I’ve noticed recently that there’s a pressing new “must-have” skill for reporters. No, not a deep comfort level with CMS (that’s a given). Not a fine eye for content curation (you’ve got that nailed). Not video-editing (what what Final Cut!), not regular editing (as in words? God no) not personal branding and not doing all five of those things while simultaneously scooping everybody.
It’s creating infographics- nifty, eye-catching charts, diagrams and other visual devices that help writers illustrate stats. Numbers can be dense and as for that old adage about pictures = 1,000 words, let’s be honest, it’s kind of true. A painful admission for anyone who’s paid by the word.
But designing these graphics ain’t easy. The New York Times is generally considered the gold standard for these types of work-ups and they enlist a fleet of design/coding/development brains.
Which is what makes this start-up, Visual.ly so intriguing. Watch-
Pretty cool. They’re reportedly already talking with media heavyweights like HuffPo and CNN to be their exclusive infographic provider. Do they offer anything for the little guy? Possibly not yet but their very existence will no doubt spawn competitors which should help keep prices in check. Maybe even a WordPress of infographics? An elegant, intuitive visual-builder for the amateurs among us. I’d invest.
