The 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall was heralded by major celebrations in Berlin. On one of the most important dates in Germany history, the Berliner Morgenpost published an elaborate web report. In “The scar of the city” readers can interactively explore the Berlin Wall and the former West Berlin.
This was made possible by aerial photographs of the Wall, organised by the West Berlin Senate in April 1989. The material researched by the Berliner Morgenpost, consisting of more than 700 high definition black and white photographs, was combined into an interactive satellite map. Users can zoom in on and move around the divided Berlin in a manner similar to Google Maps. They are thus provided with an unprecedented perspective of the city shortly before the fall of the Wall.
At the same time a Morgenpost reporter travelled the entire 167-kilometer length of the former Wall. Her questions: where is the Wall today? What exactly happened in the death strips? Are the repercussions of the division still noticeable? What are the circumstances of the people living along the “scar of the city”? The ten-part report examines these issues closely, and describes the past and the present in words, images and videos. The report is linked to a map of Berlin which shows users which location the reporter is currently reporting from.
The first long-form article by the Morgenpost newsroom shows that long articles can also work well online if they are well-written and get the appropriate support from web technologies. The flow of reading and interactive elements don’t conflict with each other, but rather play complement roles. Users value the quality of the narrative and the language, as well as the aesthetic design, innovative navigation and functionality across all devices achieved through responsive design.
