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2020: The Year in Visual Stories and Graphics

In a year with so many world-shaking moments, our strongest visual stories covered impeachment, outbreak, caucuses, primaries, donations, dele­gates, shutdown, jobs, deaths, coughing, hos­pitals, test­ing, George Floyd, protests, tear gas, dreams, nursing homes, po­licing, the election, stimulus, symptoms, Beirut, power, the Supreme Court, ballots, wildfires, Trump’s taxes, turn­out, swing states, masks, re­sults, A.I., voter shifts, I.C.U.s, pollut­ion and vaccines. 2020: The Year in Visual Stories and Graphics.

By The New York Times December 30, 2020

January

I Helped Count the 2,373 Squirrels in Central ParkCentral Park’s Squirrel Census
A Sketch Artist’s View of Trump’s Impeachment TrialSketching the Impeachment Trial
A 3-D Tour of How the Senate Was Transformed for the Impeachment TrialAn Impeachment Trial 3-D Tour
Coronavirus World Map: Tracking the Global OutbreakCoronavirus World Map“At the early stage of the pandemic, we knew very little about the virus and the data reporting was not as good or transparent as it is right now. We had to comb through tons of Chinese government websites as well as social media accounts every day, and even did our own calculations in order to get a fuller picture of what was happening in the region.”— Jin Wu
We Flew to Iowa to Meet With 15 CaucusgoersWhat Iowa Caucusgoers Say“Most stories about polls can leave readers feeling cold. So we took 15 Iowans who answered our poll seriously and said it would be OK to follow up. Four of us drove to all corners of the state, put them on camera, met their kids and pets, sat across from them at kitchen tables and talked to them about the future of America.”— Larry Buchanan
A Quick Quiz to Match You With a Democratic CandidateWhich Candidate Matches You?
How the Iowa Caucuses WorkHow the Iowa Caucuses Work

February

We Checked the Iowa Caucus Math. Here’s Where It Didn’t Add Up.Checking the Iowa Caucus Math“To pinpoint possible errors in the delegate allotment process, we had to learn the rules of how the caucuses worked, and there are a lot of them. It made me realize it’s quite easy for caucus officials to make mistakes in these processes just because the procedures are so convoluted.”— Denise Lu
The Donors Powering the Campaign of Bernie SandersSanders’s Donor Power
13,000 Missing Flights: The Global Consequences of the Coronavirus13,000 Canceled Flights a Day

March

Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case CountCoronavirus in the U.S.“At first, we entered each reported case in a spreadsheet, which stopped working at around 40,000 cases. So the team quickly scaled up to build a database that is fed by hundreds of scrapers as well as manual reporting. It was a totally new experience for me to make sure things were adding up and figure out methodology as states’ reporting evolved.”— Sarah Almukhtar
Here’s What’s at Stake in Super Tuesday StatesAt Stake on Super Tuesday
How the World’s Largest Coronavirus Outbreaks Are GrowingHow Outbreaks Are Growing
Coronavirus Could Overwhelm U.S. Without Urgent Action, Estimates SayVirus Could Overwhelm U.S.
How the Virus Got OutHow the Virus Got Out“To illustrate international travel from Wuhan, we created a diagram we now refer to as the ‘octopus’: a hybrid of a transit map and a flow diagram where the thickness of the arrows represents the travel volume. It freed us from geographical constraints, as people from Wuhan had traveled around the world.”— Weiyi Cai
Watch How the Coronavirus Spread Across the United StatesWatch How the Virus Spread
The Great EmptyThe Great Empty
OpinionTrump Wants to ‘Reopen America.’ Here’s What Happens if We Do.What if the U.S. Reopens?
Weekly Unemployment ClaimsWeekly Unemployment Claims“Toward the end of March, unemployment claims were just so historically staggering that they called out for an unprecedented design solution, to really bring home the scale of the problem. It was Chief Creative Officer Tom Bodkin’s idea to play this so strikingly on A1.”— Guilbert Gates
‘People Are Dying’: 72 Hours Inside an N.Y.C. Hospital72 Hours in an N.Y.C. Hospital
‘We Take the Dead From Morning Till Night’The Dead in Italy

April

Where America Didn’t Stay Home Even as the Virus SpreadWhere Americans Kept Traveling
Italy’s Virus Shutdown Came Too Late. What Happens Now?What Happened in Italy?
How the Virus Transformed the Way Americans Spend Their MoneyHow the Virus Changed Spending
See How the Coronavirus Death Toll Grew Across the U.S.How the U.S. Death Toll Grew
Apollo 13 As They Shot ItApollo 13 As They Shot It
This 3-D Simulation Shows Why Social Distancing Is So ImportantWhy Social Distancing Matters
Coronavirus Testing Needs to Triple Before the U.S. Can Reopen, Experts SayWhy Testing Needs to Triple
412,000 Missing Deaths: Tracking the True Toll of the Coronavirus OutbreakThe True Toll of the Pandemic
State by State: Comparing Coronavirus Death Rates Across the U.S.Covid-19 Death Rates by State
See Coronavirus Restrictions and Mask Mandates for All 50 StatesRestrictions by State
Where Americans Live Far From the Emergency RoomA Map of U.S. Hospital Access
OpinionHow Long Will A Vaccine Really Take?How Long Will a Vaccine Take?

May

In Harm’s WayIn Harm’s Way
True Pandemic Toll in the U.S. Reaches 377,000The True Pandemic Toll
Here’s How One of the Rapid Tests Used by the White House WorksHow One Rapid Test Works
The Richest Neighborhoods Emptied Out Most as Coronavirus Hit New YorkThe Richest New Yorkers Departed
Ahmaud Arbery’s Final Minutes: What Videos and 911 Calls ShowAhmaud Arbery’s Final Minutes
‘Lord Have Mercy’: Inside One of New York’s Deadliest ZIP CodesInside a Deadly N.Y.C. ZIP Code
An Incalculable LossMarking 100,000 Virus Deaths“It felt very intimate and often impossible to choose just a phrase or two to describe each person, and so much was left out. Every detail was a constant reminder of the virus’s toll on these families, communities and the country.”— Simone Landon
54 Ways Coronavirus Has Changed Our WorldThings the Virus Has Changed
It’s Like I’m Floating: Skating New York Under LockdownSkating Under Lockdown
New York Is Quiet. Listen to the Birds.Listen to New York’s Birds
How George Floyd Was Killed in Police CustodyHow George Floyd Was Killed

June

Minneapolis Police Use Force Against Black People at 7 Times the Rate of WhitesUse of Force by Minneapolis Police
Bird’s Eye View of Protests Across the U.S. and Around the WorldProtests, From Above
Take a Look at How Covid-19 Is Changing Meatpacking PlantsMeatpacking Plants During Covid
Opinion20 Dreams of 202020 Dreams of 2020“I asked my editor if we could illustrate readers’ dreams after a particularly gonzo nightmare I had last spring involving Wrigley Field, Mark Cuban and a booby-trapped hot dog eating competition. More than 500 readers shared their dreams with us; the only hard part was winnowing the submissions down to 20.”— Gus Wezerek
How the Coronavirus Compares With 100 Years of Deadly EventsCoronavirus Vs. Other Disasters
A Portrait of America That Still Haunts, Decades LaterA Haunting Portrait of America
How Black Lives Matter Reached Every Corner of AmericaHow Black Lives Matter Spread
Here Are the 100 U.S. Cities Where Protesters Were Tear-GassedWhere Protesters Were Tear-Gassed
How the Philadelphia Police Tear-Gassed a Group of Trapped ProtestersTear Gas and Trapped Protesters
More Than 100,000 U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Are Linked to Nursing HomesNursing Homes and 100,000 Deaths
Three Words. 70 Cases. The Tragic History of ‘I Can’t Breathe.’70 Cases of ‘I Can’t Breathe’

July

Coronavirus Cases Are Peaking Again. Here’s How It’s Different This Time.How This Peak Is Different
OpinionI’ve Seen a Future Without Cars, and It’s AmazingA Future Without Cars
Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. HistoryU.S. History’s Largest Movement
How the Virus WonHow the Virus Won
Battle in the HimalayasBattle in the Himalayas
The Fullest Look Yet at the Racial Inequity of CoronavirusThe Racial Inequity of Coronavirus
The Amazon, Giver of Life, Unleashes the PandemicPandemic Batters the Amazon
N.Y.P.D. Says It Used Restraint During Protests. Here’s What the Videos Show.N.Y.P.D.’s Force Against Protesters“We spent over a month combing through social media for videos in which police used force against protesters. We compiled each incident as a row in a spreadsheet, often finding multiple videos of the same incident taken from different angles, which helped us corroborate many details.”— Blacki Migliozzi
Trump vs. Biden: Who’s Winning the Money Race in Your ZIP Code?Election Donors by ZIP Code
$600 Unemployment: What Happens When a Stimulus Lifeline EndsThe End of a Stimulus
Transit Workers Were N.Y.C.’s Pandemic Lifeline. These 3 Paid a Price.N.Y.C. Transit Workers Paid a Price
Exploring the Solar SystemExploring the Solar System“The first sketch for this project was in 2018, but animating more than 100 spacecraft took a few tries to complete. We hid some Easter eggs in the project, including Curiosity shooting a laser into Mars and references to the arcade classic Asteroids.”— Jonathan Corum
The Gulf Between Republicans and Democrats on Coronavirus Aid, in 9 ChartsThe Political Gulf on Pandemic Aid
Inside the Battle for Downtown PortlandConfrontation in Downtown Portland
Should You Travel This Year?Should You Travel This Year?

August

Mapping the Damage From the Beirut ExplosionMapping Damage in Beirut
Could My Symptoms Be Covid-19?Could My Symptoms Be Covid-19?
OpinionWhat if Everyone Had Voted by Mail in 2016?If Everyone Voted by Mail in 2016
What Happens to Viral Particles on the SubwayHow Particles Move on the Subway“First I went through what felt like a million blogs and websites, many kept by rail buffs, looking for pictures of trains that were under maintenance. By the time we were able to visit the New York City Transit maintenance yard, I had already drawn sketches of the equipment and was able to correct and confirm details.”— Mika Grondahl
Inside the Fight to Save Houston’s Most VulnerableSaving Houston's Most Vulnerable
How the Criterion Collection Crops Out African-American DirectorsCriterion’s Lack of Black Directors
How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods SwelteringSweltering Heat in Redlined Areas
Tracking the Coronavirus at U.S. Colleges and UniversitiesCoronavirus at U.S. Colleges
Exactly How Much Air Time Did the Trump Family Get?The Trump Family’s R.N.C. Air Time
Will You Have Enough Time to Vote by Mail in Your State?Last-Minute Mail Voting by State

September

The Battleground States Biden and Trump Need to Win 270Build Your Own Election Outcome
The True Colors of America’s Political Spectrum Are Gray and GreenU.S. Politics, in Gray and Green
What You Can No Longer Say in Hong KongWhat You Can’t Say in Hong Kong
How a Massive Bomb Came Together in Beirut’s PortHow the Beirut Explosion Happened“The project took us over a month. We had reporters from three different time zones working on different parts of this investigation. It was heartbreaking to watch the last videos captured by the first responders moments before the warehouse exploded — a tragedy that could have been avoided.”— Anjali Singhvi
Faces of Power: 80% Are White, Even as U.S. Becomes More DiverseFaces of Power: 80% Are White
Ginsburg Supreme Court Vacancy Is the Second Closest to a U.S. Election EverSCOTUS Vacancies in Election Years
What We Know About Coronavirus Cases in K-12 Schools So FarCoronavirus in K-12 Schools
Record Wildfires on the West Coast Are Capping a Disastrous DecadeThe West Coast’s Worst Fire Season“To animate the fires, we used a data source that took measurements every 10 minutes. That allowed us to capture the intensity of these enormous and fast-moving fires in a way that I hadn’t seen before.”— Scott Reinhard
Charting an Empire: A Timeline of Trump’s FinancesA Timeline of Trump’s Finances
Can the Ballots Thrown Out in the Primaries Be Saved in November?6 States’ New Mail-In Ballot Rules

October

OpinionEvery Place Under ThreatThreats to the Amazon
Tracking the White House Coronavirus OutbreakThe White House Outbreak
Charting a Coronavirus InfectionCharting an Infection
Inside the White House Event Now Under Covid-19 ScrutinyWhite House Event Under Scrutiny
OpinionCan You Guess Trump’s Record?Guess Trump’s Record
Two of These Mail Ballot Signatures Are by the Same Person. Which Ones?Find the Matching Ballot Signatures
How the White House Flouted Basic Coronavirus RulesVirus Rules the White House Ignored“In the hours after Trump announced he had tested positive for the coronavirus, we began poring over every file photo we could of the president and his aides, looking for clues of where they could have picked up the virus and who else may have been exposed.”— Lauren Leatherby
The Swamp That Trump BuiltThe Swamp That Trump Built“Never underestimate the power of a hand-curated database. It’s true there is a lot of data to scrape off the internet. But there is also massive value in painstakingly piecing together information to make sense of it; it can seem like grunt work, but it almost always leads to gold.”— Karen Yourish
The New Corporate CampusThe New Corporate Campus
U.S. Virus Cases Climb Toward a Third PeakU.S. Approaches a Third Peak
The Worst Virus Outbreaks in the U.S. Are Now in Rural AreasWorst Outbreaks Are Now Rural
The Anxious Person’s Guide to the 2020 ElectionThe Worrier’s Guide to the Election“We took inspiration from instruction manuals to make sense of all the madness. We looked for opportunities where visuals could add clarity or humor, like breaking down the components of a mail-in ballot as if it’s a piece of furniture, or showing the Ikea guy calling the Supreme Court for assistance.”— Eden Weingart
The Two Americas Financing the Trump and Biden CampaignsWho Donated to Trump and Biden?
Voters in Battleground States Are Driving Record Early TurnoutBehind Record Early Turnout
Quiz: Can You Tell a ‘Trump’ Fridge From a ‘Biden’ Fridge?‘Trump’ vs. ‘Biden’ Fridges
How Mail Votes Could Delay Election ResultsMail Votes Could Delay Results
The Battlegrounds Within BattlegroundsThe Battlegrounds in Battlegrounds
Masks Work. Really. We’ll Show You HowMasks Really Work — Here’s How

November

Presidential Election Results: Biden WinsPresidential Election Results“With live election results, there are so many scenarios and conditions to be prepared for. Even something that seems as simple as a bar chart needs to be tested. We worked on this for months, but it was really built on years of work and the expertise of dozens of people.”— Jasmine C. Lee
Two Decades of Living Aboard the International Space StationThe I.S.S. at 20“I wanted to use design to highlight the more lighthearted tone of the article, with bright colors and details like a glittering, starry background in the web version. The timeline included so many astronauts that I had to wrap it twice around the page to fit onto one sheet of paper.”— Eleanor Lutz
Election Needles: PresidentElection Needles
How Biden Flipped Pennsylvania and Won the ElectionHow Biden Won
How Did Trump Do in Counties That Backed Him in 2016?How Did Trump’s Base Shift?
Even in Defeat, Trump Found New Voters Across the U.S.Trump’s 10 Million New Voters
Detailed Turnout Data Shows How Georgia Turned BlueHow Georgia Turned Blue
States That Imposed Few Restrictions Now Have the Worst OutbreaksFewer Restrictions, Worse Surges
Designed to Deceive: Do These People Look Real to You?Do These People Look Real?“I found these competing A.I. systems compelling — one network tries to make believable portraits and the other network looks for fakes. As a journalist, is this new technology going to make my job harder but also more important?”— Jeremy White
Track Coronavirus Cases in Places Important to YouTrack Cases Where You Are

December

A Tour of Chinatown, Resilient and ProudA Tour of Chinatown
OpinionFind Your Place in the Vaccine LineThe Vaccine Line
Prince’s Artistic Process Was a Mystery. See How He Made ‘Sign o’ the Times.’How Prince Made ‘Sign o’ the Times’
How the Vote Shifted in 2020How the Vote Shifted in 2020“We spent a great deal of time refining the arrow style to not imply motion in physical space and instead show a movement of ideology.”— Troy Griggs
How the Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine WorksHow the Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Works
‘There’s No Place for Them to Go’: I.C.U. Beds Near Capacity Across U.S.I.C.U. Beds Near Capacity
How Full Are Hospital I.C.U.s Near You?Hospital I.C.U.s Near You
Who Gets to Breathe Clean Air in New Delhi?Can Money Buy Clean Air in India?“We couldn’t find the perfect commercial product to measure Monu and Aamya’s exposure to pollutants, so we taped a portable air monitor to a battery-powered Raspberry Pi computer and wrote the software we needed. This real-time data helped us show both the contrast in their exposure and the unavoidable nature of air pollution.”— Josh Williams
At Least 614,000 People in the U.S. Have Received the Covid-19 VaccineAt Least 614,000 People Vaccinated
How New Yorkers Want to Change the Streetscape for GoodChanging N.Y.C.’s Streetscape
Immigrant Neighborhoods Shifted Red as the Country Chose BlueImmigrant Areas Shifted Red
How the Police Killed Breonna TaylorHow the Police Killed Breonna Taylor“Our investigation began when we obtained over 1,000 crime-scene photos and videos of Breonna Taylor’s apartment. We used the images to precisely model it, then forensically map each bullet hole and retrace the first bullet, fired by Taylor’s boyfriend, and the 32 bullets police fired in return.”— Malachy Browne