Misc Misc

What do you think of how Michael Alexis turned my interview into a comic? Useful?

Posted on Oct 16, 2012 - 9:00 AM PST

Look. I believe in long-form interviews because meaning & depth can’t happen in a 30-second YouTube video. But I know that sometimes you’re not willing to commit to an hour-long interview until you get a sense of what’s in it.

So that’s why I hired April Dykman to create cheat sheets. But the other day, Mixergy viewer Michael Alexis surprised me by turning my interview with Ramit Sethi (Why The Loooooong Sales Letter Works And Other Surprising Sales Hacks) into a comic that he published on Unbounce’s blog.

Check it out and tell me what you think in the comments. Be as specific as you want my interviewees to be. (And if I don’t get many comments on this, that’ll be good feedback too. Ya dig?)

  • http://www.HireYourVirtualAssistant.com Owen McGab Enaohwo

    I like it because it presents your content in a whole new format that will appeal to a new type of audience. Who knows maybe now instead of infographics your can make interview comics. One thing that will be even more effective is for Michael to draw out new scenes just like in the comics that serve to make the points even clearer.

  • janis

    looks nice.. but animation with sound is much better ;)

  • Jeff Gaudette

    Very well-done an entertaining. I agree with Owen – it’s a different medium to present the content to either (1) for people to discover mixergy; (2) a fun way to read the highlights.

    Personally, I love listening to the interviews, so a cartoon wouldn’t be of much value to me as I would all the details.

    However, if these prove to go viral on social media (and images tend to do that more than text/articles) it could be a huge traffic booster for you. The question after that becomes: how many of those viewers convert – meaning listen to your interviews so they either buy a premium membership or help you increase ad revenue (not a big focus for you, I know) by growing the audience.

    It would be great if you kept us posted on how these work for you in that regard.

  • imlou

    It’s awesome!
    A quick and fast read which breaks the content up appropriately and isn’t boring to read :)

    I actually don’t watch the videos that much anymore – I still do, but I like to download the interviews as mp3s so I can listen to them while I’m on the tube / biking around the place.
    This way I can get a couple things done at once.

    Maybe not everyone is like me, but I like my information quickly and to the point!

    If the interview was one like when we get shown how someone uses some software etc then of course a video is best for that kind of thing.

  • Karan Vasudeva

    It’s nice to find Mixergy do a comic the same week we published a comic for our iPhone game:
    http://bit.ly/Rp6vcx. Our comic is working out very well for us. We’re thinking of publishing exclusively in comic format, at least for our mainstream audience.

  • http://mixergy.com Andrew Warner

    Yeah, but that would take too long.

  • http://mixergy.com Andrew Warner

    That’s good to know.

    I don’t think it’s gone viral, but I haven’t really encouraged it.
    What I’m searching for is a way to make the interviews more accessible to people who aren’t sure they’re ready to commit an hour to listening to one.

  • http://mixergy.com Andrew Warner

    Thanks.

  • http://mixergy.com Andrew Warner

    I see what you mean. It’s a little text heavy now.

  • Dustin Hyle

    Love it. Everything is well broken up into manageable pieces.

  • http://www.writerviews.com Michael Alexis

    Thanks Dustin. Did the break down make it easier to remember key points?

    –
    M

  • Dustin Hyle

    Yes, and much easier to get the points you need without spending an hour listening to the interviews. Not that I don’t love the interviews but I only have time to watch 1 or 2 a week. It is sometimes hard for me to choose which ones to listen to.

  • http://www.writerviews.com Michael Alexis

    Cool.

    How about readability? Some sites I regularly guest post on have turned down the comics b/c visitors can’t as easily adjust font size, etc. I’d guess the Mixergy community is more tech-savvy/able to adjust to read – but was that an issue at all?

    – and thanks again for the feedback.

  • Dustin Hyle

    I am not a good person to ask about that. I have Dell 30″ monitors running at 2650×1600. I tell people if you can’t see stuff on my monitor you need to get better glasses. These days browser zoom also does images, so regardless it is ok :)

  • Marc

    I like the idea but it’s a bit text heavy (if I wanted to read I would rather print the transcript instead) and the execution (quality of the illustrations) is lacking, definitely not at the same level as the quality of the interview and informations that can be extracted on Mixergy.

    If you ask for my humble opinion, it looks amateur (I have a background to support my opinion, if you were wondering) and doesn’t help to build the brand Mixergy.

  • Marc

    I know you asked for feedback based around the idea itself and another way to make the interviews more accessible, but for me illustrations should be better exploited. I liked the “6 take away” part, but showing static faces added no value to the whole thing. A text only conversation would have been better.
    If you use comics, it’d be interesting to make better use of the medium’s strengths.

    To improve it I would put a link to the original interview at the end of the comics, then focus on one part of the interview only, and make it more dynamic to show each character (Andrew, Ramit)’s identity.
    That’s why some people watch video instead of listening to the mp3 : the personality shows better, the ideas stick to the visuals. Body language, face shape, expressions.
    The comics should “sell” the characters better, they carry and represent their ideas.
    That’s how I would personally use comics to get people to watch the videos.

  • Robert

    I don’t find it too text heavy. It’s long copy – just what Ramit is talking about. It needs a round of proofreading if you are to use it,

  • http://www.writerviews.com Michael Alexis

    Thanks for the expert insight. “Amateur” is definitely a fair comment – I’m not a designer and this is the first time I’ve made a comic.

    –
    M

  • http://www.writerviews.com Michael Alexis

    Did you find mistakes?

  • Gisteo

    Not necessarily. At Gisteo, we create animations sometimes in just a couple of weeks. Seems likes a cool idea to give people the gist of your interviews.

  • Martijn Wiedijk

    I am a huge fan of using comics to get an idea or information across. So I love this experiment. Some suggestions that pop up:

    * I didn’t immediately see that the persons with the dark hair were two different people.
    * Examples catch my attention. Try giving a real example and immediately afterwards explaining the theory behind it, not the other way around.
    * Since it is a comic, try visualizing what is happening in stead of lengthy text. So don’t explain that you close your eyes, shut down your computer and try to get into the head of the customer, make a visual image of the process.

    I’m absolutely looking forward to more comics!

  • Ramprasad Renganathan

    Another great way to present content. Did you try posting this to pinterest? That might drive more traffic and feedback.

  • http://cutecoder.org/ Sasmito Adibowo

    I usually listen the interview at 1.5x speed, so it finishes in about 40 minutes or so. Works quite well for skimming through on the train.

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