Charles Apple

The graphics staff of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel has long been a leader in print and multimedia graphics.

But that’s not enough for these guys. They’re looking for even more ways to connect with readers. So they cranked up a new graphics blog last week, tied in — as you can see — to the Sun-Sentinel’s existing News Illustrated graphics brand.

Graphics editor Len DeGroot took the time to answer a few questions for us…

Q. Very, very cool idea, man. Who came up with it? And – more importantly – how did you talk your editor into letting you do it?

A. I came up with the idea while watching cable news. Long story short, I was sitting on the couch grousing about shallow coverage and thought “we can cover that better online.” The light bulb blinked on and I started an outline:

1. Blog items off the news.

2. Adopt a a “Web-first” mentality and post by noon.

3. Share our unused research with people. Finally, use the great stuff that never makes it to print.

4. Walk the line between serious journalism and entertaining the casual reader — in consecutive blog items.

I made the pitch the following Monday to Joe Swcherdt, DME Online. He was supportive and directed me to our Blog Editor Howard Goodman to refine the details. I didn’t experience resistance on any front. One of the great things about the Sun-Sentinel is that ideas are welcome if you can sell ‘em.

Q. Do you have a plan to keep the content coming on a regular basis? Or is this a “whenever you get time” deal?

A. We started a Web-first production 9 a.m. shift in February to create dedicated time for Web/interactive graphics. We added blog posting to the duties to keep from overwhelming people.

We had planned to start last Friday to promote Sunday’s News Illustrated print page. Sunday’s page would promote a Monday post that expanded on the printed content.

But we ended up launching the preceding Tuesday [March 18] because Jason Taylor, a local football star, did the Fox Trot on Dancing with the Stars.

The next day it was Iraq Coalition casualties. Thursday we had just finished a census item when some “only in Florida” news broke — an Eagle Ray jumped into a boat and killed a woman.

We created a quick interactive using content form a 2006 News Illustrated graphic on sting rays and then posted the entire page in a blog item. Having a 15-year archive of those pages helps. As does all the interactive pieces that live in The Edge, our multimedia gallery.

There are humorous ‘easter eggs’ hidden all over the News Illustrated site. For example, graphics staffers peer from rotating mug shots in the upper right of the page. But click on the “more” button and you’ll find humorous bios and funny mug shots of the same staffers.

Here’s Renee Kwok, a former pre-med student and now a shopaholic graphics reporter for the Sun-Sentinel:

And here’s Len himself:

Q. You seem to be having some fun with it – the staff mugs and bios are a scream! Was there any resistance – from the staff or from the management – to being anything less than deathly serious?

A. Goodman loved the idea of being a little out there. Gizmodo, among others, was an inspiration. But we did decide to put regular staff photos out front so we could cover hard news too. Our first truly wacky image was posted by Cindy Jones-Hulfachor. It’s a giant bug chomping on Florida. Schwerdt loved it after he got over his initial shock, and encouraged more of the same.

But like anything else, good judgment goes a long way.

Q. What is the size of your staff there, these days? Did you lose any resources during the big Tribune company ownership change?

A. The department is composed of seven people, including two managers. The the graphics reporters range from vets to rookies and they are exceptionally talented. We were unscathed in the recent cuts, but attrition shrunk the staff from a high of 11 earlier this decade.

Q. You guys have long been leaders in graphic multimedia. What can the rest of us, out here in resource-poor newspaperland, do to help catch up with you guys?

A. We recently changed the way we approach Web graphics. A basic interactive graphic should be simple enough to complete in the first 3-5 hours of a Web shift. If it generates 1,000-2,000 hits, which it often does, we have out-performed most video on our site — with less investment.

Our online folks have noticed. They now see Flash/interactive as a viable way to tell stories with the immediacy the Web requires. We get lots of home page promotion, including the top position on the page.

And we still produce detailed pieces. But they are often calculators or data products with a high potential for reuse. The big packages still have their place, but they don’t offer the readership we’re getting from other graphics.

South Florida’s Len DeGroot talks to a street
bum he found at SND/Boston last October.
Photo by John Garcia.
—Q. You have an incredibly talented graphics staff. You’re working with all-star folks like Tim Frank, Paul Wallen and – now – Tim Ball. Do you have any clue how stinkin’ jealous the rest of us are right now?

A. Awww. That’s as sweet as a mother’s love.

Find the Sun-Sentinel’s print News Illustrated pdf graphics archive here and The Edge multimedia graphics archive here.

And, of course, you’ll want to bookmark the new graphics blog here.

USA Today has a similar blog for its interactive graphics department. Find that blog here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 8:35 am and is filed under Graphics, Innovative ideas, Newspapers, VizEds Blog, Web news design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.