The chief online producer and graphics editor for The News Argus, Brandon Coley was awarded $750 to attend the Society of Newspaper Design’s 32nd Annual Workshop and Exhibition Program in Denver, Colo.
Coley is a junior computer graphics major from Muskegon, Mich.
He creates the editorial cartoons and comic strips for The News Argus.
The SND is an international organization for news media professionals and visual communicators – specifically those who create print, web and mobile publications and products.
The SND workshop hosted some of the best known editors and designers in the media industry, Sept. 23-25.
Coley was one of 10 students chosen for a travel grant and the only student chosen from an HBCU.
“I felt especially proud to be chosen because the other students who were chosen were from big schools like Michigan State, University of Missouri and Kent State,” Coley said.
In Denver, Coley attended workshops conducted by media professionals such as Fernando Baptista, senior graphics editor for National Geographic Magazine and Roger Fidler, the visionary for the first prototype electronic newspaper for tablet PCs and e-readers.
“I didn’t know that the [media] industry was so geared toward mobile devices, iPads, etc.,” Coley said.
“Every newspaper is headed toward some sort of tablet device 10 inches and up.”
Coley participated in workshops that piqued his interest about information that he could apply in his current position at The News Argus.
“I really liked workshops such as ‘Smart design on a tight budget’ and ‘free (and fabulous) software online.'”
This was not Coley’s first hands on opportunity to work with new media and graphic design.
This past summer, Coley was selected to spend two weeks at the New York Times Student Journalism Institute in New Orleans.
At the Journalism Institute, Coley and 19 other students were working journalists supervised by reporters and editors from The New York Times, The Boston Globe and regional newspapers of The Times Company.
The Institute provides opportunities for students interested news reporting, copy editing, photography, Web production, print and Web design, and video journalism.
While there, Coley was encouraged to submit his portfolio to the SND for the travel award.
“I learned a lot about the media industry, on a whole other level [that] I’ve never experienced before during late nights sessions and early mornings meetings, at the Institute” Coley said.
“These opportunities provide invaluable information, and I am definitely not taking them for granted,” Coley said.