WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA
Our website and social media accounts provide an opportunity for creativity, immediacy and power.
We don't have to wait for the next deadline or publishing date to get information out when it's online, so our coverage can be much more timely than print publications. And the flexibility we have to be creative with various multimedia forms creates endless chances for powerful coverage.
SMEHARBINGER.NET
As an Online Editor, I organize and optimize our website on a daily basis. My responsibilities include everything from creating a weekly schedule to brainstorming multimedia ideas with a staffer.
After not placing in the NSPA top ten Best of Show last fall, my co-editor made it our goal to improve the website. We listened to critiques, redesigned problematic sections and created a specific schedule so posting stories was clear for staffers.
And all our work was worth it when we won NSPA First Best of Show for the site in the Fall of 2020. Here are my favorite projects:
WEBSITE PACKAGES
The possibilities that come with online interactive packages are what intrigued me to become an Online Editor in the first place. The feeling of scrolling through the collection of media after I've strung everything together perfectly is incredibly rewarding.
Working on these packages taught me how to portray information in a way that's visually appealing and organized so anyone who takes the time to look over our work can fully appreciate the information without being overwhelmed by text.
*graphics by Natalie Scholz
NSPA 1st Best of Show in Election Coverage 2020
East & The Election
This was the first major multimedia package my co-editor and I had complete control over. After hours of brainstorming about how to best present our election coverage, we organized our staff members to help produce four stories, five infographics/multimedia pieces and two videos. I interviewed two students to co-write the story about the political divide and pieced together the layout.
Through this package I learned how important it is to provide unbiased coverage and truly tell all aspects of an event while creating a visually interesting web design.
Click to view the whole package
Not a Moment, A Movement
A huge aspect of our online site is working well with the print publication to keep a cohesive feel throughout all of The Harbinger's work.
When our staff produced a special section in Issue 5 2020, I pieced together an online version that contained more interactive aspects. I also wrote the story about Black-owned businesses.
Click to view the whole package
*graphic by Sophie Henschel, design by Riley Atkinson
What About Freshmen?
I experimented with a new multimedia platform called Cardd to create a visually interesting layout for this story.
I learned this website is best for stories that don't have a lot of multimedia because it still provides a visual in the background that helps make it less text-heavy.
Click to read full story
*graphics by Lilah Faye
HUMANS OF EAST
This past year, I revived and refreshed a series we previously did on our website called "Humans of East" where we feature a random student every week. The purpose is not only to highlight some faces at our school, but also to link all our platforms together. The designs I make each time are posted on The Harbinger's Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and the website.
BREAKING NEWS
Breaking news stories bring an intense adrenaline rush. I've written several over the years, and I always excitedly type up the information to get it to our audience quickly. Here are some examples of the stories that work best as quick breaking news.
BOARD MEETING RECAP
MAJOR SPORTS NEWS
SCHOOL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Students rarely sit through the three-hour-long district board meetings, so I've done several board meeting recaps that go out quickly so the community can receive the key information.
This was specifically important this past summer when many community members missed the virtual school decision.
We have a responsibility as a student newspaper to share all school-specific news. When announcements are made by StuCo or by our administration, we hop on the opportunity to write a quick story.
In my experience on staff, I've written about anything from the Homecoming Court nominees to the school spirit parade theme.
Whether it be the results of a major game or a coach quitting, we strive to be on top of breaking sports news.
Last year our tennis team went through a rough state championship process because it wasn't clear which team won. After it was eventually announced they tied, I quickly interviewed one of the players and posted a breaking sports story that updated our community.
MULTIMEDIA
We heavily stress the importance of multimedia when our staff members post their stories online. Information like quotes or random statistics are often stronger with visual representation instead of simply a block of text. Below are a few of my favorite examples; click on each photo to go to the story it was featured in.
360 CAMERA
There's only so much words can do while storytelling — sometimes photos are really the only way to show the whole atmosphere. For this feature I did on a new boutique in our area, I embedded a 360-degree photo so readers could experience what they're reading about.
THINGLINK
We wanted to interview several students for our election package about their opinions, but that would've taken a lot of vertical space, so I made a thinglink. Viewers can simply click on the dot for each person and a text box will appear with their quote.
STORYMAP
StoryMap is a tool that's perfect for sharing details about places around town. For our election package, we included information about polling locations so viewers could easily interact and find what they needed to know while visualizing the location.
INFOGRAPHIC
When I take on a topic that's filled with statistics and dates, I alter it to be a timeline to provide for a more intriguing viewing experience. This infographic was to answer the question we were all thinking in March 2020 "When will COVID-19 end?" I gathered research from several reliable sources and designed this infographic for our online site.
PHOTO GALLERY
During finals week this past year, I assisted a staffer with her story by taking photos for a gallery that enhanced the visual appearance and added insightful captions.
SPOTIFY EMBED
Although I've never personally had a story that would benefit from a Spotify playlist or song embedded within, I've recommended and assisted other staffers to put this audio component into their stories.
SOCIAL MEDIA
We engage with students through our social media. It's how they get quick breaking news updates or find out about a huge package we posted. It's how they interact through polls and comments. But it's also a chance for me to experiment with unique designs and storytelling methods.
A typical stand-still photo may not grab someone's attention immediately, so here are a couple ways I've experimented with unique posts.
ELECTION PACKAGE PROMOTION
Since our election package was a huge project, I created three separate Instagram posts to go across our feed as shown above. The left and right posts have a scroll feature to preview more information so part of the story could be transferred to Instagram. After this was posted, the number of daily users on our site increased by 136.2%.
AFTER EFFECTS
POST
To promote Issue 8 2021, I learned how to create motion graphics in Adobe After Effects and put together this Instagram post that shows pieces of the cover and spread. The flashing text on the first screen and the moving graphics on the second create more visual interest than a standstill image. The information on the second slide also tells part of the engaging story. After this was posted, our site users increased by 17%.
MUSICAL FEATURE
Although my original goal was to simply take pictures for an online gallery about musical rehearsal, I realized there was a real story in the masked-up, socially-distant musical our school is putting on this year. I interviewed a cast member and researched the dates of the musical to put together a feature for Instagram.
FACEBOOK AND TWITTER PROMOTION
Since our analytics show most of our viewers go to Instagram for their content, I focus most attention there, but I still post occasional promotional content on our Facebook and Twitter. I've noticed several parents use those platforms more than students, so I cater to what they might want to read more than what students might want to read. Click through each picture in the slideshow to view some examples.
PROJECT IN THE WORKS
I constantly see our student population mesmerized by TikTok, so I'm working to connect teens to The Harbinger through that platform.
Although the development is still in progress, I created an account that will help us capture our audience's attention on the platform practically all students have on their phone.
We plan to do "Issue in Reviews," where we discuss the key stories in each print issue, as well as "Online Updates," where we share important information that can also be found on our website.
