Marca.com comes back to online graphics

Marca.com has come back step by step to online graphics. After several little attempts, a proper online graphic has been released. The chosen event has been the Surfaces Battle, a tennis match that will take place at Palma with Nadal and Federer playing on a hybrid surface.
A basci service on a online sports newspaper, where visual information should be more relevant than in any other online newspaper.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE GRAPHIC

NAO Quarterly Showcase is open

You can already vote at the first NAO Quarterlies, an infographics competition that will take place each three months, organizated by News Artists Organization. A great inniaciative, that will show a free contest, making able to judge graphics with little time distance from when they were done. It also an opportunity to take a look to the opinions about the graphics that are being done at the moment.

CLICK HERE FOR VOTING

Michael Agar moves from The Observer to The Independent on Sunday

Michael Agar, graphics director at The Observer moves to the The Independent on Sunday, working at the same position. Teh new has been released at Update, the SND blog.
Agar was president of the jury at Malofiej in 2005 and also works as adviser for Newcastle College and Innovation consultant, where his last work has been the colaboration on the redesign of the portuguese magazine Visao.
Update also says that Michael's wife has just give birth to a baby girl just one week ago. Congratulationa for both news

New trend?

Marca is the topselling sports newspaper in Spain, and far from the rest. In Spain, the kig of the sports is, no doubt, football (or soccer, if you're american!). And goals are the amin attraction of this sports. So, what better than explain that goal everybody will be speaking of in the morning for those who couldn't watch at at it? With its target this is nearly a public service

Useful interactivity

When Layne Smith, webmaster of the NAO forum called for NAO Quarterlies entries, he divided web graphics on three categories: online, multimedia and interactive graphics. Doubts came soon: which category would fit my graphic?. Layne explained that online graphics were those with any visual explanation, on teh traditional way, without use of multimedia. Multimedia means that you're using video, audio or both. Interactive graphics need a system of action-reaction beyond the navigation (he used the example of a graphic using a calculator game).
On NAO again, Troy Oxford called attention on this impressing interactive graphic about the convenience of buying or renting published by nytimes.com (you've got to register, but it's free and really worthy).


It's, above all, an useful graphic. Something people needs, it can be used as a game or as a very helpful guide (those graphics for Bart and Lisa Matt Ericsson talked about). Such important decission on someone's life and your newspaper offers you a personal adviser.
Troy Oxford wrote on NAO: "I wish I had it a few years back..."

Xocas debut at Newsweek

Another spanish make the US adventure. Xaquín González (Xocas), the former online graphics director of elmundo.es it's now working for the online graphics department of Newsweek, where he meets with other big gurus as Kevin Hand. And he has already started creating, with this graphic about global warming. Congrats to both, Xocas for his new job and Newsweek for the great adcquisition.

Small local website with online graphics: it's possible!

diariodenavarra.es demonstrate it. You could have a small local newspaper and mantain a regular online graphics section. You don't need too much, they just have one person dedicated to it, coordination with print department and a website such complete as that one. They're not great interactive graphics as ntytimes.com multimedia features, but they do their job. Online graphics have the same tasks as print graphics: explain all that text and photos can't explain by themselves (and now, also video).
This depatment already got a Mallofiej bronze by a graphic about Itoiz dam. It's not spectacular, but effective. They'll grow. That's a first step.

Tomorrow's winners, today

The always-busy-members of NAO have rganized the NAO's 1Q-2007 Showcase. As Layne Smith says, that's not a contest, but an opportunity to take a look to the great graphics that are being made now with no need to wait until the new SND or Malofiej book (Which will need two years to come out). Graphics must have been published from January 1st and March 31st of 2007.
Entries could be sent until April, 20th, and categories are very simple:
• One column graphics
• Small graphics
• Large graphics
• Illustrations
• Best use of wire graphics
• Charts or diagrams
• Mapping
• Multimedia
• Online graphics
• Interactive graphics It's absolutely free and you don'yt need to be a NAO member. Voting ssytem will be through a public gallery. There will be a call for entries each 3 months.
If you want to take part, just click here!

Just for infographics artists

Another design society is born, but this one is special one, cause it's focused just on infographics. Its name is IGA (Information Graphics Association) and comes introduced by Karl Gude, Michigan State teacher and his former teammate at Newsweek Kevin Hand. Their fist big project is the IG Conference, a big meeting at Michigan State with guru speakers as Nigel Holmes, John Grimwade, Matthew Ericsson, Dona Wong, BillMcNulty, or Kevin Hand himself.
One of the ways they tried to keep attention on this coference is to upload interviews with the speakers on the web, important by themselves.

LINKS
- What's IGA
- Nigel Holmes Interview
- Matthew Ericsson Interview
- Kevin Hand Interview
- Bill McNulty Interview
- John Grimwade Interview

Awarded students

Just a few students could say they've got international awards by homework, but some of these are Alberto Cairo's guys at Chapel Hill. The two bronzes obtained in Malofiej this year by their multimedia documentaries Chasing Crusoe and Atacama Stories are added to the gold they got by the first of this features at the SND.ies and the Pictures of the Year Award also awarded to the same film.
Alberto uploaded to his web some other works of these talents. Maybe one of them will be the next year Peter Sullvan...

Graphics from eastern Spain

News design and more. That's promised on this new blog call Cuatro tipos (Four guys). Four guys who areJavier Pérez Belmonte, visual journalist nad head of infographics on Levante EMV; Diego Obiol, journalist and designer, with his own design studio, Metadisseny; Tomás Gorria, editorial designer and journalist; and Herminio J Fernández, visual journalist and teacher at the University of Valencia.
Good companies with time for infographics topics. In Spanish!

Bronze!

VItamines to keep working hard. That's supposed to me this bronze at Malofiej (I should say it came for the graphic I had less expectatives as usual...).