This is the most widely shared piece I have done while with The Pudding. I collaborated with Amber Thomas to hand measure 80 pairs of jeans to confirm with data what every woman already knows to be true: WOMEN’S POCKETS SUCK. We found that on average, the pockets in women’s jeans are 48% shorter and 6.5% narrower than men’s pockets, and that only 10% of women's pockets could even fit an average woman’s hand. See the full project, built with Javascript and D3.js, here.
I took on this project for The Pudding because I wanted to hone my svg animation skills. Each shoe was drawn in Illustrator, exported as svg, and morphed using Flubber.js. Sit back and watch all 34 shoes transition here. This project was also adapted into a poster.
I worked alongside Amber Thomas on the design and development to bring this data analysis by Malaika Handa alive on The Pudding. We looked at 19 years of Vogue cover models to see how the magazine represents women of all shades. I was responsible for the overall aesthetic and coded the animated beeswarm to scatter plot chart. See this full piece here.
This data project for The Pudding combines two of my loves: sports and design. I originally got interested in hyphenated names after seeing more and more of them arch over numbers on the backs of players’ jerseys. I used Node.js to scrape player names from 7 professional leagues since the 1950s to see if double-barreled last names were becoming more common. Spoiler: they are!
The Pudding partnered with the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery to highlight the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage and the passage of the 19th Amendment in their exhibit “Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence.” We examined every political party platform between 1840 and 2016 to find how often women's issues appeared in the text and produced a data-driven video. I was responsible for the data collection and tagging, design, and storyboard and narrative. We also built an interactive companion piece that allows users to dig into the platform themselves.
As a queer woman who fled to the northeast and settled with her wife in Park Slope, Brooklyn, I’ve always been interested in “gayborhoods.”
After reading There Goes the Gayborhood? by Dr. Amin Ghaziani, where he talks about the dispersion and shifting of queer enclaves, I decided to look into the numbers. The US Census is usually the go-to source for demographic data, but there are no questions about sexual orientation or gender identity, so I ended up creating an index to measure the certainty of an area being a gayborhood. The index combines Census and tax filing records, pride march routes, and yelp businesses tagged as “gay bars.” See the full project and explore 15 major American cities here.
This project was a collaboration with Elle O’Brien for The Pudding. I did the design, development and storyboarding. All the animations were done in D3.js and then rendered out to video using a command line tool. Peter Champelli did the sound design for the video. The video was the centerpiece for the project, which also included an interactive line chart plotting hair volume.
This is a collection of other projects that I was worked on while with The Pudding:
The NBA Has a Defensive Three Seconds Problem (design)
A Brief History of the Past 100 Years (design & development)
Laughing OnLine (design)
The Millennial Question (design)
Ye Olde Mad-Lib Pub Crawl Generator (data, design, development, story)
One-Hit Wonders in Sports (data, design, development, & illustration)
For the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Guardian US' interactive team built an interactive podcast app that takes you along a virtual audio tour of the marathon route. The app uses your phone to track your distance — what you hear will depend on how far you run (or walk!) and how fast. As you go, you'll unlock new audio segments at key moments along the route. I was responsible for the design of RioRun, which included the logo, app interface, badges icons, and social share images. Read about how we built it here. And take the tour yourself here (phone only).
I worked alongside reporters Lois Beckett and Jamiles Lartley and interactive editor Aliza Aufritig at the Guardian US to publish a first-of-its-kind geographic analysis of national gun homicides mapped down to the census tract level. I lead the design and built all of the static maps. The project was presented in two parts:
"Want to fix gun violence in America? Go local."
"Grasping for change on America's most violent streets: 'We must stop killing'"
The first set of illustrations (four total) was designed for the Guardian US' DIY abortion in American series. I wanted to capture modern women in Victorian silhouettes, a form that I felt preserved anonymity, while providing a sense of dignity to each figure. The silhouettes were hand hand cut and deconstructed to echo the reporting themes and then photographed.
• "‘Please, I am out of options’: inside the murky world of DIY abortions"
• "Jailed for ending a pregnancy: how prosecutors get inventive on abortion"
• "Abortion rights are already under siege – and it's only going to get worse"
• Unpublished silhouette
The second set of illustrations (three total) was designed for the Guardian US' continuing Homan Square coverage that details allegations of abuse inside a secretive facility operated by the Chicago police department. The complex layering was chosen to illustrate the dark, intricate system designed to disappear and hide detainees at the facility.
• "'I was struck with multiple blows': inside the secret violence of Homan Square"
• "A death in police custody: what really happened at Chicago's Homan Square?"
• "The hidden: how Chicago police kept thousands isolated at Homan Square"
This checkered mosaic of women was designed to lead CNN's "They're not celebrities. Their voice coach isn't either. But #MeToo changed their lives." I chose to focus the portrait (built out of many portraits) on the mouth. It represents both the voice actors' profession and their voice in the #MeToo movement.
The "infinity needle" illustration was designed to lead Jason Cherkis' Putlizer-Prize-finalist and Ellie-nominated "Dying To Be Free: There’s A Treatment For Heroin Addiction That Actually Works.Why Aren’t We Using It?" for The Huffington Post. The design symbolizes the cyclical fight against addiction.
The final illustration is unpublished, but was originally designed for The Huffington Post's ongoing investigation of No Limit rapper McKinley Mac Phipps' manslaughter conviction.
The prep for the 2017 NCCA Women's Basketball Final Four, I wrote, designed, and coded a data driven piece for the Guardian US on the University of Connecticut women's basketball team's historic 111-game win streak. The Huskies lost in the semi-final round, ending the streak that spanned three seasons. See it live here.
I designed and built the D3.js data visualizations in CNN's "Tracking Trump's nominations" piece alongside Sergio Hernandez, Aaron Kessler, Tal Kopan, Curt Merrill and Sean O'Key.
I built this Census mapper app for my final project while taking General Assembly's Javascript Development course. It pulls in data from the Census' American Community Survey API and maps it to the county level using D3. The maps can be toggled between choropleth and proportional bubbles and there is a dropdown menu to select different demographics.
For the 2016 presidential election, the Guardian US interactive team (Aliza Aufritig, Kenan Davis, Rich Harris, Nadja Popovich, and myself) designed and developed an election dashboard to track results for the presidential, senate and house races. The app featured live results in map and table form, notifications, demographic details and the signature 8-bit trash-talking candidates created by Nadja.
This is a collection of projects I have worked on as a member of the Guardian US interactive team. My role is listed in parentheses.
"The new Republican center of gravity" (overall design, photo styling, background GOP-themed constellations)
"Because Scott Walker asked" (overall design, ASCII portraits, DocumentCloud setup)
"Vagina Dispatches: The Great Wall of Vulvas" (overall design)
"Trump's conflicts of interest: a visual guide" (network illustrations)
"Here's how 'Obamacare' covered Americans with pre-existing conditions. What happens next?" (icons and design assistance)
This is a collection of line art that I have drawn in Illustrator.
The first set of portraits was designed to show all of Donald Trump's ridiculous connections, from Sarah Palin to Oprah Winfrey and Chris Christie to Kid Rock, in the Guardian US' "Entering the orbit of a 'total narcissist': who's who in Donald Trump's inner circle."
The illustrations about naloxone doses were drawn for the Guardian US' piece "How price-gouging of opioid overdose cure costs lives: 'There's never enough'."
The animated illustrations of Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton doing his signature touchdown celebration were designed for ABC News for their 2016 Super Bowl coverage.
The set of instructional party game cards were designed for content marketing agency Column Five's Visual News site.
And the last scientific diagram was designed for the Huffington Post's piece "This Is How Much Of Beyoncé’s Breath You Inhale Every Time You Breathe."
During the spring of 2015, I completed General Assembly's Front-End Web Development course. These animated SVG polygon cats, featuring my fur baby Rorschach (the first one), were built for my final project. The polygons were crafted in Illustrator, exported as SVG, and animated with GreenSock Animation Platform's TimelineMax.
The animations can be found here.
These small charts and diagrams were built to accompany a variety of stories for CNN, the Guardian US, ABC News, Visual News, and The Huffington Post. The tools used to create each graphic are in parentheses.
"The prosperity paradox is dividing the country in two," CNN (D3.js)
"#MeToo's global moment: the anatomy of a viral campaign," CNN (D3.js, Illustrator)
"Popular male NBA names," Guardian US, unpublished (D3.js)
"Oakland's 'mega-evictor', the landlord who filed over 3,000 eviction notices," Guardian US (QGIS, Illustrator, D3.js)
"Can Trump really make America great again?" Guardian US (D3.js)
"Higher housing prices in blue states may affect presidential election, report says," Guardian US (D3.js)
"Increases in the federal minimum wage," Guardian US, unpublished (D3.js)
"'He does not have a mandate': anti-Trump inauguration plans sow defiance," Guardian US (D3.js)
"Smith & Wesson stocks dive as Trump victory eases gun control fears," Guardian US (D3.js, swoopyDrag.js)
"Hole in wall helped free dozens held hostage during Pulse nightclub shooting," Guardian US (Illustrator)
"Women reign on Emmy favorites, but few are involved in making them," TGuardian US (Ractive.js)
"Gun inequality: US study charts rise of hardcore super owners," Guardian US (HTML, CSS)
"US Averaging More Than 1 Fatal Mass Shooting a Week, ABC Analysis Shows," ABC News (Illustrator)
"Cruz and Christie Gain in Popularity as Trump, Carson and Bush Stumble (POLL)," ABC News (Illustrator)
"Sentence Undone: A Life Lost to Drugs and Prison Restored by a President's Clemency," ABC News (Illustrator)
"The Fight for the Iowa Democratic Caucus, by the Numbers," ABC News (Illustrator, QGIS)
"Mass Shootings in US Increasingly Common and Deadly," ABC News (Illustrator)
"CDC Issues Health Advisory Amid Deadly MERS Outbreak," ABC News (Illustrator)
"World AIDS Day: See How Much Has Changed in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS," ABC News (Illustrator)
"California’s Worst Drought in History: The Breakdown," Visual News (Illustrator, QGIS)
"How Much More Expensive Life Has Gotten Since We Last Raised The Minimum Wage, 5 Years Ago Today," The Huffington Post (Illustrator)
"The Devastating Health Impact Of Concussion May Start Earlier Than We Thought," The Huffington Post (Illustrator)
These maps were built for CNN, the Guardian US, ABC News, and The Huffington Post. The tools used to create each are in parentheses.
"#MeToo's global moment: the anatomy of a viral campaign," CNN (D3.js)
"How Houston's layout may have made its flooding worse," CNN (QGIS, Illustrator)
"Want to fix gun violence in America? Go local." Guardian US (QGIS, Illustrator)
"Ban Ki-moon condemns ‘apparently deliberate’ Syria aid convoy attack," Guardian US (QGIS, Illustrator)
"The last-minute map: how to read each presidential candidate’s final stops," Guardian US (D3.js)
"Drawing the line on the most gerrymandered district in America," Guardian US (QGIS, Illustrator)
"Facebook, Google campuses at risk of being flooded due to sea level rise," Guardian US (QGIS, Mapbox)
"Hot, Dry Conditions Fuel Western Fires," ABC News (QGIS, Illustrator)
"The States' Positions on Syrian Refugee Resettlement," ABC News (D3.js)
"The Search for MH370 Continues," ABC News (QGIS, Illustrator)
"Migration Routes to Europe," ABC News (Illustrator)
"The Sinaloa Cartel has the Largest Area of Influence in the U.S.," unpublished (D3.js, Illustrator)
"Four Decades Later, U.S. Is Still Losing The Global War On Drugs," The Huffington Post (Illustrator)
"Here’s Where It Got Colder Than Antarctica," The Huffington Post (Illustrator)
"Which Month Is Your State Most Likely To See A Tornado?," The Huffington Post (Illustrator, Photoshop)
These are designs done both professionally and personally for promotional purposes.
The first four images are of the logo and branding package I developed for the San Antonio based storytelling event Queer Diaries.
The following four images are concept art for the Center for American Progress' annual fundraising event, the Progressive Party. The first set was a joint project with designer Erica Mendez-Babcock.
The next two images were designed for an open call for art by the American Civil Liberties Union when they were fighting for Constance McMillen, a queer Mississippi teen, to be allowed to take her girlfriend to her school's prom.
The next three images were designed as t-shirt and album covers for the bands Edison and Light Pilot, both Nashville-based.
The final image was a revamp of my high school alma mater's student handbook. I was charged with giving it a much-needed update that would appeal more to the student body.
This is a collection of infographics I built while at The Huffington Post. All were built using Illustrator and Photoshop and all can be found below:
"If The World Series Were Decided By Facial Hair, Here's Who Would Win"
"The Dangers Of Heavy Backpacks — And How Kids Can Wear Them Safely"
"Surprising Test Results For Some Of The World's Richest Students"
"Here's Why A Cold Weather Super Bowl Means Way More Than Just Freezing Fans"
"Why It Took 25 Minutes For One Man To Die Of Lethal Injection, And Why It Could Happen Again"
"Mapping Ebola's Deadly Spread"
"March On Washington 50th Anniversary: How Much Has Black Life Really Changed Since 1963?"
After completing General Assembly's Front-End Web Development course in the spring of 2015, I wanted to put my new skills to use for something politics-related. I ended up with this interactive magnetic hair game that's just as outlandish as "The Donald" himself. It's modeled after the vintage Wooly Willy toy.
Play around with it here.
One of the most comprehensive data reporting projects I worked on while at The Huffington Post was part of "How To Make It As A Black Sitcom: Be Careful How You Talk About Race," a piece that looked at the history of black sitcoms just as ABC's "Black-ish" was about to premiere. I gathered all the data, performed the analysis and built the static and interactive charts for this feature.
The interactive arc chart was built (before I learned more efficient ways to do it!) in Illustrator and each arc was hand coded.
While at The Huffington Post I looked into the popularity of Disney princess names. Inspired by the Harvard Sports Analysis Collective's "Shaq Attack: The Rise of Babies Names Shaquille," I mined Social Security Administration data and found that quite a few princess names gained popularity in the years after a movie featuring a princess character was released.
See the original post here.
While studying journalism at Western Kentucky University I focused on photography and design. Here are some shots on my Canon 5D Mark II over the years. I'm very interested in exploring data driven work through photography like Nicholas Felton's PhotoViz and photo layering like Daniella Zalcman's echosight project.
I became interested in journalism design while working for my high school's newspaper and that passion carried over into college and my first job as a page designer. These pages were designed for the Hartford Courant, the Orlando Sentinel, and my college newspaper, Western Kentucky University's College Heights Herald. See more specialized designs below:
Sports fronts, Hartford Courant
B covers, Baltimore Sun
"The Price is Wrong," college sports and the economy series, Orlando Sentinel
Redesign, College Heights Herald
