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USA TODAY
Politics
PROJECT SCOPE
Art Direction
Social Media Design
Digital Design
Audience Strategy
Illustration
BACKGROUND
Politics is probably the section I touch the most with my work at USA TODAY. It makes sense, since a lot of the news we consume daily has to do with what's happening in D.C. or in the political world. Joining USAT at the end of 2023, meant I was stepping right into the beginning of a volatile and hectic politics era, the 2024 election. Over the course of my time at USAT, I've had the opportunity to reshape the look of our politics content, find new ways to engage with readers and even break news.
BRANDING
MAKING POLITICAL CONTENT MORE DISTINCT
The main Instagram account for USAT serves as a place for a wide mix of sections to intermix, with that I wanted to make our politics content stand out from the rest, that's how the politics specific font came to be. It's a slightly adjusted thin version of the classic USAT serif font. This allows for the content to feel more serious and has a "newsy" feel compared to the normal serif.
this is probably my favorite Trump graphic ever!
big fan of placing quotes at the top of the card
QUOTE CARDS
CAPTURING THE MOMENT WITH QUOTES
The redesigned quote card is a perfect way for us to differentiate our visual coverage on the feed with quotes that highlight peak moments. The italicized serif is a style choice that is a recognizable amongst all of our content.
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this Biden pic a great example of a perfect photo for text placement
BREAKING NEWS
REACTING AND DESIGNING SIMULTANEOUSLY
Breaking news is probably the epitome of what it's like to work in a newsroom, with visuals it often is just a simple pairing of a good image on the key text from a push alert. But, one way to make it more intriguing is changing up the placement from time to time. It doesn't make our content look to templated and allows for some great variety on the feed.
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BIDEN
REPORTING ON THE PRESIDENT
Biden's unique presidency made for a lot of cool moments and stories. This makes designing a lot easier for me, because there are so many angles into stories that can be visualized, from walking up to an hourglass, to Biden wearing a grad cap for student loans.
2024 ELECTIONS
THE BIGGEST BRAND PROJECT OF MY CAREER
With USA TODAY being the center for national coverage amongst the whole Gannett network, a lot of what we do visually trickles down to the local papers. The 2024 election wasn't any different. Along with the font re-brand, I was in charge of all the design that went onto socials for the whole election season, from primary vote counts to fact checks for debates to winner cards on the night of the election.
PRIMARIES
STATE BY STATE COVERAGE THROUGH DATA
The primary season was my big first test at branding for the election season. With the data-centric nature of primaries, it was a major task to come up with different ways of visualizing the live number counts that we'd receive each primary night, all leading to Super Tuesday.
you can probably tell i was obsessed with state + b/w cutout combos at this point
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bobble heads were the primary inspo behind this iconic topper
DEBATES
BINGO WAS HIS NAME, O!
Creating bingo cards to cover news events isn't a relatively new idea, but using it as a vehicle to produce audience engagement was a new venture for us. I made bingo cards for several events throughout the election season, with promotion in all our mediums and platforms like, website, print and social. We even printed the bingo sheets and handed them out at local bars for people to play along on debate night.
FACT CHECK
Fact checks were one of the most important content types for us, each debate night or convention night, I would adjust our fact check template to create it's own style. As the event would unfold, I got to work closely with the fact check team to produce these cards in the most timely and accurate manner possible.
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illustrated vp candidate head stamps by yours truly
major shout out to Eric Litke and the fact-check team for their amazing work on producing live fact checks
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ILLUSTRATION
I VOTED STICKERS
One of my favorite design projects ever, was this audience engagement task of asking readers for how they would re-design the classic "I Voted" sticker. For the visual, I wanted to make the post look like a kids' sticker sheet, and with this I made close to 15 different versions of the "I Voted" sticker.
I have to give a massive thank you to my manager Jessica Hilo for inspiring me with this project
ELECTION DAY
PREPPING VISUALS FOR SUCCESS
For Election Day 2024, a lot of planning and prep went down to get cards out to the audience in the most time-efficient way possible. From winner cards for individual state and district races, to charts and maps visualizing live voter counts, USAT's presence on socials during the election was apparent from the moment polls closed.
the pinnacle post of the whole season, the presidential winner card
MY DESIGNS IMPLEMENTED ACROSS THE NATION
All the visuals I had prepped and made for USA TODAY's accounts were shared and distributed amongst all of Gannet's local properties and could be changed and mocked to match local news coverage. Over 60+ local newsrooms used my designs in their election day coverage on socials.
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every state and house district had a prepped card ready with all the candidates, a massive undertaking that led to fast post-ready graphics
green + coconuts = brat summer
KAMALA HARRIS
BRAT SUMMER + POLITICAL SEASON = KAMALA HARRIS
One particular theme at the center of just about every section of the newsroom was the overlap between Charli XCX's album "Brat," and Kamala HQ's marketing style. These two things when combined, allowed for a lot of fun and playful visuals that could be cross-promoted on many of USAT's section accounts, including life + politics.
TRUMP
1 MILLION AND
1 WAYS TO VISUALIZE THE SAME PERSON
The biggest challenge I face working with politics is finding new ways to make visuals for President Trump. This is a man that has been covered so many times before, and is getting constant coverage on our platforms. I probably make a Trump graphic at least once a day. But with Trump graphics, I'm always shocked by what the outcome can be and it allows for some of my best work.
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the possibilities are truly endless
a good example of a graphic made for breaking news in under 10 minutes.
if there's one thing about me, it's that i love photoshopping people onto money.
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