Skip to main content

The election in color

Nicole Fallert   Paste BN

Since Paste BN's first edition in 1982, our newsroom has been known for its powerful visual storytelling. You may receive our print edition at home, which features eye-catching, informative front-page visuals that have come to embody Paste BN brand. These visuals not only changed the way news could be told, but set a new industry standard. Audiences now expect to see the news as much as they read it.

This mission defines our journalism today, where Paste BN's team of visual journalists are working to represent the biggest stories of our time in a way that's informative and engaging to readers of all kinds.

👋 Nicole Fallert here and welcome to Your Week, our newsletter exclusively for Paste BN subscribers (that's you!). This week, we talk with Senior Graphics Director Javier Zarracina about how Paste BN's graphic design team is telling the stories of 2024, especially the presidential election.

But first, don't miss these stories made possible by your Paste BN subscription:

More than a pretty picture

The Paste BN graphics team is constantly dreaming up graphics and visualizations that explain the candidates' positions in the race, voter sentiment and political stakes in the 2024 presidential election. These are more than your average plug-and-play charts (although I do feel proud of myself when I make an Excel bar chart). Our expert designers are also journalists, using data to tell the stories that matter to you.

So how do our journalists tell the news visually? The same way any other journalist would, Zarracina says. Starting with the "when, why, where and how" questions. The answers to these lead to a specific kind of visual tool. "Where?" could be supported with an interactive map. "When?" is explained with a timeline. "What?" could include photography. "How?" might use an illustration.

"They require time and attention," Zarracina said of the graphical process, which involves working across the newsroom to deliver context that complements the stories other teams are working on. "Every graphic and every chart is telling a story on its own."

The graphics team makes visuals "simple and scannable" so that our visuals are clarifying, not complicating, the information in the story. These reporters draw from various expertise, from cartography to motion graphics to drawing to come up with ideas that bring the news to life (like what is an urban heat island?).

Zarracina's favorite election graphics the team has whipped up lately: These graphics by Paste BN Graphics Editor Jim Sergent which demonstrate how Trump’s age and Biden’s age compare to previous candidates' — and with the age of American workers. The team had no idea how important the topic would become at the time they started the project. Now they're providing essential data about lawmakers' ages that informs voters and contextualizes the race at this moment.

The team is ramping up election coverage (and also diving into the economy and summer weather). To keep up with it all, Zarracina says he always thinks about that famous Paste BN front page.

"We're always thinking about the overall mission of Paste BN," Zarracina said. "There is always more to learn."

Check out these visual explainers from Paste BN

Thank you

The graphics folks are definitely some of the most inspiring (and coolest) people in our newsroom. We wouldn't be able to include their amazing work in our daily coverage without the support of readers like you.

Best wishes, 

Nicole Fallert

Facebook Twitter Email