Telling interactive stories isn’t just a simple process of coming up with an idea, reporting it, writing it, revising it, and then hitting publish. For a traditional article, yes, that oftentimes will do; but for an interactive piece that includes a multitude of variables such as photos, audio, videos, graphics, and maybe maps, we’re talking about hours and hours of integration and collaboration.
Take for example The New York Times. When the Times created the popular multimedia and interactive story, Snow Fall, in 2012, it was hailed as a journalistic masterpiece that went on to win its writer, John Branch, a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing the next year.
The piece, which involves scrolling and clicking through the story to reveal what happened to a group of experienced skiers who were overtaken by an avalanche, is an immersive piece of journalism. It doesn’t just tell the story of its protagonists; it also explains — but more importantly shows you — the science behind what causes avalanches.
So now you want to create your own?
Here are some tips that the storytellers and designers behind Snow Fall at The New York Times and others at The Washington Post learned:
