Visualizing how redlining shaped Los Angeles freeways and future patterns of pollution

I created some maps and graphics for AfroLA on the roots of today’s disparate impacts of pollution in the segregation and racist planning processes of mid-20th century Los Angeles.

“Vipassanā In Certain Conditions” electronic poetry collaboration with Casey Clague

The lines appear like thoughts that arise unbidden during meditation, some recurring and nagging. As those are dismissed, new ones appear after an interval.

Work on “Following Covid Money” recognized by EWA and California News Publishers

I was recognized along with teammates at EdSource for work we did in 2021 on the Following Covid Money in Education investigative report.

Design work for EdSource awarded at CNPA 2020

My design work was recognized twice by the California News Publishers Association at this year’s California Journalism Awards for work done in 2020.

Named a finalist for news design award by California News Publishers Association

The California News Publishers Association (CNPA) released their lists of finalists for this year today, and I’m in the running for an award for “Story Presentation, Page Layout & Design” in the digital small newsrooms category.

The data and interactives team at EdSource – Daniel J. Willis, Yuxuan “Sunny” Xie, and myself – was honored with the Best Visual Storytelling Award for a small newsroom.

“Tainted Taps” named a finalist in visual storytelling by EWA

A 2018 EdSource special report on lead in California school drinking water called Tainted Taps has been named a finalist in the Visual Storytelling category by Education Writers Association (EWA).

Student Homelessness Package for EdSource

I put together the web presentation for an EdSource special report on student homelessness. The five-story package includes a map and audio story, and weeks of on the ground reporting and data analysis to bring urgent news on how the housing crisis in California is being felt by the most vulnerable: youth, students and the poor.

Hearing View Rheinau

Hearing View Rheinau documents the creation of a sound installation in Switzerland where textures from four seasons on the Rhine were meticulously captured.

I’ve been thinking a lot about technology and its implications lately, and this morning I sketched out a simple framework for an “anthropocentric technology.”

On Comic Sans and Wireframes

It took me a long time to realize that wireframing tools use that most hated of fonts: Comic Sans. I got over my initial panic, and here’s why: because every font has its place.

Design’s secret sibling, its shadow self, is counterfeiting.

San Francisco Public Press Rebranding Project

Last year I worked with the public-interest news startup the San Francisco Public Press to re-brand the project and create a new visual identity for the paper.

There’s a certain kind of uselessness that is entwined with our feelings about art. To make something that is useless is a statement in itself.

Turkish Textiles

It’s pouring rain in San Francisco and there are fireworks exploding. Earlier today I saw some amazing textiles from Anatolia today, dating from the 1700’s, at the De Young.

American Mavericks Website Up

A new website I designed for the San Francisco Symphony’s American Mavericks festival just went live.

580 Split Just Released

My first foray into book design just was released—the 2011 edition of Mills College literary journal, 580 Split.

After months of work writing a Wordpress theme from scratch, then scrapping it and rewriting it, the Creosote Journal website is up and running.

So I have been thinking: what is a kind of ornamentation that is compatible with clean, modern design? Ornamentation is not purely decorative: it has some very important functions. It guides the eye, it highlights certain elements while downplaying others. It communicates certain aesthetic ideas, feelings, and sensibilities.