THE WEEK IN DESIGN 30

Appropriate treatment

When striving for consistency of brand and treatment, we should never ignore the emotive tone of the story.

Design can be an instant indicator to the happy/sad, serious/celebratory coefficient, so we should be mindful of the power we wield.

Take the two designs below.  Generically in the category of 'children', the treatment differs greatly because of the tone of the story.

STOLEN CHILDREN CLIP

Stolen Children is communicating statistics of child abduction.  Serious, sad, highly emotive and the gritty, slightly sinister nature of the treatment is wholly appropriate.  There is a sense of 

drama, without ever overstepping the mark and the family motif feels like an analogy for lost childhood.

PARENTAL LEAVE CLIP

Not that this isn't a serious story (the work/home life balance around maternity and paternity), but we are communicating details around a time of celebration and the child mural approach 

feels wholly appropriate.  It is warm and engaging, communicating a positive feeling from the start, but the detail is never lost.

From a design perspective, I'm a little perplexed by the decking at the bottom, but we can let that pass…

However, we need to be careful and prepared to be internally critical of ourselves.

DRINK DRIVING CLIP

For drink driving, I think we get away with it; just.

The design is communicative, clean, clear and crisp and the pure info graphic treatment always plays well with volume and scale.  

It is beautifully achieved and stylistically just where we'd like to be.

However, the serious nature of this subject is trivialised a somewhat by the animation.  It's a little quirky; slightly jocular even and we are in danger devaluing the message.  Easing this back and 

potentially muting the colours slightly would have made this excellent.

From both sides of the fence, we should be expressing the tone of the story and treatment idea at the point of commission and never take these things for granted.

CDE

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THE WEEK IN DESIGN 29

The return of the Design Excellence Awards

After a months break due to overwhelming workload (for everyone), the design awards have returned.This is an opportunity for us to value check our work and reward that which is outstanding.

For the first time, we have decided to open the voting to the whole Newsroom; after all, we are not just measuring the quality of design; this is about success.  

How well does a piece communicate?  Does it demonstrate excellent collaboration? Did it fit well with the package (and does it sit well with the Sky News Brand).

Combine these factors together with design and beauty and we have success.

The award is given to both the designer and producer who worked on the piece.

You can view the 5 clips shortlisted on the following link

DEA 4 SHORTLIST

and then vote for your preference on the link below (which is also embedded in the viewing site above).

VOTE HERE

Please enter your name so that we can avoid duplicate votes, but your vote will be invisible to other users, so that anonymity can be maintained.

The poll will close next Friday 22nd November and the winner announced.

Good luck

CDE

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THE WEEK IN DESIGN 28

Flow.

One of the greatest challenges in any piece of communication is flow; the ability to continue the story, benefitting the experience.  The best way to achieve this is by working together.

The recent Energy Price Rise story provided just such an opportunity.  By communication with design (and the undeniable skill of cameras and creative ideas of the producer), 

a beautiful sequence of shots was provided, allowing the application of information whilst maintaining the package flow.  

So far so good.

Below is the generated design.

To say this is disappointing is an understatement.  When you are given a gift of such bold, dynamic shots, the very least anyone would expect is that you don't destroy them.  

We should work with footage, whether provided or requested and make sure that there is no conflict, but here elements are fighting for attention; logo, subject, icon, genre, figure and 

image, all conflict, creating an unsuccessful whole.  Utilising assets which do nothing to strengthen our ownership of the design (yellow text, invented arrow), relegates this even further.

All of this adds up to a sequence which breaks the flow of the package and therefore story.

It is most disappointing, since with such beauty at our disposal, the solutions can be very simple.  The examples below are generated exceptionally quickly.  None of these are glorious, 

but glory is not the requirement here; we get that from the shots provided and the way that placement maintains the flow of the piece.  Embed the text, 

or make the application so simple that it doesn't kill the shot and communication will always be more successful.

Flow will always be maintained by information applied in situ, but relevance is key to success in this regard.  

SUGARY DRINKS CLIP

The design for Sugary Drinks is successful in this regard.  Again, the provision of a great shot maintains the flow of the package far more so than if the information had been displayed on 

An irrelevant wall or other blank space.  The way the design is laid out is beautiful and communicative.  If I have one criticism, it's that we could have perhaps worked harder to maintain 

a direct correlation with the drinks subject, but this solution was relevant to the environment in which the subject was shot. 

Finally, an example of where a 'barrier piece' is just what is required.

ENERGY SWITCHING CLIP

Enlivening a piece where it's possible the same old generic footage will be trotted out time and again presents its own challenge; how to reengage the audience.  

In the case of Time to Switch, taking a motif such as the dial has direct relevance to title, subject and action.  It doesn't hurt that it stands out in the package, because it becomes 

the 'science bit' where information so often appears.  It's beautifully realised and directly informative.

So be mindful of flow within a story or package.  We are all in the business of communication and ownership of individual sections is never as successful as owning part of the whole.

Inspiration this week from the final shortlist for the Information is Beautiful Awards.  Sadly, we didn't make the final cut after making the longlist, but the pieces below 

(though overly long for our requirement) give an indication of what can be achieved.

INFORMATION IS BEAUTIFUL SHORTLIST

CDE

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THE WEEK IN DESIGN 27

What makes the wall?

There has been much debate this week as to where we are successfully using the wall and why.  The crucial first step in understanding this, is realising that the wall is not a magic box of tricks, which will somehow make up for failings elsewhere.

We'll shortly be setting up some working groups with stakeholders from all areas to discuss how and where we can improve, but for now let's look at what I consider the most successful to date – GDP from Monday.

GDP WALL CLIP

Though there are still lessons to be learned (particularly with scale vs tightness of shot), GDP was an outstanding piece of work.

So what made it so successful?  Actually, in breaking it down, there is little need for detail.

Well written

From peg to concept to script.  All individual aspects were considered, then seamlessly knitted together

Well briefed

Communication with Design, Gallery and Presentation was well connected.  

Well designed

The treatment is appropriate and relevant; the bluprint premise coming from construction and indicating growth. Though it is deceptively simple, the focus is very much on the information, on the story.  Also, crucially, design knew how the wall would be shot.

Well choreographed

The sequence flows; the animations and sections have relevance.  In other presentations on the day, we moved seamlessly to locations and 2-ways.

Well presented

Colin is both engaged and engaging.  He uses the space on the stage, the depth in camera and the canvas of the screen

Well directed

When we needed to be tight, we were tight.  When we needed to beside, we were wide.  We utilised the depth of the studio to emphasise scale and detail.

All of these aspects played to the strengths of the wall (scale, resolution, mobility) and the strengths of individuals producing the content for it.

Overall, there was good communication and connection; it was well produced.  Broadly speaking, everyone did their job.

Success can be defined by understanding what each area will be doing and here, everyone understood their responsibility, communicated it and took ownership of it.  

This is why it was strong; we worked together.

CDE

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THE WEEK IN DESIGN 26

The Wall

The launch of the new wall has been a triumph which belies (or reveals) the hard work which went into getting it there.

As a project, it was exceptionally well connected, with editorial, technical, structural, development and design working hand in hand.

As always, there have been frustrations along the way but we will debrief on this and as we develop our presentation personality, 

we will come up with new and exciting ways to exploit some of the elements we always wanted to include.

From a design and development perspective, immense thanks are due to:

• Przemek Pluta for the interface and technical development – basically, everything 'clever' about it
• Harry Ward and Aaron Smillie for the design concept and build of the sequences for Immigration Week
• Phil Billmore for solving the seemingly impossible task of live data for Digital Devices in the final week
• Gareth Winter for the new ethos of story brands.
• Brent Jones and Roland West for ensuring connection and delivery. 
• Mark Jones and Chris Sharpe for brand and design direction

As always, the engagement of the whole team beyond these individuals has been key; you should all take credit.

The designs for Immigration UK have been a triumph of information, presentation and collaboration, they tie in with our new visual language 

and demonstrate the capabilities of storytelling when the wall is in use.  It cannot be overstated that without your dedication, not just to deliver, 

but to deliver exceptional creative solutions on time, we would not have made it across the line.

It's not for me to thank others, but without the dedicated editorial connection from Jamie Wood and Julie Weight 

and the directorial engagement of Jon Bennett, there would be no solution here.

Development will continue over the coming weeks with web interface control and we are already generating 

the next step in the visual language used on walls for next week.

For now, incase you missed the 4 meter high thing in the corner of the set, check out the text links to clips below. 

WEATHER WALL                           IMMIGRATION UK                   US DEBT WALL

THE WEEK IN DESIGN 25

A Digital Language

Ahead of Immigration UK, concentrating this week on the tremendous output from the Digital Team.  

Our Digital output gives a real lesson in how to communicate, plan and commission for information design.  

As an active, non-linear experience, the level of detail and depth which can be achieved is tremendous, 

but adds real complexity to the process.  Clear understanding of the subject matter and capabilities of the technology is required from all stakeholders.

In terms of design and development, Digital platforms present their own challenges and the key indicator 

of success is the User Experience – how well do people interact with the solution.  The end results 

for Immigration UK push the boundaries of the tech across all devices.  It's been a huge effort from 

Serge, Ranjeet, Sabina and James on design and development, but as always, the creative and analytical engagement from the editorial team has been incredible.

Crucial in the process however, is how well this experience reflects (or is reflected by) the on-air brand and 

as you will see from the output next week, we have brand consistency, but everything is fit for purpose.  

The nature of the new wall in set requires the brand to be darker and richer; Digital output requires more 

brightness and cleanliness and the two are tied together by a full frame treatment which bridges 

the transition from dark to light, the ambition being that the home user takes the digital output as a 

partner piece to the output.  We should never lose sight of the number of viewers browsing depth on 

the iPad whilst watching the channel.

The links below give a flavour of the output across iPad and Online, but content is also available on mobile.

Gain or Strain for Online

British Citizenship Test for iPad

Border Control: In or Out Test for iPad

British Citizenship Test for Online

Border Control: In or Out Test for Online

Immigration General Impact - including Hotspot Map for iPad

Hotspot map for Online

CDE.

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THE WEEK IN DESIGN 24

Beautifully simple

Our visual language has now developed to such a stage that we can design with beautiful simplicity.  A quick look at any latest 'digital' offering, iOS7, Windows 8 search, shows that the world is more accepting 

of a graphic treatment.  This move away from skeuomorphism as previously popularised by the Apple/Dieter Rams era, allows information design and data visualisation to be our focus.

However, as with any flexible brand, there is a sliding scale of how graphic/real we should be.

The pure digital nature of Google's product and identity lends itself to the cleanest end of the spectrum.  As we've seen in previous weeks, when we design in a way which fits our brand, but indicates the subject, 

we have success on two fronts.  The manipulation of the Google identity, embedding information within it, reinforces the connection to the subject.  With Google's penchant for 'doodles' the quirky nature of the 

design is a perfect fit.

Google animation

The stark simplicity of Lying Managers, echoes corporate brochure design and stock business imagery.  Without belittling the subject, the clever use of speech bubbles forms a direct correlation between 

what people say and the statistics.

The first change in approach is apparent with Device Prices.  When dealing with physical objects, we are best served by showing them.  However, by building these in a 3D environment (rather than filming in situ),

We are better able to control lighting, design and treatment, so that information does not suffer.

Pilot Tiredness is a very interesting one.  We could easily have designed this around In-flight safety cards, transit signage or airline tickets, and the design would have been beautiful.However, a serious subject 

such as this, requires instant communication and for us to steer away from any form of trivialisation.  Aircraft + text does this immediately and though it comes almost all the way to reality, it stays within our brand.

As a composition, it's beautiful.

Lots of debate on the Gaming design this week.  A hugely planned and meticulously thought out piece, it never the less drew raised eyebrows in terms of brand ethos.  Subjectivity will always play a strong part in 

any creative critique and this should be encouraged.  Only by debating relative merits can we value check and evolve.

My personal take, is that there will always be a place for treatment beyond the norm.  Where a high-end conceit can be justified on the merits of the story or the impact which it achieves, we should embrace it wholeheartedly, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't question.

I love this design as it represents the online games my 5 year old plays – harking back to the 8-bit of my youth without going too far.  If I'm being critical, I would have placed greater emphasis on the information, which is a little lost and kept the sequence full frame out of the device – if the premise translates, then it doesn't need it.

Gaming animation