show relationships or compare commodities. It can show you where you are or where something happened and how."

Some suggestions on techniques

Media General Inc. is considering this approach with its new community newspapers division.

Staffers would learn combinations of the basic programs, including Freeland, Photoshop, QuarkXpress and Illustrator and chart programs such as Delta Graph, which keeps a running data file so an operator simply add the most recent number and the chart will update in a plotting program.

This training does not in itself make an artist, but it does make it possible for the publication to do graphics.

Another option is to set up templates for general graphics, including facts boxes or tabular charts. This way, copy editors and even reporters trained in some programs can go into the tab chart and type in the appropriate information.

The Internet also makes it possible for a newspaper to easily download logos of companies and sports teams, and sigs. Some companies sell sigs and logos for a small price.

Newspapers should also consider the establishment of a base map system. Freelance artists could develop a large map from which could be adapted simple locator. Converting a map takes a lot less time than to draw one from scratch.

Robert Holst, a resourceful graphics coordinator for the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group, has developed such systems of base maps for NYTRENG newspapers.

Tools of the trade

Despite some moves at some colleges and newspapers such as the Tampa Tribune, Richmond Times Dispatch and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, toward PCs, the Apple Macintosh remains king of the hill for graphics.

Ninety percent of professional shops use Macs. It is a computer designed specifically for graphics interface work. As one designer quipped, why drive on I-95 in a Boston Whaler when you can get behind the wheel of a BMW-318?

"The Mac is the best. No question about it," said Marshall Matlock, who heads the visual journalism program at Syracuse University.

Apple has historically been priced higher than PCs, but that has been mitigated in the last year, along with the quality of the less-expensive iMac.

Dave Gray is executive director (and founding member) of the Society for News Design, a professional graphics designer, teacher and for nearly 30 years the head of graphics and design at the Providence Journal. Regarding the Mac vs. PC issue, he said, "Folks looking do go to PCs say they want things to be 'easier' for their technical support…What they don't understand is that they could get rid of 3/4 of the MIS/support folks if they got rid of Windows!"

Layne Smith, graphic artist at the Dallas Morning News, has developed some ideas for small papers on how to get ready to be graphical.

He suggests papers subscribe to the Associated Press's Graphics Net. Subscribers receive hundreds of graphics in a given month, and can create an instant archive of base maps and charts.

On top of that, he recommends a newspaper purchase "The MacMillan Visual Dictionary."

Mitchell Hayes, art director at Computerworld in Framingham, Mass., is another one-person art department. His advice is to spend some money on stock graphics that can be used again and again. His favorite is Graphics Builders, distributed by Robert Lockwood. They can be organized digitally or in a simple three-ring binder for quick reference. Logos can be used to make type charts and tables more enticing,

Hayes also suggests that editors save icons and illustrations from wire services. They can be broken down and reused.

Hayes has also used AP Agenda pages, which are completely ready, and well designed and researched. They are included in the cost of an AP subscription fee.

He also suggests PageMasters, which produces food and feature pages. Subscription cost: 55 pages on CD-Rom for about $250.

Another source is the web site www.arttoday.com. There is a nominal fee for lots of downloads.

Reference materials, other ancillary things

They include:

• According to Tracy Collins, AME for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the best stuff is the general-use CDs you can order from catalogues. But some of them can be expensive. Try buying Rand McNally map discs from the bookstore, then converting their maps to your use. You can also find a lot of stuff on the Web; take a screenshot, import it into Illustrator and draw over it, and voila, you have your map, with no financial outlay for reference material.
• The best reference is a copy of the National Geographic Atlas or the London Times World Atlas. Both are in the $150-$200 price range (assumes a scanner with which to scan traceable maps). (Gayle Grinn, National Post)
• MapArt is a U.S. company that sells regional base maps on CDs. You have to be careful - some are archiveable Illustrator files, some are gimmicky Photoshop images — buy the right one. As well, they're often big messy files. It is probably best to just trace your own regional base map and scan it in, creating a consistent style. (Charlotte Thibault, Concord Monitor)
• MapArt Geopolitical deluxe for USA and World on CD: Really good for those locator maps when local people have trekked to some foreign land and written a feature about it.
• Ergonomic features: A good set-up. A chair that adjusts in height and has a good back rest. An adjustable keyboard tray with enough room for a mouse so you don't have to hyper-extend your arm to use it.
• Useful websites: www.mactoday.com, www.macworld.com, www.apple.com (Kris Goodfellow, AP)
• Authors who should be on the bookshelf: Nigel Holmes, Edward Tufte, Tim Harrower, Mario Garcia, Darryl Moen

• David Gray has a great bibliography that can be downloaded from the SND web site. It covers just about every book graphics people should have.

What about maps?

Says Ron Johnson, director of student publications at Kansas State: "Rely upon local maps as references — the Chamber of Commerce, the phone book or an online locator map. Then build a starter-set of locators using Freehand. Keep it simple. Find a metro paper that does nifty-but-simple locators — and follow the leader."

One caution: It all takes some time

She adds, "Set realistic expectations. Even with training and working for a weekly, I would not expect a copy editor or a one-person art department to turn around a major graphic in less than a few hours, particularly if it's complex."

Involving experts on a part-time or freelance basis is a way to get around this. College students with an understanding of graphics and illustration sometimes work for credit or a nominal fee, says Hayes.

There are tips and shortcuts out there for the small paper ready to take on graphics. But I must underscore: it all comes at a price — time, training, freelance and some seed money.

The payoff is substantial.

wwatson@bsu.edu