• Podcast
  • Blog
  • FAQ
  • How to Podcast
  • Newsletter
  • Take a Survey

It's All Journalism

The broccoli of media-focused podcasts.

  • Podcast
  • Blog
  • FAQ
  • How to Podcast
  • Newsletter
  • Take a Survey

#97 – Washington Post’s Tim Wong explains design for mobile, tablets and desktop

June 13, 2014 by ItsAllJournalism
http://podone.noxsolutions.com/launchpod/ItsAllJournalism/mp3/IAJ-2014-06-13-117.mp3

Tim Wong works in design and digital layout for The Washington Post. Prior to coming to The Post, he had only worked as a designer for print publications.

Tim Wong

Tim Wong is the senior designer for mobile at The Washington Post. (Photo by Michael O’Connell)

Surprisingly, he hasn’t found the transition to online design work that daunting. Many of the same tenants that apply to print design are also relevant for online presentation, he said.

When first thinking about design, Wong looks to mobile first and then considers tablet and desktop experiences. But designers need to be careful not to make the desktop and tablet experience too simple for users if they start with mobile. The experience on the bigger screen is very different than a mobile device.

“[Desktop and tablets] inherently have more real estate. They often have more processing power. So you really have to scale up,” said Wong.

There is a question about how much energy should be spent doing “one-off” designs, the types of web presentations which can’t be used for multiple pieces of content. Should designers spend more of their time on templates that can be used over and over for new content?

Wong said there should be a balance. News organizations should ideally be doing both. There is a place for unique design that fits on story or piece of media content. But there also need to be basic templates for every day media that goes up on the site.

In the online design world, Wong said there is a debate about whether to use grids or lists as a layout. Wong believes “lists” are winning that fight. “I think [grids] make choice and decisions difficult,” said Wong.

“Gridded off designs, I think they throw too much at the user,” he said. “Users want to be able to make quick decisions.”

Wong said he tries to pay attention to the way all sorts of online design, including non-news apps like Tinder. He is also a fan of the design of Vox.com, a news site started by several former Washington Post employees.

— Julia O’Donoghue

Similar Podcasts:

Washington Post’s Kat Downs talks graphics reporting, breaking news visually

Share Button
If you like this post, please share it along:

Previous Post


#96 – Politics, funding collide in making of Citizen Koch documentary

Next Post

Aram Zucker-Scharff is digital journalist, new media consultant and a content strategist for CFO Magazine.
#98 – What does a successful digital newsroom look like?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply




Related Posts

  • How to edit audio for a podcastCreating a Podcast: How to Edit Audio in Audacity
  • Rob Wijnberg, founding editor of The Correspondent#334 The Correspondent wants to unbreak the news in the US
  • Kat DownsBonus – Washington Post Graphics Director Kat Downs opens her portfolio
  • Nigel Poor, left, shoots a video during her Podquest finalists' presentation at Podcast Movement 2016 in Chicago. On the screen are Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams, Poor's partners in producing the Ear Hustle podcast.#PM16 – Ear Hustle: Podcasting from behind bars

Learn How To Podcast

Turn Up the Volume equips journalism students, professionals, and others interested in producing audio content with the know-how necessary to launch a podcast for the first time. It addresses the unique challenges beginner podcasters face in producing professional level audio for online distribution. Beginners can learn how to handle the technical and conceptual challenges of launching, editing, and posting a podcast.

Order this new book by It’s All Journalism Producer Michael O’Connell.

Take a Survey, Earn Some Swag

If you haven’t heard, we created a five-question online survey to help us assemble a toolbox for journalists that we’ll share on our podcast and website. Please take a few minutes to share the tools that help make your job easier.

We’ve also just launched a new survey on how to improve our podcast. Let us know how we could do better.

To those people who complete one of our the surveys, we’ll be sending out a limited number of It’s All Journalism coffee mugs while supplies last. Show your support for good journalism by taking the survey and get a reward in return.

Help Support Our Podcast

Promoting good journalism is essential in a democracy. By donating to the It’s All Journalism Patreon page, you will help ensure that we continue producing the weekly podcast that focuses on good journalism. You’ll also help to boost us to the next level with live events and exclusive content. Donate here.

Sign Up for Our Weekly Newsletter

Latest Posts

  • 444. How Documented uses WhatsApp to reach its audience
  • Better News: Use Slack to host cultural conversations in your newsroom
  • 443. Tucson newspaper proves to be a vital source for the Latinx community
  • Top 10 podcast episodes of 2020
  • 442. 2020 Lookback: America from Canada’s perspective

Copyright © 2021 · Pintercast Child Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in