Multimedia journalism that’s making money
Death & Taxes by Jess Bachman
What you’re looking at is a very profitable piece of multimedia journalism.
Death & Taxes is a data visualisation project by Jess Bachman: a 24×36 inch glossy poster that’s just been published by Seth Godin’s Domino Project. It’s available to buy from Amazon US – for $27.00 (currently discounted to $20) – and at the time of writing, has already sold out.
Jess (who isn’t a trained journalist) took all the spending data published by the US government (he says it runs into thousands of spreadsheets) and visualised it into this one image. And let me repeat the most important point: it’s a poster. Not an interactive, not a video, or a motion graphic – a poster: something you can sell to the public. Something that can go up on classroom walls.
I bet no-one teaches poster production on multimedia journalism courses these days…maybe they should.
This is an example of a clever idea, that serves a need, packaged in a sellable way. And here’s the takeaway: anyone reading this blog could have done this. The data is available, for free. The data interrogation and cleansing is free too, if you learn how to do it. The design is tricky, but doable – especially if you rope in a talented friend.
What does it cost? Time -and lots of it. Plus determination and stamina – all fuelled by a brilliant idea.
Adam Westbrook // ideas on digital storytelling and publishing 
Not exactly poster production, but I do know PMA Media Training recently introduced an infographics course, which would be somewhat similar…
(Disclosure: I occasionally tutor there for online journalism, blogging and other topics)
We do our best: http://eabbulls.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/community/
It’s much easier (and less profitable) to do than teach. Especially at the high school level. And we have to have an amazing way to make imperfection actionable.
[…] Anything You Want* and it’s the latest release under the innovative Domino Project (which I’ve written about before). Anything You Want is full of stories of Derek’s process of creating CDBaby and lessons […]
I guess there are courses related to print designing in visual arts colleges. But don’t know if there is a specific subject on poster designing. Maybe they should, as a poster is a far more effective way of communication than say a boring catalog. Great poster thanks for posting it!
I guess there are courses related to print designing in visual arts colleges. But don’t know if there is a specific subject on poster designing. Maybe they should, as a poster is a far more effective way of communication than say a boring catalog. Great poster thanks for posting it!
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