NY Times Design Director answers your questions

Recently the New York Times has been asking its head honchos to take to the mail bag and answer some of their readers most pressing questions in a section called “Talk to the Newsroom.” Executive Editor Bill Keller and head editors from almost every section have taken part in the column, and this week interactive design guru Khoi Vinh is the latest to give us some insight into what the Times does and why they do it.

I could really quote the entire Q & A page because everything he says should be echoed in newsrooms everywhere, even the small-town papers. His best summary sentence:

We’re trying to create something that’s true to this medium, that borrows the best of what works in print and that takes advantage of the unique aspects of digital media.

He also co-authored a design tutorial called “Grids are Good” that was presented at the South by Southwest Interactive Conference last year. Once you go grid, it’s hard to go back.