Defending Freedom of Expression

Concepts for

Reporters Without Borders

Scope

Writing, Information Design, Motion Graphics, Print

Reporters Without Borders publishes The Press Freedom Index each year to support freedom of the press around the world. Using data from these reports, I created a short video to share online.

In addition to the animation, I designed a limited-run printed folio to seek out high-impact corporate donations from executives.

Animating the Data

Data from the Press Freedom Index lists the challenges that journalists face, but bringing visuals to these numbers helps make their deadly scale harder to ignore.

Animated data visualization of dictators restricting the press
Animated world map of press freedom
Animated data visualization of journalist deaths
Animated statistics from 2013
Animation about online censorship
Animated financial data visualization

Process

Script Writing

The challenge when writing this script was to balance credible information with relatable emotion. The tone needed to be urgent, reliable, and human in order to address both the broader consequences and immediate dangers of censorship.

Hand-drawn sketches for the animation

Sketching & Storyboarding

Sketching helped nail down data visualizations, imagery to bring the voiceover to life, and intuitive transitions between concepts in the script.

Storyboards for the animation

A Printed Folio for Tactile Impact

A journalist's survival kit was created to leave on the desks of potential high profile donors. The piece includes an overview of the organization's impact, briefings on key conflict regions, and an outer wrap soaked with lines from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The folio fills the reader's desk when unwrapped, bringing them into the conflict in a tangible way. Medical materials emphasize the severity of the violence taking place, and the package is held together with press passes of missing journalists.

The journalist's survival kit folio, unwrapped across a desk
Folio detail
Folio contents held together with press passes

Recognition

Adobe Design Achievement Awards · May 2014

Semifinalist, Motion Graphics

Cal Poly Art & Design Student Exhibition · April 2014

Honorable Mention, Digital Media