The history of editorial graphics at Industry Dive from 2012 to 2022: Part V
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Part V: Establishing a Data & Graphics team
February 2021 — We restructured the design department to better meet the needs of the business as Industry Dive continued to rapidly grow.
We split our largest team of graphic designers, who were working on both internal and client projects, into two new teams:
- Brand & Marketing Design — a group focused on meeting Industry Dive’s marketing design needs and unifying and strengthening the overall Dive brand
- studioID Design — an agency-like group focused on supporting studioID, Industry Dive’s global content studio, and designing content for its hundreds of clients
This reorganization significantly changed how the design department worked with the Industry Dive newsroom. Instead of three or four graphic designers creating news article header images and in-article illustrations part-time, we transitioned to one illustrator — Adeline Kon — creating these assets full-time. Kon also helped design several annual industry survey reports for Industry Dive publications.
Identifying opportunities for growth
January 2021 — Nami Sumida, then an Industry Dive news graphics developer, let me know she was going to leave the company in March to work as a data visualization developer at The San Francisco Chronicle. She wanted the opportunity to work on a larger data viz team and serve in the capacity of a journalist, pitching and writing her own stories.
When I shared the news of Sumida’s departure with Davide Savenije, Industry Dive’s editor-in-chief, I made two recommendations:
- I proposed that any work that could be considered journalism should eventually be created by a member of the newsroom or a freelance journalist. This would include the production of multimedia stories and data visualizations.
- I suggested that we form a new team in the newsroom called “Data & Graphics” to create all forms of editorial graphics. Whomever filled Sumida’s role would serve on this new team. I would also transfer the budget for two already approved future hires — a director to lead the group and a second news graphics developer.
This was a radical departure from our past strategy; Industry Dive’s journalists had historically relied on the design department for help with all forms of news graphics. My proposal also meant I would lose control over editorial graphics production and three budgeted positions. But I knew that the best news graphics developer candidates would, like Sumida, want to go beyond designing and coding articles and actively craft news stories; this would make them journalists. Coaching, growth and retention would likely be difficult if the news graphics developers remained within the design department. Moving these three positions to the newsroom made the most sense for the business. Savenije felt similarly.
After Sumida announced that she was leaving, Julia Himmel, an Industry Dive product designer, asked me if she could be considered for the soon-to-be vacant position. I was excited that she came to me with this request; I knew the role would be hard to fill and that Himmel would be a great fit.
Prior to joining Industry Dive, Himmel worked as a creative director at the Civil Media Company, an organization focused on addressing the issues of trust and financial sustainability within the news industry. Her passion for journalism had been clear from her initial interview. After interviewing with newsroom leadership, Himmel began to meet with Sumida to ensure a smooth transition.
Himmel describes her transition from product designer to news graphics developer:
“I was fortunate enough to work on several projects to support the newsroom as a product designer, and I realized I wanted to work directly with journalists all the time. That, along with my interest in data reporting and visualization, led me to shift from product designer to news graphics developer.
“In this role, I educate members of the newsroom on data visualization best practices and data literacy, collaborate with journalists on charts and graphs, do data reporting to help them tell original stories, and create custom data visualizations and editorial designs.”
Expanding the newsroom’s access to editorial images
April 2021 — We rolled out Industry Dive’s first significant news wire imagery service subscription. The newsroom’s journalists now had access to thousands of Getty editorial images.
Hiring the newsroom’s first Director of Data & Graphics
June 2021 — We initially interviewed several external candidates to lead the group but did not hire anyone. Thinking about available internal talent, I proposed to Savenije that we invite one of Industry Dive’s software engineers — Greg Linch — to interview for the position.
Linch had a strong background in journalism. Before joining Industry Dive, he worked as a journalist at McClatchy and The Washington Post. As a Dive engineer, he proposed and implemented a number of solutions for the newsroom, including building a tool for the journalists to manage their growing lists of sources.
Linch also made an effort to stay well-connected with journalists and professional news organizations beyond Industry Dive. It was clear he had a passion for journalism, significant experience working closely with journalists and the strong technical background we were looking for in a Director of Data & Graphics.
After Savenije and I shared our vision with the VP of Engineering, Linch’s then-boss, and received his approval, we invited Linch to interview. The hiring committee was impressed and thought he would be a great fit for the position. At the end of June, Linch formally accepted our offer and became Industry Dive’s first Director of Data & Graphics.
July 2021 — We officially created a Data & Graphics team within the newsroom. Later that month, the new group published its first big multimedia story — “ Reebok was meant to be a ‘Nike killer.’ How the brand lost its №1 spot.”
Hiring the newsroom’s second news graphics developer
September 2021 — We hired a second news graphics developer, Annie Fu, a recent graduate and former data and visual reporting intern at Chalkbeat.
During her first three months on the job, Fu conducted data analysis and created charts for Education Dive’s “ Being Black in Education: Where is the system going wrong?” and helped design and code “ Super Bowl LVI: Tracking every ad,” a multimedia story by Marketing Dive.
Hiring the newsroom’s first visuals editor
Mid-late 2021 — We shifted the responsibility of creating illustrations and photo composites for news stories from Adeline Kon to the Data & Graphics team. This move involved two big changes:
- We transitioned from a mix of original editorial illustrations and photo composites to mostly news wire imagery and original photojournalism work sourced from freelancers.
- We moved Adeline Kon’s role — a full-time editorial illustrator role — from the design department to the newsroom and reimagined it as “visuals editor.” The visuals editor would create and source photos and photo composites for Industry Dive’s most impactful stories and partner with the newsroom’s Editorial Operations team to train Dive journalists on editorial imagery best practices.
Rather than become our first visuals editor, Kon opted to move into a newly open spot on the studioID Design team, the creative services group that supports studioID, Industry Dive’s global content studio.
Early 2022 — The Data & Graphics team, led by Linch, hired Shaun Lucas as Industry Dive’s first visuals editor.
Lucas describes what a visuals editor does and what having a role focused on visuals means for the newsroom:
“Visual editors are responsible for the visual execution of editorial copy. This comes in many shapes and sizes. Visual editors determine the best approach and need per story, from original commissioned artworks [illustration and photography] to wire photo research [Getty, AP, Newscom] and photo illustrations. Visual editors balance the daily, mid, and long-term projects of various verticals. Outside of visual assets, the role ensures copyright and clearances meet editorial standards as well as identify new resources and areas of improvement.
“A visual role within the newsroom is essential to many facets of reporting and engagement. Editors help build credibility and trust through better news imagery and original photojournalism. We engage the reader to click on an article and maintain their interest. Visual Editors create the visual voice and identity of the newsroom, helping to establish its editorial angle to reporting.”
Read part VI of this series to learn more about the Data & Graphics team and how they are helping business leaders stay up-to-date with top industry stories and trends
Keep reading:
Part VI of this series will be published on LinkedIn and IndustryDive.design.
- Part I: Getting Started
- Part II: Experimenting with new media and story formats
- Part III: Branding and specializing
- Part IV: Covering the pandemic and measuring the impact of news graphics development
- Part V: Establishing a Data & Graphics team
- Part VI: Q&A with Industry Dive’s first Director of Data & Graphics
Originally published on LinkedIn by Taylor McKnight
