@NatalieScox

How I learned to stop worrying and love BuzzfeedNatalie Cox

@NatalieScox

Figure out what you can bring0Learn how to do what your colleagues think is

amazing but have no idea how to make0 It doesn’t matter if it’s secretly easy peasy

‘Branded infographic template’

(Aka two rectangles on top of each other with an excel pie chart on top of a free light bulb vector*)

*A shape that doesn’t pixelate, get ‘em free by googling ‘free vector of x’

@NatalieScox

Then get your team on board

0Once your team know you can do cool stuff, they’ll give you a heads up on the good bits and will stop you barking up the wrong tree

0Lead by example first with new platforms and concepts, if your team like the results make them aware of the time frame

@NatalieScox

Reassurance is key

0 Explaining what Buzzfeed is to your Director is a bit cringe but ultimately worth it

0 Team need reassurance that tweeting this stuff won’t make them look stupid in front of their peers

0 Buzzfeed, Storify, Creativist, Videoscribe, are all brilliant free (or free trial) platforms

Legit data

Dancing Carlton

@NatalieScox

Justifying the time it takes

0You’re reaching people who don’t seek you out via your website or read to the end of the article

0And if you can pack an aesthetically pleasing punch, elicit an emotional response, and do it when it’s topical the RTs will speak for themselves

@NatalieScox

How to do it in house

0Tutorial videos taught me everything I know in terms of design (YouTube, Adobe website, Lynda)

0But peer review was really important along the way, via team members and WonkComms - the first draft is never going to be the best

0Try to do as much as you can for free, but sometimes you have to pay…

@NatalieScox

Your toolkit

Cough up for Adobe Creative Cloud, monthly payment and you get all their apps

Free database of icons, use for infographics

For livestreaming events

Animation

presentation

Amalgamating online content

@NatalieScox

But when you need to look elsewhere, bluff it

0You don’t need to learn how to code, you do need to learn the language

0Learn a few phrases- D3 is the open source (free!) javascript library (say that like you know what it means) that’s used to make a lot of interactive dataviz

0Where next? Website and report redesign! Mobile sites are so last year, responsive design the future

@NatalieScox

Thanks!

Natalie.cox@resolutionfoundation.org