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Charles Apple: The Visual Side of Journalism

 

‘Infographics’ archive

Number of comments in parentheses

May 16: Three features treatments for the ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ movie (2)

Tonight, the new Star Trek Into Darkness movie opens around the country. In fact, it actually opened last night on some Imax screens. Most of the reviews I’ve seen are pretty decent. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for Saturday, which is the first chance I’ll have to see it. In the meantime, here are a few [...]

May 15: A nice use of ‘data visualization’ style… but these are actual data-driven infographics

Last year, Bill Bootz of the Oklahoman of Oklahoma City was ripping through the NBA playoffs with a gorgeous series of poster fronts.     So, what’s Bill doing this season? Glad you asked. He’s building game-numbers infographics. Click for a much larger view: Bill tells us: I was searching infographics on Pinterest and saw one from the official site [...]

May 13: A look at the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Sunday missing persons wrap

Sunday, I took note of the front-page treatment by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Here it is again: Find my ode to this page — and especially to the story downpage — here. Today, I offer a correction of sorts. That was officially the front page of Sunday’s Plain Dealer and the front page that appeared at the Newseum. But that [...]

May 10: Let’s go surfin’ now. Everybody’s learning how. Come on a safari with me.

Wednesday, the newspaper I work for — the Orange County Register — ran a terrific graphic on the back page of sports that explains some of the finer points of how to surf. First, put on some Ventures or the Beach Boys. And then click this for a much larger view: These graphics were reported, written and drawn by the [...]

May 7: A very different summer movie preview from Minneapolis (1)

This unusual summer movie preview page caught my eye yesterday in the Facebook news feed. Thankfully, Mike Rice of the Minneapolis Star Tribune was kind enough to send us a PDF. Click for a much larger view. What you’re seeing here is essentially a list. A flow chart, perhaps. But presented in an interlocking, visually stimulating way that emphasizes the [...]

May 6: A really cool interactive look at baseball salaries by the LA Times

Illustrator and cartoonist Greg Kelly tips us off about this really cool interactive graphic posted recently by the Los Angeles Times. This presentation breaks down the salary teams pay at each position and presents it in bubble chart format. Or, rather, half-bubble chart format. Because the really cool thing is the ability to dial up any two teams you want [...]

May 6: Palm Beach Daily News goes sideways with an A1 infographic

Alex Chihak writes: I’m an editor at one of Cox’s hubs, and we design and edit The Palm Beach Post, Austin American-Statesman and the Palm Beach Daily News, or Shiny Sheet. The Shiny Sheet is a seasonal paper. It’s daily during the season (September to May) and twice a week in the offseason. The season’s when the super wealthy people [...]

May 5: A look at this weekend’s Kentucky Derby front pages

Both Lexington and Louisville went with illustrations on the covers of their Saturday newspapers to advance yesterday’s 139th running of the Kentucky Derby. The Lexington Herald-Leader put this wonderfully graphic illustration by Chris Ware on the front, showing roses falling upon the downs. Meanwhile, the Courier-Journal of Louisville went with a photoillustration of a trainer who had five horses running [...]

April 30: Inside the Boston Globe’s eight-page ’102 Hours in Pursuit’ project

I mentioned this past weekend that the Boston Globe ran a comprehensive recap of the events of two weeks ago. The project kicked off on page with with this fabulous picture of the second explosion going off by Globe staffer David L. Ryan. Assistant managing editor Dan Zedek sent us the inside pages for the 102 hours project. These pages [...]

April 17: How you cover the Boston bombings if you have no photos

Moriah Smith, creative director of the Iowa State Daily — the student paper at Iowa State University in Ames — writes: I found your post about all the Boston Marathon coverage very interesting. When I saw your favorite headline from the coverage, it brought our front page from today to mind. Iowa State had 16 students who participated in the [...]

April 4: How to throw a fastball (1)

Last year’s burning question at the start of baseball season: How do they get that little criss-cross pattern in the outfield grass? The Washington Post provided the answer. This year, the burning question is about trend in baseball is fastball pitching. It’s on the rise, reports the Wall Street Journal. In 2003, there were only three pitchers who threw at [...]

April 2: A couple of baseball Opening Day pages from St. Pete

Tom Bassinger of the Tampa Bay Times sends along a couple of baseball pages this morning. He tells us: We set up the Tampa Bay Rays season with stylized player images and Opening Day facts and figures. There’s such enthusiasm on Opening Day, and I wanted to see whether we could bring that kind of energy to our presentation. Click [...]

March 31: How a small paper pays homage to a local boy-turned-sports hero

This will be the first baseball season since the 1980s without Kevin Millwood of Bessemer City, N.C., on the mound or in a dugout somewhere. Millwood retired this year after 16 years of major-league baseball. Gazette sports editor Gabe Whisnant tells us: Millwood is the longest-tenured MLB player in Gaston County history. He announced his retirement this offseason, so on [...]

March 31: Inside the Detroit Free Press’ Tigers baseball preview section (1)

Nowhere in baseball journalism is there more hope for a winning season for the home team… more optimism that their team will be in the hunt for a pennant… and, yes, perhaps resources to cover all this — than at the Detroit Free Press. The Detroit Tigers open their 2013 season Monday in Minneapolis. They play their home opener Friday [...]

March 27: Great data. Great interactive design. Lousy storytelling. (4)

My pal Chris Soprych — of the GateHouse news design hub in Rockford, Ill. — points out this interactive map from the Huffington Post showing gun fatalities throughout the U.S. since the Sandy Hook incident back in December. The presentation begins zoomed in on Newtown, Connecticut. The “camera” slowly pulls back and pans left to include the entire nation. Meanwhile, [...]

March 22: Just when you think you’ve seen it all regarding brackets… (1)

Just when you think you’ve seen every possible way to fill out a college bracket, along comes the New Yorker with a brand-new approach. It’s all about the amount of money spent on men’s basketball, says the New Yorker. So why not fill out a bracket in which the winning team in each game might be the school that spends [...]

March 20: Five more fun March Madness pages for you

Monday, we looked at a handful of great March Madness front pages and special sections. Today, we have a second batch for you. Click any of these for a much larger look… — NEW YORK TIMES New York, N.Y. Circulation: 1,586,757 Wayne Kamadoi tells us: Sam Manchester working on these bubbles until the final buzzer before deadline. By now, you [...]

March 15: A very cool space station diagram… and a very cool response from that space station (1)

I’ve known Tonia Cowan — graphics editor of the Globe and Mail of Toronto, Canada — a long time. She and I taught together for a week in the Philippines, several years ago. Kris Viesselman, Tonia Cowan and myself in Manila, March 2007 — In addition to being an amazing visual journalist, she’s a superb mentor and leader and one [...]

March 14: The great J. Ford Huffman on the relationship of visuals and text in an infographic

J. Ford Huffman was quoted recently by Anni Murray of visual.ly about the relationship of visuals and text in an infographic. J. Ford said: First, the text and the image must reinforce each other. Each must show or tell what the other cannot. Each has a function, and neither function is to decorate. The two elements – text and image [...]

March 5: ‘Dumbest bar chart ever’? (2)

Monday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation posted a story about an unsuccessful move to lower the drinking age in the province of Saskatchewan. More than the drinking age itself or the politics involved, however, the CBC drew attention to itself for the chart it thoughtfully included with the story. Here’s a closer look. Make sure you check out the scale on [...]

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