What makes a exemplary digital essay?

The digital essay that I found is one done by the same author as some of the examples given by Ms. Hasler-Brroks. I found that Nicholas Blechman, the author of my example, does an excellent job balancing facts and enhancing them with digital effects. “Code name Parmigiano” is the name of the digital essay. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/06/06/opinion/food-chains-code-name-parmigiano.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A12%22%7D

I think that this is an example of an exemplary digital essay because of the balance between facts and words with animations and graphics. Through my search of trying to find an exemplary essay, I struggled to find something that had a good balance. I either encountered a prezi with mainly words and the presentation was very crowded and distracting, or I found that the essay didn’t have enough written words to get me through the piece and relied too much on animations. Although “Code name Parmigiano” does not have a lot of words, there was enough for me to understand what the author was trying to share. This balance kept the presentation clean looking and visually inviting.

The purpose of this essay was to inform and to tell a story about the making of parmigiano-reggiano cheese. The digital essay described the steps that are taken to make the famous cheese, and concluded with his own personal experience of finding, buying, and tasting the delicacy. The audience of this piece is probably geared towards people who have an interest in food and where they come from. I was personally intrigued by the piece because the kitchen is most certainly the heart of my family.

What I am going to borrow from this piece is the simplicity of the work. From my search to find an example of an exemplary piece, I found that simplicity may be the best way to portray your information with effects. Some essays had too much going on for me to focus on one thing at a time, and I think that with this understanding I will be able to create a digital essay that has a good balance between the written word and incorporating pictures, videos, and animations.