AND SO MUCH MORE
Sharing with you projects and accomplishments that fit outside any one category. I have been lead designer on digital projects, coordinated with print, promoted, collected sounds and integrated visuals to make things real. Observation, organization, wisdom alongside colleagues’ talents combine for a wonder in pixels.
One of our print columnists took to demonstrating his tool tips on camera in addition to his regular newspaper bits. This is the intro to his show.
As the newsroom transitioned to the video format, different photographer’s visual styles resisted cohesion. During one project the project editor came to me with this issue and asked my advice. I suggested a short intro to each video that visually would unite them. Assault on Learning won a Pultizer, with citations complimenting the digital assets.
THE CURTIS FACTOR Tom Gralish, Inquirer Staff Photographer, captured a moment during the recording and video shoot of a 16-minute original composition by Katerina Kramarchuk. Yue Chu performed on the Steinway, Nathan Vickery on cello, and Stanislav Chernyshev on clarinet, all students at the Curtis Institute of Music. Culture Writer Peter Dobrin asked me to collaborate on the industrious undertaking after our successful production of the Please Touch Museum microsite. Such a rewarding, collaborative, career opus.
MOVE +25 A cop’s death in 1978 was the spark to a conflict that lasted until 1985 when the city of Philadelphia bombed one of its own neighborhoods. We told the story in the words of the official report submitted years after the drop and I diagramed the events inside the rowhomes in a timeline. Navigation is a bit dated but I am still proud and honored to have worked with such a fabulous set of photographers’ images that showed a story, that is difficult to imagine to this day. Each shooter had a tale to tell about every day from behind the camera of the final seige. The digital piece centered on other eyewitnesses and the official report.
PLEASE TOUCH MUSEUM (KALI’S STORY) The story of a girl who lives across from Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park finds a book and a magic mirror in her attic. The items take her to a special and imaginary place.
Over the course of many months, a group of us would informally meet for an hour once a week. We created a microsite complete with a story and interactive surprises. The PTM was taking a giant step moving into the building that was the centerpiece of this country’s Centennial celebration in 1876. The history wrapped around current exhibits was a fountain of visuals. I explored city archives for reference, visited a sculptor’s studio, worked with contractors during site renovation, and presented, with the lead reporter Peter Dobrin, on numbers and funding for the new museum during the process.
JUSTICE: DELAYED, DISMISSED, DENIED A very long series of stories with yet to be determined lengths needed an inviting presentation, so we decided on backgrounds to marry the copy with when the final editing was done. Some pages had sound, some rolling video, one cover was interactive viewing the 11 times a young man had been arrested. I wanted to create a mood to surround the audience in the vibe. Worked closely with David Swanson, Staff Photographer on the editing, had to be smart. Note: between multiple owners and publishers and a couple of CMS, many of my digital design presentations have disappeared. The courts series was an ONA finalist one year.
SOCCER AMERICA I started shooting soccer to practice my action shots with a motor drive. All the other sports were impossible to access. I went to college with someone in the office of the local indoor soccer team, and my life would never be the same. I hooked up with a trade publication in California feeding them pics from the middle of the country. The publishers were influencial in attracting FIFA’s World Cup in 1994, so I feel like my influence in the often over-looked sport started back then. I traveled and adventured and supplied different orgs with soccer photos in the U.S. and Europe.
ORIGINAL SOUNDS I spent my twenties around a lot of musicians and recording industry people, maybe it rubbed off, maybe I always have had an ear for music and sounds. The iPad explodes with composing potential. Some say we see with our ears. An interesting investigation for a visual artist.
A CHART THAT MADE A DIFFERENCE
An effective visual resulted in more people receiving the medical treatment for AIDS that they needed across the African continent. This chart was published before Bono and RED, and the year after The Gates Foundation was formed.
I had lobbied the project editor, Charles Knittle, to run a simple chart the full depth of a page during a series by reporter Huntly Collins. How else could anyone see the disparity in the numbers? She sent us all an email ...
"Y'all will appreciate this...
It seems that our Monday graphic showing the piddling number of additional people to get AIDS meds in Senegal, Rwanda and Uganda under the drug company program was the final straw that pushed Merck to announce discounts of more than 50 percent today. At least that's the word from a Merck spokesman.
So, bravo, Cynthia! And Charles, you were right. It was very effective, perhaps more so than all the words we wrote. Huntly"