The design students at the University of Missouri had front-row seats to the SND college design contest when it was judged on campus yesterday. In between shuffling pages and posting the winners, we listened to the judges had to say about the best of college design. Judges Gayle Grin of the National Post in Toronto, Greg Branson of the Kansas City Star and Reagan Branham of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch were vocal about what they love and what they hate in news design.

1. Don’t be afraid to be bold in broadsheet. There was an obvious trend all day: Daring, conceptual tabloid pages won out over multi-story broadsheets in every category. What’s the problem with that? Most newspapers still need to put out a daily front page with more than one story on it. The judges had a great conversation about how to make big broadsheet pages interesting. “The broadsheets we have here took a traditional approach like they see big city papers- and that gets boring,” Greg said. “They forgot dominance, they forgot impact, they forgot all the basic rules. Just because it’s a broadsheet doesn’t mean you can’t have an interesting, vibrant centerpiece.” The judges said the best examples of broadsheets are found in international papers that use illustration to tell a story. And illustration isn’t just a drawing or photo: it’s conceptual. The best ones are a tool for story analysis. Gayle said newspapers in the future need designers with conceptual illustration skills. What newspapers offer for readers is analysis, and illustration can reflect that.

1a. Get artsy. To learn how to create conceptual illustrations and develop creative, critical thinking skills, Reagan and Gayle recommend taking art classes while you’re still in school. Then apply those skills to news design. “Innovation often comes from stretching the creative part of your brain,” Gayle said.

2. Color: Know your presses
. “Something you should pass on to everybody is that black doesn’t print well on newsprint,” Greg said. Page after page didn’t win because of reversed-out type on a black background. Proofread to make sure that these pages are legible, and remember the press will change that. And, stay away from 100 percent yellow so the judges don’t need put on sunglasses to look at a page.

3. Clean it up. Little mistakes hurt some otherwise great pages. The judges constantly used their hands to measure alignment and space, and they noticed when elements didn’t line up in the expected way.

4. Edit, edit, edit your portfolio. And then edit it down some more. Portfolios should only show a designer’s very best work. Many portfolios in the designer of the year category were eliminated because of a few bad pages.

5. Bad typography killed a lot of features pages. The judges said type was often illegible, overworked and overwrought. They preferred straightforward, clean, consistent type, and definitely not novelty fonts.

Compiled by the SSND Missouri Blog Team:

Victoria Millner Senior, Convergence Journalism

Beth Androuais Graduate student, Convergence Journalism

Julia Haslanger Sophomore, News-Editorial

Darla Cameron Senior, News-Editorial

Nine members of CSND have joined SND to make up the new affiliate. Headquartered in Shanghai, CSND has 17,000 members in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, India, and other countries with Chinese-language news organizations.

SND Chinese is SND’s first formal affiliate in the Asia-Pacific region. As with four SND professional affiliates in Europe, designers at Chinese-language newspapers, magazines and Web sites may choose to belong to SND, CSND, or both organizations.

Initially, nine members of the China Society for News Design have joined SND. Among those members is Alan Jin, executive director of the China Society for News Design and art director for Xin Min Evening News in Shanghai.

Headquartered in Shanghai, the China Society for News Design has 17,000 members in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, India, and other countries with Chinese-language news organizations. Its mission is to build a platform for professional communication and exchange to bring Chinese-language news design to a higher level.

A volunteer-led, nonprofit organization, CSND operates a Web site, http://www.csnd.cn/; holds seminars and conferences on visual journalism; provides design advice and consulting services; and sponsors competitions. In 2006, CSND conducted a design competition for World Cup coverage, and it plans a design competition for coverage of the Beijing Olympics this year.

CSND Executive Director Jin said that SND is widely respected in the news design field and that by forming SND Chinese, “We can absorb cultures from around the world, enrich our design knowledge and broaden professional horizons.” CSND plans to kick off its activities with a workshop this summer, followed by an aggressive schedule of other events.

The Society for News Design has members in more than 50 countries, including China. SND President Gayle Grin noted that SND’s mission is to enhance communication around the world through excellence in visual journalism.

In welcoming the SND Chinese affiliate, she said that news designers from all media are always eager to share ideas and best practices, learn about different cultures, and meet colleagues from varied backgrounds and perspectives. “We hope that the new affiliate will help Chinese-language journalists participate even more in all of SND’s activities.”

“The Society believes it’s an important time to forge stronger connections with Chinese visual journalists,” said Grin. “The emergence of the craft there, as well as the world’s focus on the Beijing Olympics, makes this moment unique. We welcome our colleagues, and look forward to a long-term collaboration.”

CSND was welcomed to the Society at the spring board meeting at Red Rocks Casino Hotel, the site of the fall conference.

The SND board of directors recognized SND Chinese at its April 6 meeting in Red Rocks Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, the site of the fall conference. SND Chinese will constitute SND Region 21. It will be represented on the SND board of directors by Lily Lu, a designer at The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. Non-Chinese-language designers in Asia and the Pacific will continue to constitute SND’s Region 19.

The Society for News Design, founded in 1979, has more than 2,000 professional, educator and student members worldwide. To learn more, visit http://www.snd.org, or contact SND, 1130 Ten Rod Road, D 202, North Kingstown, RI 02852; (401) 294-5233; snd@snd.org.

FRIDAY NIGHT REPORT: THE AWARDS

For the second consecutive year, a work made for the internet has been chosen as the best of the contest, and won the Peter Sullivan/Best of Show Award in the 16th Malofiej International Infographics Awards.

The international jury, gathered in the School of Communication of the University of Navarra for the last week, decided to give The Best of Show to the coverage made by The New York Times online edition (nytimes.com) about the massacre that happened last year on the campus of a U.S. university. “Deadly Rampage at Virginia Tech” was chosen as the best infographic work of the year in a unanimous decision by the jury.

The jury also gave 10 gold medals, 50 silver medals and 96 bronze medals both for print and online work done in 2007. More than 1.300 works from 124 media from 24 countries were presented, the highest participation ever in the Malofiej contest.

The Miguel Urabayen Award to the best map went to National Geographic Magazine for “Lives Still at Risk,” a piece about New Orleans months after being devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The award was created three years ago in honor of Miguel Urabayen, a longtime visual communication professor and movie critic, who has been a pioneer of the Malofiej Awards.

Gold medals go to The Guardian, National Geographic, Público, Expresso, The New York Times and Newsweek.

Read about all the awards here.

FRIDAY REPORT

The summit continued today with sessions by David Alameda, Xaquín González, Shan Carter, Larry Nista and Pablo Ramirez. The overview is that most news graphics organizations are demanding skills in online storytelling. There’s an imperative, more than ever, to make things “clickable, rotatable, and audible,” as Gonzalez of Newsweek described it. The interaction between audience and information was a point stressed by all presenters today.

At the end of today, the winners of the Malofiej 16 competition will be revealed.

The number of print graphics submitted for consideration reached a record, up nearly 25 percent from last year. And the participation in graphics online has increased 14 percent from last year.

The Spanish and American representation continues being the majority, but the competition is growing in other European countries, such as England, France, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Sweden, as well as in South America, from countries like Brazil, Colombia and Chile, as well as Argentina, which has always been a strong entrant at Malofiej. Asian countries also began entering this year, with Japan and China represented.

The Malofiej prizes, considered the infographics equivalent of the Pulitzer Prizes, take their name from the Argentine journalist Alexander Malofiej, a pioneer who developed his work to the forefront of the emerging global graphics movement in the newspaper La Opinión of Buenos Aires during the 1960s and ’70s.

Stay tuned for the results.

THURSDAY REPORT

The world summit started off early this morning with a well-attended presentation from Javier Errea, pictured above during his session today. The guru has earned a reputation as one of the world’s best information designers.

Students and professionals jammed the classroom to hear from the organizer of Malofiej and the man who helped orchestrate yet another World’s Best-Designed Newspaper this year: Expresso from Portugal.

The presentation – “Can Infographics Save Newspapers?” – examined the role that comic books, children’s books, teen magazines and guidebooks can have in the evolution of short-form storytelling.

Errea’s talk has become the talk of the summit so far.

Attendees have been engaged by the idea that different storytelling methods can have a substantive role in resurrecting print for a new generation. As Errea said: “Print is not dead!”

Interaction design:

Alberto Cairo from the University of North Carolina delivered a thoughtful presentation exploring the levels of interaction in online graphics. The highest level of interaction allows the user to explore an environment in which the very experience is the information communicated. Alberto gave several examples, including this site from secondstory.com which allows the user to explore the interior of Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello. Alberto said the the world is full of data, but data is not information. Data needs to take shape to be come information. The best interactive graphics provide the data and give the user the tools to shape it into relevant forms of information.

Magazine graphics:

There was a fascinating presentation by Sean McNaughton of National Geographic, who walked the audience through the evolution of two major visual stories at the magazine. The role of historical illustration at the venerable title and the obligation the staff there has to record with complete accuracy.

Radical change in Portugal:

With a new top editor, the newly created position of art director and a renewed commitment to visuals, Expresso implemented a plan in 2006 that would eventually win the paper top industry prizes, as well as new admiration from its readership. Jaime Figueiredo explained that the redesign of the newspaper simplified the smaller graphics, giving the artists more time to create larger in-depth work that would create visual impact. The work, of course, was honored this year by the Society at The Best of Newspaper Design.

From a presentation by Renata Steffen, Folha de São Paulo

WEDNESDAY REPORT

Malofiej 16 has begun at the Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain.

The hands-on infographics idea workshops are concluding this afternoon, the world summit is about to begin tonight with an opening at Pabellón de Mixtos, Ciudadela. The jury has finished its work and over the next three days the professionals will share their thoughts on graphics with the audience at the global gathering, sponsored by SND’s Spanish chapter.

Juan Velasco of National Geographic, one of the instructors for “Show, Don’t Tell!” reports that there are participants from more than 15 countries in the hands-on portion of the program, which also includes the multimedia program: “Interact, Don’t Show!” The students have been working since arriving on Sunday. The conclusion of the program was a breaking news exercise.

Tonight, the summit attendees arrive. The opening, usually a fantastic part of the program, will be attended by all participants, instructors and the jury. “The opening cocktail reception is always a lot of fun,” said John Grimwade of Condé Nast and a longtime Malofiej instructor. “The commitment of our hosts here in Spain is remarkable. They definitely make everyone feel welcome.”

Thursday and Friday will be full of presentations, with the winners of the annual awards to be announced at the conclusion of the summit. The Peter Sullivan Award, the jury’s top prize, will also be revealed that evening.

Stay tuned to SND Update to watch it all unfold.

I’m a native New Yorker, born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island. I attended Daemen College, a small private school in Amherst, NY (a suburb of Buffalo) and graduated with a BFA in Design and Illustration.

You didn’t take a typical path to newspaper design stardom. How did you end up in Buffalo and at the Buffalo News?

After graduating from college I decided to stay in Buffalo and try to be a big fish in a small pond (translation: I didn’t want to move back home and live with my parents). My first job was as a designer at New Era Cap. Yes, the sports cap company. I stayed there for 18 months and designed caps for the NFL, MLB and NHL. It was pretty cool to see teams wearing my designs after clinching the LCS and World Series.

My claim to fame from there was designing the logo on the back of all minor league caps. I then took a job as an art director for Gelia Wells and Mohr and created print and television campaigns for clients like RCA, Trico and Bell & Howell, while learning how to direct photography. I also did freelance work for the Buffalo Sabres, Bisons and Bandits, designing their magazines. That gave me the editorial itch. After years of temptation from The Buffalo News, I finally decided to give it a shot. One of my college professors, John Davis, had been promoted to design director and had a plan to improve the visual presentation of the paper, so after six years in the ad business, I made the leap.

How long have you been there?

I’ve been at the News since December 1998.

What is a day like for you at the paper?

Working at The Buffalo News has been a rewarding experience. It’s nice to be a part of something that has been built from the ground up. Because our design director trusts my decision making, I’ve been given a lot of freedom and responsibility. I feel it’s my job to push the envelope and create pages that are informative and engaging to readers. A typical day can be pretty diverse. I’m usually involved with a least two different sections, Sports/Features or Sports/A1. Communication is something I preach as a key to doing successful work. I like to receive as much input as possible and read any and all stories that are available. Then I’ll start sketching out ideas and go from there. Involving the section editor early in the design process and making them feel comfortable with the direction is another key step. By doing this I can limit the number of surprises that can show up at the end.

You have done more than just sports design at the Buffalo News. What other sections have you worked for? What are the benefits of working in another section?

I’ve done work on a regular basis for A1, Features, Sports, Special Projects, Viewpoints and I was art director for our monthly magazine. Diversity of content is the biggest benefit to rotating in and out of sections. Each section has its own voice and it’s up to us to design for it. Sports can be a predictable cycle. Super Bowl in February, NCAAs in March, Baseball in April, etc. Features forces you to be versed in many areas, some of which you might not be an authority on. The unique subject material allows you to use a different set of techniques and then apply them to other areas of the paper.

Would you ever consider leaving sports?

Not really, but I’ve already had my workload cut down quite a bit since last June after being promoted to assistant design editor. I’m pretty sure the managing editor and sports editor wouldn’t be a big fan of that move. At the very least I’ve been able to mentor some of our younger designers and help them in that area.

You had a great 2007, winning 13 SND awards including a JSR. What inspires your creativity?

Ultimately one’s influences as a designer must come from within. The strongest, most emotional work comes from using your own background, personality and experiences. When you combine these with observations from the world around you, your supply of influences and ideas is limitless.

How do you come up with some of your ideas?

Idea generation is often instinctual. Sometimes I’ll be sitting at home and spend a few minutes thinking about an upcoming project and get the urge to sketch an idea out. I’ve also been known to just throw a photo on a blank page or start with a headline and see what comes to mind. Each page calls for a different method.

You were a judge at SND29. How was that experience?

It was exhausting but very rewarding. I had a tremendous team and we all meshed together very well. After everything was all said and done, I left Syracuse a better visual journalist than when I arrived. I think everyone in this industry should experience this competition at some point. It will humble you and make you realize how difficult it is to win an award of excellence. It was a real honor to be selected and I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.

What advice can you give to people who enter pages?

Please be honest when editing your work. Ask yourself, “Do I honestly believe this page is among the best in the world? Does it have a concept? Is it executed flawlessly? And does it have impact?” Remember this the World’s Best of Newspaper Design contest, not your paper’s greatest hits or a state contest. On the flip side of that, the contest shouldn’t be viewed as validation for any designer. I noticed a ton of quality work in the “out” pile.

What commonalities did you see amongst winners?

Emphasis on idea generation, bold use of photography and illustration, restrained use of typography, limited color palette and strong editing.

What consistent mistakes or overused trends did you see?

• Clutter! Many entries were overloaded with unnecessary info or one too many photos that caused the page to lose its focus. Better editing by all involved would have helped.
• Poor typography: Whether it was poor kerning, incorrect sizing or the wrong weight, this was clearly an area of weakness.
• Finish the job: Many pages had centerpieces that rocked but the rest of the page fell way short.

Which other papers do you think raise the bar in visual journalism?

Each of these papers consistently set a high standard for design and/or photography: The Boston Globe, Columbus Dispatch, Plain Dealer, San Jose Mercury News, New York Times and Los Angeles Times.

Which designers?

There are way too many to name but I’ve always enjoyed seeing the work of this talented dozen: Scott Minister, Brian Gross, Lesley Becker, Chin Wang, Martin Gee, Wayne Kamidoi, Emmet Smith, Andrea Levy, Nicole Dudka, Todd Bayha, Rodrigo Sanchez and Hugo Pinto.

What do you do away from the paper? Hobbies? Activities?

Free time is hard to come by these days. I usually spend a lot of time with my wife, Lorri, and our 18-month-old daughter, Alexa. Things should get real interesting in early May with the arrival of our second child (a boy). I enjoy music and movies (I’m a home theater freak). Obviously, I enjoy sports and still have some game left in me to play softball and golf. I’ve also taken an interest in the art of bartending, although I keep getting distracted when practicing.

How often does someone actually pronounce your last name correctly?

(Kara-monty) About 2 out of every 10. It helps having a first name most people can remember.

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Mansfield steps down as part of the paper’s latest voluntary staff reductions. The buyout announcements go out this week.

Mansfield joined the Mercury News as news design director in 2000, following the paths of Bryan Monroe and David Yarnold, who put the paper on the visual journalism map in the 1990s.

He rose quickly through the ranks, soon becoming design director and then assistant managing editor. His widely acclaimed redesign of the Merc in 2001 and subsequent coverage of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 garnered the paper a spot as one of SND’s “World’s Best-Designed Newspapers,” one of the last American papers to achieve the honor.

Mansfield ushered the paper’s impressive visual staff through an unprecedented string of news events: the recall of a sitting governor and the election of an action hero (for which the paper’s photography was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), the death of a pope and a beloved former president, a war and its aftermath, the world’s greatest home-run slugger and his subsequent disgrace in a steroids scandal, wildfires across California, the rise and fall and rise of the tech economy. The list goes on.

Mansfield assembled staff after staff of some of the best journalists in the business. He directed photographers and reporters. Editors and artists. Designers and illustrators.

The Merc quickly became the place to be, thanks in large part to his recruiting of top talent from far and wide. Columbia Journalism Review named the Mercury News one of the Top 10 papers in the United States.

Under his leadership, there were many SND highlights, too. Mansfield chaired the annual SND workshop in San Jose in 2004, the first time SND had visited Silicon Valley, and he was elected to SND’s leadership in 2005. He directed the editors who helped revitalize both Update and Design. And he worked with a small group to build the Society a better online site.

He’s also crafted a successful role for himself redesigning other newspapers, notably the Lexington Herald-Leader and the Spokesman-Review.

Now he’s trying something new. He’s just not sure what it is yet.

He’ll spend the next few months consulting, traveling and generally figuring out his next move.

I know Matt didn’t take this decision lightly.

I know because I drove with him from The Times of Northwest Indiana to the Mercury News in 2000. That’s 2,000 miles of not taking it lightly.

I was in the car because I was his first hire at the Merc. Matt hired me while we were still in Indiana, his second step after getting off the phone with the Merc, he liked to recall.

Matt and I started on the same day, along with Kevin Wendt, now an assistant managing editor in San Jose, and soon after Bonita Burton, an assistant managing editor in Orlando, and Gabi Schmidt, now a consultant based in Mexico City. That was an amazing first few months.

It’s been an incredible journey for Matt and the Merc, from the high-flying days of the dot-com boom to the challenging changes shaking the newspaper industry. All along the way, his leadership has been a beacon to guide the Merc. Matt’s been a constant in Silicon Valley, an innovator in one of the world’s most-innovative places.

Matt took a few minutes to talk to Update about his choice to step away from the Merc. Let’s all wish him the best in his new challenges. Can’t wait to see what he does.

1. So, is it true? Is Matt Mansfield leaving the San Jose Mercury News?

It’s true. It’s also one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. Without question, I love the Merc: the work, the people, the place.

Leaving here will be a heartbreaking end to an amazing ride and, yet, the time feels right to exit. The buyout seemed an appropriate moment to hit the reset button.

I must admit to being more than a little sad right now, but I think that’s just because I’m nostalgic for a time that was, ultimately, unsustainable. That’s the difficult truth for many of us in newspapers right now.

What amazes me, looking back on it, is how much of myself has become tied up in my Merc personality. I’m humbled by the work we have been able to do here. And I’m genuinely indebted to my colleagues — present and past — who have worked tirelessly to make the Merc smart, successful and daring. They made me look good every day.

At our best, I hope we were able to set a pretty high benchmark.

2. It’s been eight years and a whole lot of incredible work, what were some of your most memorable moments, pages and stories?

The hardest few weeks of my professional career were right after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. I can recall that day like it was yesterday. You phoned me. It was early here and your wife, Mari, was visiting Chicago so she was up and watching it unfold. You told me to turn on the TV just as the second plane was hitting the World Trade Center. We both knew what to do next: head to the paper.

I remember all of us being exhausted by the avalanche of information we were trying to navigate, feeling, absolutely and with a certain force of will, that we had an obligation to be thoughtful, careful journalists in the wake of such a terrible tragedy on U.S. soil. Our coverage had a special duty. Everyone’s did.

Those events proved journalism had the power to matter more than ever. I think about that often. It’s interesting how your breaking news metabolism kicks in during times like that, how much it builds to something better than you knew you could do.

That sensation of being part of the Merc going full out on a big story really has defined my time here. It’s what we do. It’s who we are.

David Yarnold, the executive editor when I joined the paper, used to say that was the Merc’s DNA. I’ve been honored to be part of that tradition he and Bryan (Monroe) helped to foster. There has always been an incredibly large part of me that understood I was a steward of that legacy. My job was to extend it.

3. Given what’s been going on in the industry and what’s been going on at the Merc, what can other newsrooms learn from San Jose?

As many people know, I’ve been working on a rethinking project here (see the Merc rethink blog). Our aim was to use a great deal of observational research to reposition our product portfolio as massive change in media use has hit the newspaper industry hard.

That’s a fancy way of saying we needed to do something — and we needed to do it quick!

Look, I’ve been on the front lines of the online revolution. I live in Silicon Valley, after all. My faith in what we do is stronger than ever.

But because I have grown up loving digital media, I know the imperative for change demands a different look at how we do business as journalists. I hope the industry begins to confront that in meaningful ways.

I have immense interest in and passion for the news, information, entertainment, technology and social media spaces.

I also know that building new audience segments is more important than ever because it helps define the overall impact of our media reach. So that means we have got to create some niche products that will draw in people who might never look at the traditional paper.

Trust me, I know that newspapers are in a tough market position because so much of the existing revenue model depends on the part of the franchise that’s getting less audience reach than it used to. I don’t side, however, with all the traditional folks who think that, if we hope and pray long enough, the good old days might just return. They won’t.

Media use has fundamentally changed. Smart people see this, both in that macro sense when they look out at the world and in the micro sense when they check out their own habits. We need to make media products that we want to use, and that other people might want to use even if we don’t.

For all those reasons, doing nothing (often the advice I hear) seems like doing harm. We must do something. Anything.

My advice: Try as many things as your organization can afford. And give until it hurts.

4. OK, so what’s next for you?

Want the scary answer? I have no idea yet.

My goal will be to use my skills in another media organization. I think there’s a lot I can offer as news and information shifts to online. The convergence of disciplines has been something I’ve been involved with and excited about for some time now. I know I’ll be lucky to find another institution that gives me the wide latitude for innovation I’ve enjoyed here at the Merc. Here’s hoping, though.

I’ll also be happily occupied on many things for the Society for News Design as vice president, working on everything from Quick Courses to the annual workshop in Las Vegas this fall (SND Vegas). I’m taking off on Thursday for the annual Malofiej Infographics World Summit in Spain, so you can expect reports from that great event right here on Update.

And, as the Society’s president next year, you can expect me to be a walking example of what mid-career change looks like, in a place so many members confront in this challenging environment.

5. Will you continue to work on the paper’s redesign?

Oh, right. I do know what’s next, at least for a month or two. I will be continuing to help the Merc because the paper’s new editor, Dave Butler, has asked me to finish some design work begun last year (when you and I tackled the business section). I’d like to get that work done. Dave has been kind enough to contract my services to see things through. My hope is to help set a solid architecture that can guide the excellent staff at the Merc for at least a bit of time to come.

6. What do you see as your legacy at the Merc?

Pushing for bold solutions. Challenging the organization to reach. Never accepting a single definition of my role or anyone else’s. Those seem like lasting effects to me.

This would also be a good point for me to thank the Mercury News, our former corporate parent, Knight Ridder, and the current chiefs, Media News, for unflagging support of visual journalism. They leave a pretty decent legacy of institutional excellence in that regard.

The importance of the packaging and presentation of the news has not been lost on any of my employers, thanks in large part to the education that David (Yarnold) gave them. They have been stalwart supporters of my efforts inside the Society, giving generously of my time to the industry, as well as to my many other activities in journalism groups and associations. I could not have asked for a better cheering section.

On a personal level, I have two people to thank: You, for believing we could do this way back in that crazy bar in Miller Beach and helping me each step of the way every day since, and Susan Goldberg, who gave me the keys and never asked for them back. If I have a legacy in San Jose, you and Susan certainly share in it with equal measure. Thanks for helping me build this thing.

7. Over your time there you put together some pretty great groups of visual journalists (including, full disclosure, me … three times), any sage advice from The Professor to the rest of us?

My best advice is to spot talent wherever you can. Don’t be wowed by a big newspaper name or a slew of awards or any particular cult of personality.

Instead, really look deeply at what’s in front of you, the thought behind someone’s work, and take a mental judgment of how a person responds to coaching and feedback. Some of my best hires have been people whose greatest work was just around the corner.

In fact, I want to believe my own greatest work is just around the corner. Fingers firmly crossed.

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• Jonathon Berlin is the editor of Design magazine and the design director at the Chicago Tribune. He’s been hired three times by Matt Mansfield, once in Indiana and twice at the San Jose Mercury News.

• Matt Mansfield remains the Society for News Design’s vice president. You can reach him by email: matt@mgredesign.com

Matt Mansfield is the vice president of SND. Reach him by email: matt@mgredesign.com

The global design guru just finished celebrating the launch of Daily Xpress, Thailand’s first free newspaper.

And he did it in style, with a cool launch party at Centara, Central World, with more than 2,000 guests. The paper launched Wednesday with distribution all over Bangkok and in Pattaya, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin and Koh Samui. It’s published by The Nation.

Mario reports that the launch looks to be a giant success because it’s creating so much buzz. “Readers don’t know what to do yet with a free paper that looks so good!”

The initial numbers on the freesheet appear to suggest that it will start at around 100,000 copies.

The launch of Xpress is the latest in a flurry of free newspapers to arrive in Asia. Publications with local-language editions are popping up in India, Korea, Hong Kong and a dual-language English-Chinese edition debuted in Singapore. Xpress caters to a young urban demographic – 25-35 – and carries news on city life, lifestyle and entertainment, world and sports news.

Here’s the philosophy behind the “always on” culture, as Mario describes it, that Xpress carefully crafts on its pages.

• Ease of navigation.

• A two-track approach to news and feature presentation.

• A small format that is easier to carry and to manage.

• Color-coding to identify sections.

• Innovative advertising positioning

Mario Garcia atop a larger-than-life Xpress nameplate at the debut gala.

By Mauricio Gutierrez Deputy Design Director/Features, Detroit Free Press

If you’re thinking that SND Buenos Aires could be a good conference to attend in 2009, put in your vacation request ASAP! Buenos Aires is piping hot. Has anyone counted how many stories on the city have run in The New York Times lately? A lot.

And for a good reason. I went there a few weeks ago and can give you a sneak peek at what you may see while you’re there enjoying the Workshop.

First, clear your calendar for at least a week: you’ll need the time. After flying ten or more hours, you’ll want time to relax and stroll around the city’s many neighborhoods.

At first, the city’s charms underwhelmed me. It’s a big city with big city problems: pollution, traffic, dog poop. But look past all that and you’ll find a great place, one inspiring and show-casing design.

The amount of visual stimulation is surprising. From fantastic architecture to well designed stores, from colorful facades to ornate signs, there’s so much to take in. Among the amazing things I saw were hand-painted signs. Not your average signs, these were full of color, great typographical sense, and fanciful designs. They’re a unique artistic expression called “fileteado porteno,” an art form that started as a way to identify carts at the market. It was then transferred to other vehicles. Now you see it everywhere, from menus to McDonald’s. I love its naive simplicity and bought a sign painted by an artisan in San Telmo, an up-and-coming neighborhood with an art fair and flea market on Sundays. Though you can find many street vendors and artists selling signs in the fileteado style, each shows various skill levels. By far, the best sign painter was Marcelo Arias. His trace and color sense were fantastic. I also bought a book on the subject, “Fileteado Porteno,” by Alfredo Genovese to learn more about its history and current use. When you’re in Buenos Aires pick up a copy of the book, it’s an indispensable reference book for any designer.

Just walking around the city, I saw some of the best use of color, particularly around the neighborhood of La Boca — (for soccer fans) home to the Boca Juniors stadium where Maradona played — with its multicolored homes and shops. And don’t forget the Casa Rosada, Argentina’s White House but in a nice pink hue. How great is that? An explosion of colors.

One day I visited the Hotel Faena in the new neighborhood of Puerto Madero, a place of warehouses renovated into expensive condos, hotels, and restaurants. Faena is the fanciest of these. This Phillip Starck-designed hotel epitomizes the use of color. Its dark entrance, a long hallway in reds and blacks flanked by windows covered in red velvet, contrasts with the bright outdoors. This hotel is all about drama. While there I ate at Bistro, a restaurant decorated in pristine white. I sat on an overstuffed armchair upholstered in white leather near walls covered with white curtains on which were mounted the “stuffed” heads of white unicorns wearing ruby necklaces for a touch of colorful whimsy. The place is like a stage with the guests as actors in a fantastically choreographed meal. One waiter after another, different faces every time, all in white, carried foods that were colorful and delicious. It was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time.

I stayed in the San Telmo neighborhood at the small (16 rooms only) and minimalist Ribera Sur Hotel and loved it. Their service was impeccable, and their location great, just two blocks from a main square, the center of San Telmo, and a short cab ride from the Casa Rosada. Traveling around the city by cab is inexpensive, safe, and the best way to see the city. My hotel was just one of the many with a design sensibility that abounds in the city. The neighborhood with the highest concentration of well-designed stores and restaurants is Palermo, around the Soriano (Cortazar) Square. Here, one can find restaurants for every taste, from Scandinavian to sushi, and stores filled with local designers’ goods. Visit Papeleria Palermo, the best stationary store I’ve seen in a long time, where I found notebooks with Eva Peron’s face on their covers and many hand-made papers — all made on the premises. Plus art books and wrapping papers with whimsical designs that you could frame and hang on your wall.

Now about food — if you’re a strict vegetarian, you’ll have some difficulty in the land of the pampas, where large hunks of grilled beef are the staple. I generally don’t eat beef, but I tried it and was hooked. The beef is not marinated or seasoned. They only add some salt and call it a day. It was great. With that, a simple salad, and an Argentine Malbac wine (red, of course) you have a great meal for two for under $20. A bargain. And when you make reservations for the city’s many great restaurants, make it about 2 to 4 hours later than you would in the States. Argentines follow Iberian time — dinner starts around 10 p.m. I made the mistake of reserving a table at Bistro for 8:30 p.m. I was their only customer; thankfully by 10 p.m. the place got busy. And, of course, bars and clubs stay open (i.e. get busy) very late in the evening or very early in the morning, depending on how you look at it. The city has a great variety of bars, clubs, and cafes. Every day you can visit a different one and it’ll be packed with tourists and locals.

It’s certainly a city with a great cafe culture. Sip a cafe con leche (espresso with warm milk) and nibble an alfejor (chocolate or meringue covered cookies with a center of dulce de leche — caramel) while reading the newspaper or watching the crowds.

I also wanted to report on the site of the SND Workshop, so I visited the conference center where it will take place, The Borges Cultural Center, which is inside an old department store (circa 1889) turned into a mall. The center is on the top (fourth) floor and contains several auditoriums and conference rooms. The building itself is impressive with vaulted glass ceilings, giant frescoes, and, oh yeah, over a hundred upscale stores where you can spend your money between sessions (be sure to get your tax-free refund forms from the venders) and even have your purchases delivered to your hotel. I recommend buying leather goods. You’ll find great prices and the softest leather. I probably bought a cow’s worth of leather.

Like any newspaper nerd, I also visited Clarin, the newspaper host of the SND Workshop. My thanks to Pablo Loscri, their Graphics Director, who showed me their newsroom. Though it’s not the most inspiring one I’ve ever seen — rather dark with bland corporate furniture — it was great to see where a renowned newspaper is crafted and meet some of their designers and graphic artists. Very cool. I also looked at a few of their graphics entries for this year’s SND competition, which are very strong. I look forward to seeing how they fare.

The people of Buenos Aires were very courteous, always trying to help. Not many speak English, but they try. If you know a little Spanish, it will help. And I never felt unsafe in the city.

You may wonder why I didn’t mentioned tango. Well, I didn’t go to any touristy (expensive) tango shows. I ran from those places. I wanted something authentic, where locals danced and tourists were seldom found. But I ran out of time and energy, so that’s another reason for me to go back. That and the chance to see again a city infused with great design. I’m already counting the days.

In 2004-2005, she revised one of her Times news graphics for my book Beautiful Evidence (pages 116-117), shown at right. The revision includes several private jokes: images of E. J. Marey (from BE), Kenneth Noland (from Mark Tansey’s The Myth of Depth in Visual Explanations), myself in the sculpture studio, and a friend of Megan’s — somehow the four of us have unfortunately become involved with handguns. This work took months; for example, Megan and I exchanged many e-mails and three redesigns figuring out whether the stoplight should be red, green, or yellow.

Color is used to highlight how the gun moves and how the gun reveals itself, short visual noun-verb sentences that indicate the key signs that help detectives to spot someone carrying a hidden handgun. Thus the color usually has a distinct substantive point and is not just used to depict surfaces or to decorate the news.

Most of all, the content is really interesting. We learn something new from Jaegerman’s fine reporting work, details of which are revealed in this e-mail where she describes her interview with Robert T. Gallagher of the New York City Police Department:

I confirmed his ID as Detective Robert T. Gallagher of the NYC Police Dept. at http://www.criminaljustice.state.ny.us/ops/staV/index.htm. Also lists his award (see below). From my notes: He was a New York City policeman for 18 years, who for much [unknown] of that time worked as a plain-clothes undercover detective [anti-robbery tactical unit, confiscating illegal firearms], in Bronx&Manhattan, 6pm to 2am shift. He got very good at picking out people carrying weapons. So good that he received [not sure of exact terminology] 1984 Governor’s Police Officer of the Year Award. The great achievement was not just making gun arrests (1,200 of them), but making them stick. The letter nominating him said he had “an almost flawless conviction rate.” I believe he put it at “99.99.”

That’s the whole point of his observation–not just to get a gun off the street, and then maybe have the arrest thrown out, which apparently happens too often–but to get from arrest to conviction and jail time. It’s all about probable cause, he explained. First identify suspicious demeanor, appearance, behavior (which don’t qualify as grounds for arrest), and then wait for probable cause, or legal grounds for frisking and/or arresting someone. He pretty much had to watch for enough clues to justify suspicion, which would allow him to stop a suspect. Then he’d identify himself as a policeman, and then he’d watch for the hand reaching toward the waistband, or the guy instinctively turning away, and pulling his arm in to his side. That would combine to give probable cause for a frisk. And when there’s a frisk and a weapon, there’s an arrest, and apparently with Gallagher, very often a conviction. The sequence is necessary, in the context of suspects’ rights and legal requirements for arrest–evidence must exist that rises above suspicion to probable cause.

The tell-tale signs are those in the graphic–slight asymmetries in gait, odd clothing combinations or styles or misfits, instinctive evasive moves when confronted, constant hand-to-gun, holding gun while running, visible bulges or irregularities in the way clothing fits or hangs … etc. Source for gun art is a photo from Gallagher of three kinds of revolvers, all looking about the same.

He did act out the motions for me, with guns hidden in all the usual places, and demonstrations of grabbing and frisking and all of that. And he let me do some of the gun handling and role playing. So I’m confident in the graphic.

Parts of the graphic appeared in The New York Times, May 26, 1992. This excellent report describes clues to detect hidden handguns carried on the street and also the standards of evidence necessary to obtain a conviction. The various scenes here choreograph movement in 3-space by means of sequences, call-outs, parallelism, motion arrows, mappings, multiple viewpoints (silhouette, 3-D, flatland footprints), and particularly words and images working together to describe an extended causal sequence.

Read more on Edward Tufte’s Ask ET feature.

The bottom line: Technological advances are changing how people interact with information.

This includes the news, obviously, but it also includes every other business with information as part of its stock and trade. These new tools are changing they way everyone does business. With that in mind, Design Journal caught up with Randy Krum, a Dallas-based vice president of marketing for The Bramton Company, a manufacturer of pet products, who publishes the blog Cool Infographics. Randy has found some really great infographics, and only a small part of them are from the media. Here’s what Randy had to say:

Your Blogger profile says you’re in marketing, based in Dallas. How does someone in marketing from Dallas become fascinated with infographics?

I work for a consumer products company, so I use visual information all the time for things like packaging, advertising, store shelf layout, market analysis, consumer research, patent activity, and others. I had been keeping a file of great ways to visualize information as a source of ideas, and had a number of them hanging in my office. The problem I had was that all of the graphics I created were based on confidential information so I couldn’t share the new ways I was using the different visual styles. Instead, I started the blog based on the visuals I had found as inspiration, thinking maybe they would also be inspiration for others.

How do you find the material you post about?

I don’t know that there is any magic to how I find the graphics I post. Most come from Internet searches, but there are enough people following the blog that I have started to get a couple submissions from readers, as well. The actual information is very diverse because for me its about finding new visual methods that I might be able to use. So it doesn’t matter if it’s about flight patterns, social networks or the federal budget.

Do you keep track of who follows your blog? Have you met interesting folks that way?

I do have Google Analytics tracking the geographic locations of people reading the blog, and the audience is certainly international. I have met a number of professionals that create infographics for a living, and I do get a few e-mails and comments on the posts. These are definitely people I would have never met through my day job, yourself included.

Do you think the Web has changed the way people display and use information graphics?

I do think the Web has changed infographics in a number of profound ways. First, the Web development tools themselves have created a whole new set of visual methods, and whole Web sites have been created to visualize real-time data (wefeelfine.com, manyeyes.com, swivel.com, Digg.com Tools, WikiMindMap.org, searchCrystal.com). Second, because the Web is so graphic in nature, news stories and blog posts almost have to have some type of visual to get a reader’s attention. Unlike a printed newspaper or magazine, on the Web every story can have many photos or graphics.

If you were a professor teaching college students about the art and science of infographics, what are some of the things you would teach?

Two things come to mind that I have learned from starting the blog. First, make the visual meaningful. I do find a number of pretty graphics that still don’t effectively communicate the information. Make sure you understand what message you are trying to convey, before you start figuring out how to visualize it. Second, infographics can be easily misinterpreted. You can visually lead the reader to a conclusion that isn’t actually supported by the data. Be very clear about the source of the data and what assumptions were made.

The reasons are pretty simple. It takes time and at least some programming talent to produce a truly interactive project. And most organizations are short on both these days.

On the other hand, virtually anyone can produce a respectable slide show when given quality photography and a copy of SoundSlides. And Final Cut Pro has proven to be an approachable tool that makes video content easy enough to produce and post. The result: bulk multimedia at a bargain price.

Now before we go any further, let’s be clear that slide shows, video and linear animated graphics are valid and important storytelling devices. For the right subject, they can be the perfect solution. This is not an attack on any storytelling form.

But the fact is, all of these formats can be handled by other media, and none of them take advantage of all the Internet has to offer. Audio slide shows and video content are much more effective on television. And frankly, with the exception of documentaries where video is unavailable, TV would seldom even bother with content made up only of audio and still slides. And linear informational graphics? Those are handled quite nicely on TV or in print.

But the interactive graphic — and the key word here is “interactive” — is something that is unique to the Web. It cannot be done in any of the above formats and takes full advantage of the Web’s strengths as a storytelling medium.

Defining interactivity

So let’s talk for a moment about interactivity and what that means to us as journalists.

If you search for definitions of interactivity, you’ll find a lot of descriptions along these lines: “A term from the world of multimedia that refers to the interaction between a user and a software package. Interactivity is most often experienced by reading menus, making selections and pushing buttons with a mouse.”

That certainly describes the interactive experience as we’re seeing it today. By this definition, interactivity is the act of clicking on something to see something else. Yawn!

But that same search also brings up some alternate definitions that talk about an actual interaction — a back and forth — between the user and the software (the graphic). Here’s a favorite: “Interactivity implies that the user of the software can exert some control over the software, and not just be a passive page-turner recipient.”

At its best, interactivity allows us to get the user involved in the story. It allows us to create an immersive experience that allows exploration and experimentation. Interactivity means that instead of just telling or showing how something works, we can let the user try it out for themselves. This can be done in many forms, depending on the content, but the most common methods range from simple one-trick calculators to game-like experience simulators to complex databases that allow the user to mine the information as they please.

You can’t do these things in print. You can’t do them on the radio. And for now, you can’t do them on TV.

Interactivity is what makes the Web unique from all of these other experiences. Here we have a chance to tell stories in a way our competition cannot, and we’re all too often failing to take advantage of it.

The problem starts with the previously mentioned lack of time and the necessary skills, but the bigger issues tend to be misperception (“That’s too hard.”) and the tendency to stay with tried and true formats (“How about a nice slide show?”).

The learning curve

Sure, if you use examples such as the database applications being built by The New York Times as your model, it would be easy to argue that your organization is not ready to produce that kind of work.

But if you treat this opportunity as a chance to grow and learn, you’ll find that interactivity suddenly is not so overwhelming. If you or someone in your organization is already creating animations in Flash, look for an opportunity to add a single interactive feature — a simple calculator or maybe a quiz — to an upcoming project.

Someone involved will have to learn a little bit of ActionScript (Flash’s programming language), but by starting small, you can keep things manageable. Just be sure you start simply enough to avoid getting overwhelmed and discouraged. Remember, you didn’t master Photoshop in a day, either.

When your first interactive project publishes, you’ll have a success to show off to the boss, and you’ll also have your first bit of scripting experience. On your next project, see if you can incorporate the same technique again (you already know how to do it) and add just one thing you don’t know how to do. You’ll again have to do a little learning — but no more than last time — and this project will be a bit more interactive than the first.

Continue this process over and over and before you know it, techniques that once seemed out of reach will no longer be a big deal. And, with a series of smaller successes to point out, you’re much more likely to successfully pitch a longer, more complicated project.

Be the cockroach

It seems that slide shows (and increasingly video) have become the locator maps of the Internet. In my days as a graphics director, I saw a LOT of assignments for locator maps, even when they didn’t really help tell the story. They were a default assignment because they were easy to put together and didn’t require a lot of thought.

So we produced lots and lots of them, at the expense of larger, more interesting graphics. We could produce 10 locator maps in the same time it would take to build a centerpiece graphic, so surely that was a better deal, right? Quantity over quality!

Eventually, we made the argument that if we cut down the maps to stories where location was vital, we could put more time and thought into display graphics that would actually tell a story. This allowed us to actually brainstorm and discuss projects, and we were able to get out of old formats and try some new approaches.

The same process is now needed for the Internet, and the key is to give yourself a little more time and open up your discussion so alternate treatments can surface.

One of my first true interactive projects was derived from a full-page print graphic that showed all the things in your kitchen that attract roaches. The graphic showed a kitchen, and roach-attracting items were strewn about with pointer boxes explaining them.

The obvious approach was to put the same treatment online, except that we would make the user roll the mouse over each one to learn about it. But during our brainstorming, someone half jokingly said we should let the user become the roach and roam around the kitchen finding the key elements. And because the graphic included some text on how roaches avoid getting squashed, the project could end with a foot coming at you and you have to make the right decision to survive.

Get it wrong and you’re dead!

It was perhaps a bit silly, but it was an instant hit with our users, many of whom referred to it as a “game.” It wasn’t a game at all, but because we allowed them to enter the kitchen, instead of just looking at it, they had fun at the same time they were learning and related that to a game. And that’s OK, by the way.

So really open up your brainstorming sessions and try go get past the obvious first idea. Encourage “crazy” ideas because they can often spark an idea that will lead to a truly unique and interesting approach.

As you go through this process, you’ll find many projects that could be handled much more effectively with an interactive approach, and you’ll hopefully find a way to make those happen. And you’re also going to find many subjects that are just fine as a slide show, video or linear animated graphic, because all of these are useful storytelling devices. The key is to be sure you’re considering all of your options and using the best — not just the easiest — tool for the job.

After graduating from Kendall College of Art & Design in ‘92, I worked in small, semi-underground comics and freelanced for magazines (Guitar, Rolling Stone, Money). An opening at the paper developed at the same time that I had a small show of my comics and illustration work. I invited the paper’s art director (and every other art director I could find in the phone book) to the opening via a postcard and I have been illustrating, designing and occasionally writing for them since.

At the start, I was illustrating whatever came in my direction. Later, I became the primary cover artist for our “Weekend” entertainment tab. After a number of years of that, I began working with the other sections again, illustrating and designing, while staying part of the “Weekend” tag team. Now I’m at the paper, teaching at Kendall and freelancing.

Who are some of your influences?

The artists I’ve been influenced by have varied greatly and depend on the artistic direction I was exploring at the time. When I started out working solely in very blended pastel, Gary Kelly and Miguel Covarrubias were strong influences. Studying them taught me a great deal about design and composition. I would do small (3” x 3”) studies with a Sharpie of Kelly’s works, just to break down in simple terms the structure of his compositions.

Steve Brodner, Ralph Steadman, Alan Cober and, especially, painter Jack Levine were who I looked to when I began to loosen up and explore more spontaneous methods of working. I developed a technique on white scratchboard using sumi ink and litho crayons to try to emulate the feel of Levine’s printmaking. When I was painting exclusively, it was Frank Schoonover for his incredible palette. I also became obsessed with pulp fiction painters of the ’50’s at that time. Being a newspaper artist, I had to paint very quickly, and their work has a feverishly executed feel to it while still looking masterful.

And some of your favorite illustrators?

I find I’m following the work of artists who work nothing like me. I’m always checking out Samuel Casal’s Web site to see what’s new, always floored by what he’s doing. Shino Arihara has a great painting style and is always inspiring.

Describe your environment and how you interact with the newsroom. Are you involved in planning? Do you attend meetings? How does the creative process unfold? Before, the art department would just get an art request and do a rough layout to go with the resulting illustration. Now we’ve become more involved at the front end of the process: attending planning meetings and discussing visual possibilities for stories, whether that’s an illustration or finding a direction for the photography. It’s a newsroom undergoing a significant evolution, so the process hasn’t been ironed out completely, but it’s a welcome improvement to be more involved.

Take us from assignment/pitch to sketch to execution.

After hearing a description of the story, or in more ideal cases, after reading it, I’ll come up with a concept by running through thumbnails in my sketch book or brainstorming with one of the other illustrators. This is when I try to work the whole story down to just a sentence and come up with images and words associated with that idea. When I have a concept sketch, I decide which style would be the most appropriate. Once I have it under way, the presentation editor sees it and either signs off or makes some suggestions. When it’s finished, the PE gives the official stamp of approval and it’s handed off to the copy desk for the text to be set in.

I give them a page sketch from Freehand or Photoshop as a blueprint for how I plan the illustration and text to interact.

What about illustrating do you like most? The least?

The problem-solving nature of the job. Every day you have a visual problem thrown to you that you need to solve. But more than that, I enjoy the freedom to mix techniques and push yourself in a direction you haven’t tried before. Surprising yourself with unexpected results is a hell of a feeling.

And, of course, the caricature. I live for the caricatures.

What illustration(s) are you most proud of?

I’m still pretty pleased with a painting I did for the play of “The Night of the Iguana” (see pg. 5) and a portrait of Martina McBride (pg. 7). The painting because I felt it captured the undercurrent of the storyline and did it in an unexpected and bizarre manner. The caricature because it was a big stride in the direction I wanted to go with my mixed-digital portraits. I spent a great deal of effort in designing it and stripping away what it didn’t need.

Some papers are very supportive of illustrations, some less — what about your paper?

We have a pretty hospitable environment. Our “Weekend” tab is an illustration of some form or another every week. Features and entertainment use a good deal of them. I’ve started doing some occasional caricatures for the editorial section. Hopefully, in the future, we’ll do more with the Issues/Opinions pages. So far, those have stayed as they have traditionally been: photo driven. I see friends at other papers doing some stellar work on these types of pages, and it’d be great to see that happen here.

As for A1, we’ve gotten to put illustration out there for centerpieces more and more. The “feel” of the style is very important though, and it usually is a “photo-painting” or a collage.

Any controversy over tone or taste?

I once did this group caricature of the Bare Naked Ladies. It was a Christmas Eve concert and I drew the guys with the bodies of bare naked ladies with strategically placed wreathes, presents and choir books. There was nothing obscene about it. Anything requiring a PG-13 rating was concealed, but it was, admittedly, a weird, gender-bent illustration. It had been approved by several editors before I started it. But after it was finished and going to press the night before it was to run, someone in the production process found it “blasphemous” and phone calls were made. It ended with the a new round of talks and the plug was pulled on it. I had to create a new cover on the fly. That was early in my career at the paper. I was learning what they were willing to try, how far I could push and what ills were worth pushing for. Today, I doubt that I would have bothered with this image and would have chose to push some other envelope. Looking back, I see it as not worth the storm it started.

Share a piece of advice with a young illustrator aspiring to work in editorial illustration. Is there anything you would change in your career?

Always boil it down (the story) to a single sentence. Get to the heart of what the article is about and then start coming up with images based on that. That’s not always easy, since not every story that comes to you will be that worked out and focused. But that’s your ideal starting point. And diversify. When I started at the paper, I was a freelancer with one main style. I eventually started working in a number of techniques, which makes you more valuable to the paper. But it also gives you more options in solving problems and helps keep you from burning out as easily.