Multimedia project critique
"Hard Times" by Travis Fox
I reviewed the Washington Post’s “Hard Times” series by Travis Fox. The project looks at “how Americans are coping with the economic downturn, and how it may influence their vote” in the 2008 presidential election.
The project opens with a small banner with identifying information. Underneath, there is a mid-sized Google map of the United States showing the route traveled. I think it was a smart choice to use a Google map. Using a widely used and popular map lends a sense of familiarity for users. They have a better idea of what to expect when using the navigation tools within the map, since they have probably used them before. I do, however, wish the map were bigger.
The opening banner contains an option to show or hide the map. This option is good for users with smaller screens. Along the author’s route, there are icons for media clips, such as video, audio, and photos. Clicking on an icon brings up a preview window, similar to the location previews in Google maps. I think this further helps navigation through familiarity. Each preview window also has an option to close the window and return to the main map. Clicking the headline in the preview window leads to a separate page with the video and text story, if there is one. An advertisement appears after clicking the video’s start button. It should include a countdown timer, so the user knows when the selected video will start.
The content has a good mix of visual and textual aspects. I think it is a fair balance for people in environments or situations that do not allow noise. The text allows them to follow the story, including parts that are not in the video. The videos allow the subjects to tell their stories in their own words. The map shows the author’s trip across the country, but it does not indicate where it started and ended. The user can find this out by scrolling down to the first story, but I would have liked to see that indicated in the map itself. Overall, the high quality visuals and audio are appropriate for the project’s story.
I was a little disappointed with the design though. While I liked that the project provides users with multiple ways to experience the story, either through the map or by scrolling, I have seen other templates for multimedia on the Post’s website. I wish the project had been done in one of those, since they were more centralized, with all of the information presented in that window. The templates also do not require so much scrolling to see the stories. I think the intention was to make the project operate like a blog, with the newest updates at the beginning. While this format is good for rolling updates, it does not lend itself to archiving. The focus of the project is really on the content and not the design. I wish there had been a little more “life” to the project design. However, it still gets the story across effectively.
