Yet for all the apparent complexity of award-winning projects like The Word Train and The Documents of Aribert Heim his core philosophy of design is simple: Get out of the way of the content and create interactive graphics designed to keep viewers engaged.

Simple usability is key. For example, it wasn’t until he put the big buttons on the top right that people seemed to use Milestones: Barack Obama, a time-line of the President’s life, in significant numbers. The time-line itself was too complex to draw people in on its own. It needed a simple point-of-entry for viewers to engage, he said.

During an October 8, 2009, presentation at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, arranged by associate professor Sandeep Junnarkar, Dance talked about his own career trajectory and shared some tips and tricks he’s learned while working at the Times.

His presentation has been edited into thirteen segments, each with individual topics ranging from the need to provide context for viewers around an interactive graphic to the importance of functionality, innovation and the increasing importance of user-generated content. Below are three of the most informative. The entire collection can be viewed here.

Gabriel Dance – Part 5: Usability 2 from CUNY Grad School of Journalism on Vimeo.

Gabriel Dance – Part 11: User Generated Content from CUNY Grad School of Journalism on Vimeo.

Gabriel Dance – Part 9: Transparency & Innovation from CUNY Grad School of Journalism on Vimeo.

(UPDATE 10/4/09: The New York Times received an Online Journalism Award on Saturday, Oct. 3, for its Interactive Graphics, besting MSNBC.com and Wired.com. The category was “Outstanding Use of Digital Technologies, Large Site.”)

In the brave new world of multimedia journalism, there are many considerations weighed while creating online projects, and Dance will discuss some of these issues including usability, transparency, and user generated content.

Dance has been at The New York Times since 2006 and in that time has won several awards from the Society of News Design, as well as being part of the team that received the grand prize in the recent Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism.

DATE: Thursday, Oct. 8
TIME: 6-8 p.m.
PLACE: Room 308

This free event is open to students, alumni, faculty, staff, and guests of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

If you are not affiliated with CUNY, please fill out this reservation form.