EM Narrative: Taking Storytelling to New Heights

Summer 2023 — Spring 2025

Emerging Media Narrative

Samira Jafari

When I returned to the University of Georgia after more than two decades, it wasn’t out of nostalgia — it was necessity. I had built a journalism career that had made impact and change: from reporting inside Alabama’s overcrowded prisons and the hollows of Appalachia for the Associated Press to leading high-stakes investigations at CNN. But as digital media evolved, I recognized something hard to concede: traditional storytelling alone was no longer enough. I needed new tools, new fluency, and a new framework to reach audiences where they truly are. That’s what brought me back to Grady.

The two-year online Emerging Media Master’s track offered me the flexibility to grow professionally while balancing a demanding role. In hindsight, that was just the perk. What mattered was the rigor. From the first lines of HTML to the final sprint of app deployment, I was immersed in a learning experience that was both creative and deeply technical. I was challenged to move beyond being a mainstream storyteller and explore becoming a developer, a designer, a project manager, and a product creator.

A sampling of some of my favorite first year projects.

Few experiences I’ve ever engaged in have been equal parts fun and challenging. What I enjoyed the most was being able to stay true to my storytelling roots, even in the most technical corners of WebDev and app development. From building a site devoted to my love of Persian cuisine to crafting an iOS app devoted to helping fellow horror fans find their perfect Halloween movie, stories were at the center of each project.

Until this program, I truly took the time to tell my story. Building a portfolio that captured my past success and my new interests was one of my favorite experiences along this journey.

A snapshot of my porfolio.

The highlights of that first year emerged from two significant opportunities: creating, designing, and collaborating on a brand guide and stepping back to “design my life.” Working with two other talented students on telling the story of a new brand we created — Chewsy, an app that caters to a wide range of dietary and faith-based food restrictions and helps you “find the right bite” — was an exercise in leadership and creativity. It was also an opportunity to shed my intimidation of Adobe products and embrace learning the complexities of Illustrator and other tools.

We knew Chewsy was a great idea and a product with a relatable story to tell. Through compelling design and thoughtful choices, we created an interface and brand guide we were proud of. Here’s just a taste of our brand style, highlighting the logos I designed:

Chewsy’s logo guide.

But we didn’t just learn how to design products. Design Your Life, by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, was a key component of our first-year Emerging Media Industries course. And it couldn’t have come at a better time for me. That semester, while I was juggling the coursework, my job managing investigations at CNN, and parenting two teenagers, I was also pursuing an executive leadership role at another media organization. It was one of the hardest decisions I had to make, and the DYL course actually helped me navigate that difficult journey by clarifying two things:

• Workview: What work means to me and why I do it.
• Lifeview: What life is about and what gives it meaning.

Yes, I accepted the role to head Standards & Practices at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution — work that requires me not only to ensure our teams operate ethically and with integrity, but also to think cross-functionally and approach problems like a designer.

This book is a game-changer

One of my first tasks in my new role was to take a broad look at editing across the organization, identify weaknesses, and find ways to improve the quality of our content. It felt daunting at first, but again, the timing aligned perfectly with what we were learning at the start of our second EM year: how to conduct Sprints.

I applied the tools and know-how from our project management course and the Sprint method, and was able to guide our editing teams and stakeholders through targeting the “right” problem, ideating solutions, prototyping the strongest solution, and testing and refining that solution into one that would work for our newsroom. The result was a new team that successfully launched a few weeks ago and is already making an impact.

Learning how to “Sprint” was a gamechanger.

By this point in my EM journey, I had learned how to identify problems, develop, design and prototype solutions, and think about how to tell brand stories that connect with consumers

This all came to life through AUXILIO, our capstone project and the heartbeat of my Emerging Media journey. AUXILIO is a mobile app designed to help college students trade skills and services — from tutoring and pet sitting to interview prep — all without money changing hands. It’s a tool for connection, affordability, and sustainability.

But more than that, it reflects what the program taught me: how to blend purpose with product. As a team, we didn’t just ideate. We researched, tested, iterated, and coded. We built something real, and meaningful. And in doing so, I also discovered how my journalistic instincts — empathy, clarity, truth-seeking — could be translated into design and tech.

As project manager, I focused on telling consumer-facing AUXILIO’s story and establishing our editorial tone. That meant leading:

• our work through the UX Strategy Toolkit;
• establishing our UVP;
• organizing user testing of our prototype;
• crafting our UX research plan;
• and analysing our UX usability testing results.

User feedback shaped the app in surprising ways: students didn’t want gamified tokens and exchanges— they wanted ease, authenticity and community. We adapted, simplified, and ultimately created a streamlined experience that invites students to both offer and ask for help, all within a verified campus community. We removed friction, added depth, and shaped a product rooted in the values we believe in — community over currency, connection over consumption.

None of this would have been possible without the collaboration of my fellow team members, creative director Amanda Qubty and chief developer Maria Finocchiaro. Capstones are a team sport, and Team AUXILIO proved to be a creative, collaborative, and collegial group that made this journey a rich learning experience.

What surprised me most wasn’t how much I absorbed — it was how much I changed. I now approach editorial decisions with the mindset of a designer. I think in prototypes and success metrics, not just pictures and paragraphs. I consider user experience alongside storytelling structure. And perhaps most importantly, I’ve reignited the curiosity that brought me to journalism in the first place — but with a sharper lens and a broader toolkit.

This degree didn’t replace my identity as a journalist — it expanded it. As I graduate, I carry forward not just technical skills, but a renewed mission: to innovate, mentor, and help shape the future of media through work that connects, informs, and inspires. Emerging Media reminded me that impact isn’t just about what we say — it’s about how we deliver it. And now, I’m ready to deliver in ways I never imagined before.