Designing Success: A View From The Audience

  • October 31, 2022
Audience members at SND's Designing Success applaud Yuri Victor's opening session.
800 533 Society for News Design

SND’s return to in-person events was exactly what many of us needed. Our first summit event, Designing Success, featured 7 remarkable sessions. With so much great information available, it was hard for us to keep notes on every point, but SND Board Member, Tara McCarty created an amazing twitter thread of the day. 

Follow the day through her thread:

Note: Slides will be shared only as presenters give permission. Not all session slides will be available. Some slides within presentations will not be available.


Originally tweeted by Tara McCarty (@tmac0201) on October 22, 2022

10:09 am:It’s an early morning start for @SND’s designing for success — so early I’m about two hours late to this tweet

10:09 am: First, coffee

10:10 am: Then, @yurivictor started the day talking about how to design your career. Basically figuring out what’s important to you and setting goals, knowing it won’t look the same person to person and that growth doesn’t happen in a straight line


10:12 am: Right now @atthar_mirza and @SarahCahlan are breaking down the process for one of The Post’s visual forensics investigations: what happened at Astroworld

10:13 am: Here they are! We’re at the Hotel Monaco in DC this weekend


10:41 am: The third session of the day is by @TmarcoH (one of @SND’s world’s best designers), sharing sticky notes on working with infographics and the tips are so universal, it’s easy to find something to apply to your work, no matter what kind of visuals you’re using

10:45 am: 😅 a relieving slide to see at this workshop, as someone who just can’t focus that way


10:50 am: So far my favorite thing is that each speaker has referenced the speaker before them. There’s a really good sense of camaraderie and community.We’re laughing, we’re poking fun and it’s just so good to be back together for @SND


11:02 am: Die Zeit (pronounced like dee zite) is one of @SND’s world’s best designed papers and it’s Europe’s largest weekly paper. @malinschulz is here to talk about design philosophy and team cohesion. Check out this evolution of the front page over 60 years — the color!

11:09 am:Malin says the team at Die Zeit is inspired by the US way of thinking, of collaborating. They look for people who can work in a team, not just be brilliant on their own.

11:12 am:Ok, @malinschulz showed a cute gif to represent teamwork and I can’t find it so malin if you see this later, help a girl out. This is sorta similar and will do in the meantime


12:43 pm:We’re back after a lunch break (shout out shake shack) and I’m having more coffee

12:53 pm: USA Today has this session! From the start, the company has been so influential and innovative in design, so @elizabeth_shell is moderating this panel of J. Ford Huffman and @jjsergent about how that past is inspiring the future

1:01 pm: J. Ford Huffman gives a shout out to the St. Petersburg Times (now the @TB_Times), back in the day one of the only other papers using color

1:09 pm: Lessons they’ve learned: J. Ford references Strunk and White’s Elements of Style and says “omit needless words” — that applies to design and graphics as well as writing

1:12 pm: I love seeing sketches and finals next to each other — whether they are the same or very different. And especially for big news events like this, knowing designers are under a lot of pressure to present the information clearly and succinctly. Very cool to see this from @USATODAY


1:24 pm: Sooo what do you do after working in news? @mattmansfield and @jonathonberlin talk about what they’ve learned being creative partners at MG Strategy + Design

1:28 pm: Let people make weird notes on your work, they say! It allows for no secrecy about the process and how decisions are made. This example made me laugh. Whomst amongst us has not gotten this feedback?


2:20 pm: You know how sometimes conferences can sorta putter out by the end of the day? Not the case here. Nhu Nguyen and @ShakirahAdianna are firing us up with ways to be a leader at any level

2:23 pm: Ope, meant to add they are from @fentonprogress!

Next Up: Can’t wait to continue the collaborations, synergy and learning in 2023. It will be a dynamic. Stay tuned for more information.