Some 10 years ago, the United States was gearing up for another war in the Middle East. And infographic journalists all over the world were at work on detailed maps of the region, graphic cut-aways of Scud missiles, and schematics of military operations.
What’s different now? As the enemy and the landscape of war have changed, so has the technology available to graphics journalists.
For the first time, using animation software and the Web, graphics journalists can make planes fly, weapons fire, and buildings collapse. But should they?
Is it possible to be accurate in frame after frame of an animated graphic on a terrorist attack or military retaliation? And what does motion do to the tone of a graphic?
There is a growing consensus among graphics experts around the country that animation should be used sparingly–when visual information is complete and graphic dissection isn’t callous.
Graphics directors expect their newsrooms to rely on them for detailed maps and other mainplay visuals for print and online editions. “This is not a war that can be covered photographically,” said Charlotte Observer art director Jo Miller, “because it’s not a traditional war with a traditional battlefield.” Miller hopes to get enough information from military sources to create after-the-fact explainer graphics on some of the small, covert anti-terrorism operations the United States will conduct.
Animation software such as Macromedia Flash makes creating such dramatic graphics for the Web more possible than ever.
It’s now technically possible to illustrate not just where planes struck the World Trade Center but to show their flight paths, the angle of impact, and the eventual implosion of the buildings.
And animation has advantages to users beyond the whiz-bang. “Flash lets you select the information you want to see, piece by piece, eliminating scrolling and speeding information retrieval,” said Miller. “Flash brings the information to you.”
Even graphics journalists who haven’t mastered Flash yet might use DHTML or web-design software like Dreamweaver to add simple rollovers to print graphics and organize the viewer’s attention.
But with the potential for movement come new challenges. For print, a graphics journalist must render one scene accurately; for an animated graphic, he might have to get 10 or 12 scenes right, and that is a lot of visual information to report, confirm, and display.
In the early days of newspaper infographics, a little “illustrative license” was often accepted; now the rules for accuracy in graphics are as rigorous as those for text reporting. And while a writer may be able to “write around” missing information in text, a graphics journalist can’t “draw around” murky details in a graphic.
“Animation is a hell of a tool,” said South Florida Sun-Sentinel graphics director Don Wittekind, “but it brings new responsibilites.” The Sun-Sentinel staff elected not to animate its Sept. 11 graphic of the World Trade Center collapse because it didn’t have enough information on precisely how the buildings fell. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/graphics/news/terror/
Wittekind said he and artist Scott Horner watched the ubiquitous TV clips of the implosions–and they saw animated graphics on the Web that depicted collapse. But they didn’t feel comfortable using motion in their graphic.
“The buildings did not fall straight down,” said Wittekind. “There was some tipping.” But he and Horner couldn’t be sure of the angle and precise timing of the collapse, so they didn’t attempt to re-create it.
At the Sun-Sentinel, which produces some of the world’s most sophisticated 3-D and animated graphics, the view is “get it right, or don’t do it,” said Wittekind.
And there are other reasons to be wary of animation, points out Ron Coddington, senior designer at usatoday.com. A graphics journalist who is “using motion responsibly” is aware of the difference in tone that results when a graphic is set in motion.
Coddington points out that video of historic events– “like the Zapruder film of JFK’s assassination or John-John’s salute” — has an emotional content that a clinical, step-by-step graphic drains away. And news consumers may not be ready to have the horrific events of Sept. 11 dissected as a bloodless bit of engineering.
Usatoday.com did a graphic to suggest the physics of the collapse of one of the World Trade Center towers. But no buildings implode in usatoday.com’s news graphic on the planes hitting the towers. http://www.usatoday.com/graphics/news/gra/worldtrade/frame.htm
Indeed, tone was a consideration in the Sun-Sentinel’s decision not to animate their WTC graphic. “We wanted to treat the event with respect,” said Wittekind.
Washpost.com’s graphic on the scene of the WTC collapse, a motionless PDF of their print version using photos, is a wonderfully clean and somber depiction of the event.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/graphics/attack_ny091101.htm
As the principles of this new kind of infographic communication emerge, it appears that geography and time make a difference. Some Latin American papers have produced elaborate animated graphics showing the implosions. Andrew DeVigal, a Web design and online graphics consultant, doubts they’d do that if thousands were killed on their own soil. “In the future, many U.S. news organizations will animate what happened” Sept. 11, said DeVigal. But right now, feelings are too raw.
As the U.S. military and its allies take action, do graphic directors expect to have enough information to work from? While many of the world’s graphic powerhouses now do their own reporting, they may need help capturing the details of the small, covert skirmishes that may comprise this new war. “We have many reporters attached to the military,” said Coddington of usatoday.com. “And we may need their help.”
Charlotte Observer news graphics editor Bill Pitzer speculates that he may look at fictional accounts such as books by Tom Clancy to understand how anti-terrorism military forces operate. If he can’t get information from government sources, he’ll consider doing hypothetical explainer graphics showing the small, targeted methods used to combat terrorists. “Of course, we’ll have to make it very clear that it’s hypothetical,” said Pitzer.
Whatever happens militarily in the coming months, the best graphics journalists will follow the cardinal rules of print graphics: Depict only the information you have and think ruthlessly about form. Animate only what is crucial to help readers understand a process or scene quickly.
Other graphic links:
Interactive maps of Afghanistan and region
http://www.charlotte.com/observergraphics/interactive/middleeast.html
An array of graphics on terror attacks:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/index_TIME.html
Attack on the Pentagon
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/graphics/news/terror/pentagon.html
http://www.usatoday.com/graphics/news/gra/gpentagon/frame.htm
Tracking the flight paths
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/graphics/news/terror/map.html
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/map.html
Tighter airport security
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/graphics/news/terror/security.html
Attack on the World Trade Center
http://www.dallasnews.com/attack_on_america/terrortimeline/index.html
http://www.latimes.com/media/graphic/2001-09/638881.jpg
