Visual journalists are anomalies outside of SND

When I tell people that I’m majoring in journalism, they usually ask if I prefer writing or broadcast. In most journalism classes I’ve taken, the professors ask us to raise our hands for print, broadcast and photo, in turn. Even my own grandmother asks if I’ve written many articles lately when I call her to say hello. My work rarely comes with a byline. Most days in the world of journalism, I feel like I’m sporting a flashing red nose while everyone else’s is black. I am a misfit.

Being in The Society for News Design has helped me find my niche. Their annual conference, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina this year, was one of the coolest experiences of my life. I traveled halfway across the world to find a whole bunch of people who truly care about journalism, design and wonderful storytelling. Half of them didn’t speak English, yet I felt more comfortable there than I ever did in JRN 200. (I should note that they now have JRN 203, which is geared more toward information designers; this wasn’t an option when I took the class.)

I feel as if I’ve finally found my place — wherever SND is, an island of misfit journalists is created.

On the island of misfit journalists, the man who dresses only in blue is a celebrity. He’s one of the most respected people at the conference, and everyone is clamoring to meet him. Among the misfits, when you mention National Punctuation Day, somebody else knows what you’re talking about. You can talk about your favorite typefaces (or your least favorite), gush about cartography and thematic maps and discuss feeling like a graphic McDonald’s (“I’ll take one graph, an illustration and can you throw a watermark on the side please?”).

In Buenos Aires, I rarely felt left out or misunderstood. I met so many wonderful people from all over the world, but everyone had similar experiences and interests. Design is the thread that knits together a truly multicultural community. I was exposed to philosophies I would never have encountered outside this university, and I was practically buried in design and newspaper talk. I couldn’t have been happier.

The conference is over and I’ve left the happy bubble of design world behind. It’s comforting to know, though, that people actually make a living doing what I love to do. There is hope and faith in this industry that so many people say is dying. The professionals of the newspaper world are looking to young people like me to help them innovate and push forward. There is more data and content being generated than ever before. Readers need someone to help them digest this overload of information. Readers need designers.

So now, when I get discouraged, I know there is probably someone else out there, tackling the same data and the same problems. We’re just designers, trying to help the stories get told. We’re misfits, maybe, but good design is becoming more valuable by the second.