What we learned during Stars4Media 2020

UPDATE 15.10.2020: The project went on to win the Data category in the Stars4Media program. We want to thank EFE for the great collaboration and the organizers of Stars4Media for the recognition.

Over the summer 2020, Frameright got the opportunity to work closely together with the EFE News Agency, as part of the Stars4Media media innovation program. This is a great initiative where two media organizations or startups are brought together for collaborating on innovative solutions to the challenges in the media industry. On this occasion, our start-up collaborated for three months, from June to September, with EFE, ranked as the first news agency in Spanish and fourth in the world.

There is a huge gap between big and traditional organizations and startups. Because of this gap, innovation often gets lost. Programs like Stars4Media are perfect for making collaboration easier.

Here is a recap of how our experience was, what we learned and the ‘feedback’ we got on our path. Let’s start with the COVID-19 part. The program was originally planned to be intensive few weeks of on-premise exchange. That would be the best thing a startup can wish for, to be able to follow in-person how users operate in their daily work. However, as many other things this year, the plans had to be adjusted. Instead, we all worked in our own time and space and also met together on video calls. Screenshots and videos were our main tools to learn about processes and our partner organization.

We were working closely together with three photographers, all of them also photo editors, and also had a chance to discuss with stakeholders in the sales and tech teams. This is from where the magic came. Innovation does not happen in one particular spot. Involving many different parties is the key.

Our vision of a successful Stars4Media project structure from a startup’s point of view.

Most of our time was spent with the photographers and image editors. Talking with users was the best part of the whole process. Often the subject matter was not limited to just Frameright. Many times we ended up touching on larger topics in visual journalism. One conclusion we came to was that often the systems for publishing or content management used in media are mainly designed with text and other nonvisual content publishing in mind. Visual content has very different fundamentals and needs.

Photography and photojournalism almost always come second. This leads to clumsy and inefficient workflows with many bottlenecks.

As a startup in the media field, we have witnessed this often. There is very little serious innovation that aims to improve the quality and integrity of visual information in a systematic way. Many are looking for quick fixes instead of working out the fundamentals of the problem and visioning further into the future. Future proof solutions should always be flexible.

These are two axis of harmful thinking that slow down innovation in media.

Another aspect is that often innovation is seen as a burden. For example, in our case, the initial reactions from the photographers were: “ Why would anyone want to crop multiple versions of the same image? Photography is all about composing one final image! There should not be an aditional step in the already burdensome workflow. Our customers don’t need any more image files in their feeds, there is already an overflow of image material.” This is where the door can often close. But thanks to the time and space provided by the Stars4Media initiative, we had a reason and opportunity to keep researching and assessing further. With time we also could recognize the pain points better and reformulate the problem, the solution and our offering by bouncing ideas back and forth. In the end, we came to a common understanding of four points.

1. Photography has changed for good. In the old times, a picture was composed once and that was it. Today every picture needs to know how to adapt to various shapes and formats. There needs to be a way to do a flexible composition in a reliable manner.
2. Every hard crop diminishes future possibilities. For example in sports, there are many opportunities lost. A picture is first taken with a lot of space around the action. Things happen fast so you want to make sure the action is captured. These pictures are then cropped very strongly to make them impactful. This is where all possibilities for further usage are lost. Once those pixels are cut out, you will never get them back.
3. We found the spots where Frameright would fit in EFE’s processes. The beauty of Frameright is that it can be integrated at any point in the workflow. There is a wide range of images in the world. In professional photography, I would define the scale ranging from the thousands of shots from a football game all the way to a signed fine art piece. All the images and all the image makers have their own processes and Frameright can fit everywhere. Once we recognized the sweet spot for EFE, we learned that it doesn’t have to be an extra step. Actually, you don’t need to do anything if you don’t want to and Frameright still improves the process. It all depends on how clients want to use it.
4. In the long run, Frameright will decrease the excessive noise in the image feeds. One magical thing about Frameright technology is that we do not multiply the amount of information. On the contrary, we keep everything in a single file. As a result, this reduces the need for circulating portraits and horizontals of the same situation. The result is fewer and better functioning images.

After concluding that we are building a solution to improve the user’s experience, it was time to talk with the tech team. With them, our goal was clear: Instead of making a quick pilot, we wanted to make a more thorough plan. Something that would not be restricted too much by considering current resources. If we had all the time and money in the world, how would we solve the problem and what would we want to build? Now that we understand how to best approach the problem, we can focus on the right parts and implement innovation in a way that will be beneficial also in the long run.

Innovation is too often hindered and limited by hurry and bad execution in the pilot phase. Our plan was to remove these limitations.

Finally, to close the circle, let’s get briefly to the sales department. Our discussions provided us with real insights into what customers value. This information is important for us as a startup when we think of how to shape our product offering and business model.

Now that we have just submitted the final paperwork for the Stars4Media program and are closing the official project folders, we realize what a cool summer we had. Such a special opportunity to learn and innovate along with EFE News Agency.

I want to send a big thank you for everyone involved!

❤ Marina from Frameright

Frameright gathers everyone around the same drawing table, where pixels can be tweaked and stories made impactful. Start using at Frameright.app or learn more from our tutorials.