This week’s installment of the Walter Cronkite School’s Must See Mondays speaker series brought Poynter Institute faculty member Sara Quinn to discuss “Visual Storytelling: Finding the Best Forms.”
Quinn, who worked as a designer for newspapers for approximately 20 years, joined the Poynter Institute in 2003 and teaches visual journalism and multimedia to undergraduate and graduate students from the United States and internationally.
While students typically think of “visual storytelling” as videos and photographs, Quinn discussed the importance of using graphics, maps and interactive visuals as alternative forms of storytelling, especially in print and online pieces.
“Alternative story forms, we’ve found, attract a lot of attention and more attention than traditional text,” Quinn said. “That’s kind of a gestalt thing: if something is different, it stands out.”
Quinn presented students with numerous ways to bring visuals into storytelling, from timelines and fact boxes to animations and interactive databases.
To illustrate these ideas, Quinn brought up visual storytelling examples from news organizations, including a CNN interactive map titled “Home and Away” that gave viewers an up-close look at casualties in the Iraq and Afghanistan war.
The grayscale map, scattered with white dots, pinpoints the spots where American soldiers died during the nearly 10-year-long conflict in Iraq. When viewers click on a specific dot, a name and photograph of a soldier appears along with his or her hometown and cause of death. Relatives and friends of the soldiers are encouraged to leave “memories and messages” with the information already provided to add to the narrative of the map.
Quinn also showed students a piece produced from California Watch that uses sketches and voice-overs to narrate an investigative story, giving students a look at how to visually tell a story without using videos and photos.
This and the other visual examples provided by Quinn were inspiring, journalism junior T.J. Balousek said.
“After listening to all that, it kind of got me inspired,” Balousek said, adding that he would like to experiment more with developing graphics to use in the YouTube videos he creates.
Balousek said he came to hear Quinn speak to see what opportunities there are for students interested in graphics.
Mass communication graduate student Aja Hood said she came to the event thinking she would hear about broadcast packages, but was pleasantly surprised to hear what Quinn had to say, especially about how visual elements can add to a print story.
“In class, you’re told to take a picture and crank out the story,” Hood said. “It almost makes you feel like you’re not doing your job if you only do that.”
Quinn ended her talk by encouraging students to learn not only about graphics and design, but basic coding and web design, adding that news companies are seeking individuals with these skills.
“If that’s a pathway that you’re interested in, I would say learn how to use some code and learn how it blends with data visuals, I think you could write your own ticket, especially … if you are good with telling stories,” Quinn said. “It’s just like the sweet spot, it’s like the Venn diagram of the future of journalism.”
Contact the reporter at linnea.bennett@asu.edu
