Methodically mediated
We are all a little bit methodically mediated.
My job hunt is beginning again. In December 2010, I received a phone call from Hewlett Packard. Right before I graduated college, I had interned for them on a project called Scheduled Delivery. This little idea quickly became a very big project that is available to the public today. In December, I was interning for The Oregonian as the letters editor and I was furiously searching for more permanent employment. HP called with a great offer, beating my salary at The Oregonian hands down, plus benefits. I couldn't say no.
It turns out that this big project was a lot of fun for the duration of my two-year contract. In January 2012, that contract will come to an end. At Hewlett Packard, as a contract employee, I served as a graphic designer on the project Scheduled Delivery. I designed publications like Daily Word Puzzles and The Daily Read.
As a designer for Scheduled Delivery, I saw newspapers, syndicate content and more through the process, into the hands of customers. I developed marketing collateral for Scheduled Delivery or sister projects and I spent a lot of time exercising/teaching things like news judgment.
After four years at The Daily Barometer, including a 15-month stint as the editor in chief, I had billed myself a newspaper designer. I found, after working for HP, that my time in newspapers taught me much more than that. I am a pro with the Adobe Creative Suite (or QuarkXPress to hearken back to my days at The Daily Astorian) and I can design a newspaper page faster than the best. HP taught me that I understand the development of content, copy editing, headline writing, news judgment, photo selection and quality work. I know when it is lacking and I know where it can be improved. More than a page designer, I am an editor.
I've been the editor of a college daily, I've edited content for a world-wide audience, I've designed publications of all shapes and sizes and I've been told I have better news judgment than most. These skills and a degree in new media communications have prepared me to find the next solution. Scheduled Delivery is one off-ramp. There are more. There are digital, varied and professional-looking off-ramps yet to be found.
Today, a designer I work with at HP (and whom I met at The Oregonian) said, "It's about the content." That applies to print, online, television and more. I want to make great content and get it into readers' hands. It's just the medium that's changing.
Content, in all of its forms, takes on a new shape and a new meaning when it is paired with a picture or a graphic. I have learned from incidents at The Daily Barometer that centered on race, that there is always room for diversity in a newsroom and an extra set of eyes to view content before it makes it to press. It's never too late to right a wrong and there's always room for thoughtful communication.