Akira Hakuta created these videos about the five finalists in The Washington Post’s Peeps Diorama contest, which has some really creative entries this year. Videos feature The Mad Hatter, Korean War memorial, the movie Up, and “Goodnight Peeps.” I created the player, which is almost exactly the same as the Scene In player. Noel Smart designed the logo treatment.
Month: March 2010
New county map: Ultra-high Medicare Billing Rates
I re-purposed the unemployment map for this story about ultra-high billing rates at skilled nursing facilities in the U.S. It shows where facilities are billing ultra-high rates. The Washington Post found that nursing homes have flooded ‘ultra-high’ billing categories with patients, and the amount of waste and abuse could reach billions of dollars a year. Check out the graphic or read the story by Scott Higham and Dan Keating.
New project: Graphic explains the search for a serial rapist
I worked on this graphic with reporters Josh White and Maria Glod, who collected an incredible amount of information on the East Coast Rapist, a man who has been on the loose for 13 years and is a suspect in 17 cases. For this important story, I organized the data that Josh and Maria collected into an easy-to-use interface that had the details of each case, including a small photo gallery, a google map, a quote and all the case information. I built an interface that drew connections between the cases and allowed people to sort the cases by date, location, existence of dna samples, and the weapon used. It also featured a map interface, a gallery and a video. Keep reading this post »
Fact or Fiction
Fact or Fiction?
Published in The Washington Post, December 2011
This card game is a fun way to expose all our Fact Checker columns. People can choose their own ratings and see past ratings for candidates. I designed and developed the main game, as well as the widgetized version of it that lives in the politics section.
Role: Design, programming
Tools used: Javascript, CSS
More games: D.C. Budget Game, Make a royal match, How well are you aging?, Washington Metro art
Analyzing U.S. tax breaks
Analyzing U.S. tax breaks
Published in The Washington Post, September 18, 2011
This piece looks at all the tax breaks on the books in the United States, how much they cost and when they went into effect. It breaks down all the tax expenditures by category and value and highlights important movements. I created the charting, interaction and design of the javascript visualization at the top of the page. We focused a lot on adding an annotation layer to this piece, so it’s not just a deep data dive. While the granular information is there, it is secondary to the analysis we are providing. Read more here.
Role: Design, programming
Tools used: JavaScript, jQuery, CSS
More charts: Where are the jobs?
Unemployment map
Unemployment by County
Published in The Washington Post, December 3, 2009
This map shows the change in unemployment rate over time on county, state and national levels. This was a quick-turnaround project — the initial version was done in two days, with about three days of upgrades. I imported simplified county shapes into Flash, and built all the functionality and the interface, which includes charting for U.S. and state unemployment rate. It also has historical unemployment data that lets users go back and see how their county has fared for the past two years. It features zooming and panning, as well as quick-select menus on the right side. We’ve also highlighted certain regions, so when you click on those you get a detailed analysis and a zoomed in view.
Role: Design, programming, research
Tools used: Flash/ActionScript 3.0, MaPublisher
Awards: SND Quarterly (Winter 2009)
Rawlings Panoramic Timeline
The Shooting of DeOnte Rawlings
Published in The Washington Post, April 18, 2009
This project recreates the scene where DeOnte Rawlings was shot, and tries to lend clarity to what happened (there was debate about whether police had reason to shoot at him or not). Alex Garcia had shot some panoramas of the scene, so instead of just having them in a gallery, I suggested that we try to create a 3-D crime scene timeline, by using Flash Panorama Player’s hotspot technology. I had only used it once before so it took some time to set up, but I really like the effect. It gives a great sense of place and is a really powerful storytelling tool.
Tools used: Flash/ActionScript 3.0 and Flash Panorama Player, CSS
Role: Design, programming
More of my panorama projects:
• Egypt Panoramas (panorama template)
More investigative design:
•Two worlds, On the trail of a serial rapist, Fatal flights
India in Motion
India in Motion
Published in The Washington Post, February 26, 2010
This project was a video snapshot of a trip to India I went on last year. It features over 20 short videos in a player I built and designed. It autoplays from one video to the next, and allows users to jump forward and back using thumbnails, a map, or a dropdown list. It is a variation on the series player I created for Scene In, a fashion series on Washington, D.C.
Role: Design, programming
Tools used: Flash/ActionScript 3.0, CSS
Awards: SND Quarterly (Spring 2010)
More video projects:
• 9:30 Club turns 30
• Scene In