Multimedia journalism

A critique of Columbia’s 2008 masters projects

Columbia University offers a master’s degree within their Journalism school in new media. Curious to see what level of work these students produced, I came across a list of thesis projects done by Columbia masters students last Spring. I recognize the time and commitment that went into these projects, and I commend these students for their hard effort. However, it is unsettling to see the quality of work done at a master’s level.

It is important while learning multimedia trends to not only look at the best, but also look at those that could have been improved. This allows you to see the wide spectrum of multimedia examples that are out there. My main concern overall with these projects was the lack of design and innovation. Since we are all still learning, I would like to highlight one of the projects with some opinions for improvement.

Transgender at work: Changing sex in corporate America
First, there is no need for the intro screen. Intro screens are mainly used for preloaders to prepare the rest of the presentation, but that is not the case here. For this project, I would start the user at the main screen, which is much more attractive and welcoming. The main layout was nice, but the background did nothing for me. Why not find a nice hue of colors, adding to the story, or simply use the soft tan from your header? I probably wouldn’t have put the author’s names in the header because that is valuable space to play up the logo and title treatment, especially since their names are in the footer and in the “About” page. You could even move the “Can you be your real self on the job? …” text that was in the intro into this header treatment. There is also room for improvement with front choices and weight. It’s nice to blend both a sans and sans-serif font together, with different weights between the header, the navigation and other type. For instance, I would have liked the title to be a little more innovative in how it was placed in relation to the subhead. Also, the navigation text is too large. If this text was smaller, it would have helped attract the eye from the pictures, to the header, and then finally to the navigation.

Once you view the inside pages, the font treatment is very nice, playing with color, size and position to attract the eye. The photos within the text stories helped it flow and added color to an otherwise gray page, which was appreciated. My main complaint on these pages was the navigation, which could have been better designed, again with a different front treatment than the header to distinguish the two.

Most importantly, I believe there was a missed opportunity to try out “new media” efforts in the FAQ section. Instead of putting together a dull powerpoint slide with soundslides for the “What does transgender mean?” section, why not create an interactive graphic on the surgery? Or, do video interviews with a wide variety of people to see what “transgender” means to them, with statistics to back up your findings. Or, follow an individual as he/she goes through the process and document it through multimedia elements and journal entries. This could have been SO compelling!

Topic for discussion:
When you have the time, take a look at the 14 student projects. Some are better than others, but unfortunately none of them truly exceeded expectations for new media and innovation in my eyes. What do you think of last year’s projects and what advice would you give students this year as they begin their thesis projects?

Other posts that might interest you:

• Phil Daquila produces thesis, “The Improvisers”
• University of Miami students promo projects on VisualJournalism blog
• Ohio University launches Soul of Athens 2009

© 6 October 2008 Innovative Interactivity (II).