Working in the Internet market, it is natural that we take a look more closely at the different players available today. Among them, I can say with ease that the IG is one of the portals that have invested the most in the production of information itself, with quality. The result can be seen in published reports mainly by the portal and infographics.
Art: an entire floor dedicated to it in iG
A few days ago that the team of computer graphics iG received me in his entire floor at company headquarters in Itaim in the northern suburbs of Sao Paulo. There, between a chat and other, that beast troupe opened its screens for the curiosity of those who always wondered how those are made animated graphics that turns and moves appear on the cover of the portal. Also not infrequently lead international awards.
Damian William, editor of computer graphics (aka Guilhem), was my guide. First, we talked about the changes in editorial journalism iG, which consequently resulted in the expansion of the department of infographics portal.
And for the department, that is exactly what I mean. IG infographics adopted as an industry itself, a board that is still in the service of journalism portal. A risky move, I must say, since this is considered a practical means uncommon in the communication market. However, the IG gave swimmingly for this vehicle and got away from their traditional competitors.
Arrival in computer graphics iG
Guilhem account that the project to increase the sector's art portal dates back to 2009 when it emerged the desire - and need, I suppose - to provide a portal with content from the highest quality. Who accessed the last second then you know what I mean. "We wanted to transform the IG in a reference," he says, and the computer graphics was one of the means found to do so.
Photoshop reigns
During the first year, the team of computer graphics learned what works and what does not work in this type of content. You may even find that producing an infographic is easy, but things are not quite there. There are staves cold, Tariff warm, seasonal issues, and so on. Guilhem says that after this year, those in charge of art within the IG developed a kind of feeling for what works well (or not).
The "editorial infographic," said Guilhem, is one that tells a story. Usually it is a cool staff - motivated more by the reporter than the subject of a recent event - which requires rapid imaging to better explain what happened.
Another type of infographic succumbs to "data visualization". According to the editor, "it takes data from Excel and place this information in a minimally painful. Our intention is not to beautify. " The result is interactive infographics, which shows how the x-ray of Mercosur.
"We always hit the button to simplify things," said Guilhem. It is well that there has to be, in order to avoid dispersion of the reader soon after he sees the opening of that interactive content.
After nearly two years since that project to revitalize the Journalism Graphic iG began, good results were obtained. The team has grown: 13 professionals are currently developing infographics specifically, among designers, illustrators and programmers. In addition, ten other people are responsible for part of interfaces, which also responds to the art department of the portal.
Before that, on paper, and then on screen Mac
The recognition of the public can be measured by means of views, which show growing numbers of people viewing the infographics. Although they are state secrets, iG has good reasons to celebrate these numbers.
The coronation of the computer graphics department came in March this year when two works created by him, one on the car of the future, the other on the worst air accidents in the world, took the bronze medal in Malofiej prize, considered the most important awards category in the world. And this is not the first time that the IG bears the medals for Brazil, although it has never gone out of bronze.
Making infographic
As explained in Guilhem, the production process of a flowchart (is interactive, it is simpler) is basically the order of arrival. Generally they advise reporters to go to the loft where the art team is at the headquarters of IG to discuss what can and what should be infographic below as old-fashioned reporting.
Once the agenda is accepted, it enters a queue that always depends on the rate of production of infographics. As the guidelines prevailing cold, it can be said that the team has not despair infographics in finalizing the interactive content (because they appreciate a lot for the quality, Guilhem is careful to emphasize throughout the interview).
Digitizing pad: the easiest way of drawing in Photoshop
And if an emergency comes up? In such cases, only two people have the power to modify the queue for production of infographics. One is the director of journalism at iG, Luciano Suassuna. The other is the publisher of the portal, Roberto Gerosa, which accounts for the editorial identity of the vehicle. If neither sign the decision, there is simply no way to drill queue. A discipline which, ultimately, is good for everyone.
Flash vs. HTML 5
Who said creating an infographic is just journalistic work? While much of journalism can be employed in this activity, choose the right tools and resources is fundamental to everything that comes out the way expected. Not to mention that, in general, good pick minimize the time that professionals spend to accomplish a task.
That said, I'm sure you will not be surprised by the pictures of downtown infographics iG. Macs, Macs, Macs! There are several machines definitely blessed our beloved Steve Jobs, with processing power that allows the images to realize that, after they are drawn on paper and captured on the computer, will stop at one of the leading portals in the country.
Not found what are the specifications of the equipment but only to see that these guys use the same applications you can install on your home machine, already clear hint that the technology to help, but the creativity and good use of the tool is essential.
In addition to the Macs, there is absolutely Photoshop in all machines. The illustrators of iG prefer to do their drawings by hand, using that archaic thing called paper. Once the design is ready, Wacom tablets make Photoshop for Mac recognize the traits and capture the images. As would be expected, and finishing touches are made on the computer the apple.
Komodo Edit: Free Software and Free
Each employee has their own choice of applications, so there's not much I can say about it. If the guy prefers the software of one or another manufacturer can choose freely, provided that the final result is good.
What I can tell you is that while the infographics iG be mostly built in Flash, HTML 5 is earning its place. But when they will use the default-free Internet? "Whenever possible," replies one of the programmers. For example, we have the infographic that shows the operation of more recent U2 concert in Brazil. If you want you can open this interactive content on the device without tarnishing iPad Jobs with the source code darn flash. Even the videos depend on parameter
At least one free software was spotted by intrepid reporter on this visit I made to the headquarters of IG. It's called Komodo Edit is available for free download on the manufacturer, and is used to program Perl, Python, JavaScript and Ruby, among other languages. Included is an application for Mac
What works
The staff of the IG is very quiet about how he works for the hearing of the portal. Perhaps you, like I do not, imagine the transformation that images of stars and stars, rich and famous over the years yielded no hits. But know that earns a lot. Both the team developed an internal tool to generate this type of infographic faster and automated way.
According to Guilhem, the reporter need only indicate where are the old photo and recent photo of the subject. The system itself performs the task, generating an embed code to be included in the page you must enter the special content.
The same goes for reconstructions of crime. "Give a bitch audience," said Guilhem. According to the editor, readers of iG are curious to know how a given villain acted.
In the case of the tragedy in Realengo, for example, those responsible for computer graphics iG rushed to the studio of the company, where they photographed the crime scenes. These pictures serve as reference for the illustrations. Two hours later, the work was completed and the special content was already on the cover of the portal.
William Damian infographics editor of IG, has received the report of TB
With agility and attention to high quality, it is no coincidence that the IG is more complete in the category of visual information. The change that the last second and the other informative sites of the portal had in recent times are a reflection of serious work that deserves mention. My fans are other portals that realize the importance of good journalism (graphic, photographic, textual etc.) and bet on it. In the end, we, readers, we came out winning.
If you also became interested in learning more about computer graphics iG can view the entire contents of that type in a special page.
