Working at such a furious pace in the newsroom, I have learned to quickly evaluate projects and judge different needs, resources and constraints. I have gained a valuable skill in recognizing when we have an opportunity to design and build something new and when it is more effective to use existing templates.

I was presented with the challenge to create an overview of the Harry Potter franchise before the release of the final Harry Potter book in July 2007. The goal was to present charts, analysis, photos and video for each of the seven books. Limited in time, I realized I could use a previous project called ÒPower PlayersÓ, which similarly presented the same range of content, as a template. This would minimize our need to rewrite code and allow me to focus on the art direction of the piece. I was able to concentrate my time working with an illustrator to develop the concepts for the introduction page and each corresponding panel.

We made effective use of the resources we had, allowing us to further develop the details - background features, animations on the intro page and transitions between panels - to make the piece a more dynamic and visually rich experience.