@NatalieScox
How I learned to stop worrying and love BuzzfeedNatalie Cox
@NatalieScox
Figure out what you can bring0Learn how to do what your colleagues think is
amazing but have no idea how to make0 It doesn’t matter if it’s secretly easy peasy
‘Branded infographic template’
(Aka two rectangles on top of each other with an excel pie chart on top of a free light bulb vector*)
*A shape that doesn’t pixelate, get ‘em free by googling ‘free vector of x’
@NatalieScox
Then get your team on board
0Once your team know you can do cool stuff, they’ll give you a heads up on the good bits and will stop you barking up the wrong tree
0Lead by example first with new platforms and concepts, if your team like the results make them aware of the time frame
@NatalieScox
Reassurance is key
0 Explaining what Buzzfeed is to your Director is a bit cringe but ultimately worth it
0 Team need reassurance that tweeting this stuff won’t make them look stupid in front of their peers
0 Buzzfeed, Storify, Creativist, Videoscribe, are all brilliant free (or free trial) platforms
Legit data
Dancing Carlton
@NatalieScox
Justifying the time it takes
0You’re reaching people who don’t seek you out via your website or read to the end of the article
0And if you can pack an aesthetically pleasing punch, elicit an emotional response, and do it when it’s topical the RTs will speak for themselves
@NatalieScox
How to do it in house
0Tutorial videos taught me everything I know in terms of design (YouTube, Adobe website, Lynda)
0But peer review was really important along the way, via team members and WonkComms - the first draft is never going to be the best
0Try to do as much as you can for free, but sometimes you have to pay…
@NatalieScox
Your toolkit
Cough up for Adobe Creative Cloud, monthly payment and you get all their apps
Free database of icons, use for infographics
For livestreaming events
Animation
presentation
Amalgamating online content
@NatalieScox
But when you need to look elsewhere, bluff it
0You don’t need to learn how to code, you do need to learn the language
0Learn a few phrases- D3 is the open source (free!) javascript library (say that like you know what it means) that’s used to make a lot of interactive dataviz
0Where next? Website and report redesign! Mobile sites are so last year, responsive design the future
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