March 2016 38

 

Information graphics allow us to distill large quantities of information into a digestible package. Through graphics, ideas that might otherwise be abstract become familiar and more easily understood. Today, there’s a lot of free graphic design software that allows you to easily create visualizations. TimelineJS TimelineJS is an open-source tool that enables a visual journalist […]

 

Professional Perspective: Joe Ward  After studying geography at the University of Buffalo, Joe joined The New York Times as a cartographer. After a short stint as a mapmaker, he spent several years there as a page designer before becoming the Times’s sports graphics editor. He has held that position since 1991 and his work focuses […]

 

This tutorial teaches you how to illustrate a realistic curtain using the gradient mesh tool. This tutorial is perfect for a designer who want to explore how the gradient mesh works. Working with this feature allows the designer to divide almost any shape into a mesh. Each intersection of horizontal and vertical lines can be colored […]

 

InfoAmazonia costing nature maps

Illegal logging, urban sprawl, advancing agricultural frontier and impacts of infrastructure works are the villains of deforestation in the Amazon. Projections made by a mapping tool indicate that, at current rates, hard woods will last just a little more than two centuries. Fortunately, this same technology may be able to help prevent the deforestation. Costing Nature […]

 

Sport Statistics: 2015 NFL Preview

Sports statistics allow visual journalists the opportunity to analyze data, identify trends and learn how a player contributes to a team’s success. In this doubletruck previewing the 2015 NFL season, the data is presented in bar, doughnut and fever charts. The data demonstrates NFL’s transition to a pass first league. From a glance, the reader can quickly identify […]

 

How Farm Machinery Works

Today, farming infuses intuition with the use of modern machinery. In a  Greenfield Daily Reporter news package, Beneath The Beast,  a static diagram that makes sense of a modern planter. At first glance, a planter is a maze of steel, plastic, alloy and aluminum lined with various hoses, tubes and wires. While certainly intimidating from its exterior, the […]

 

Streamline Water Motion Graphic

In 2014, Streamline Water –a bottleless water cooler supplier –  wanted a tool to help begin conversations with potential clients. The goal was to educate and inform people about their products before their sales team attempted to sell. They also had a specific metric for success: they wanted to increase contacts with decision-makers by 25 […]

 

Assessing graphics potential

The ability to spot graphics potential in a story is one of the most important skills a graphics reporter can possess. Furthermore, conversations about whether a story warrants graphic support should occur as a story is developing, not after it’s complete. Of course, deadlines, breaking news, or even simple breakdowns in communication may prevent a […]