Will Flannigan - Multimedia Journalist
Mafia in our midst
This project, written by Robert Anglen followed the story of a former Mafioso who was put under the protection of the Federal Witness Protection Program after turning on his former Mafia ties. I felt that illustrations were important to convey the mystery and theme of this project. I directed a graphic designer on the look and feel of these illustrations. We aimed for it to look, feel and read like a Noire novel. Also, photos of our main character, Frank Capri, were difficult to track down. I also designed the landing page for this with a focus on mobile devices.
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Summer of Fear
Producing this incredible story was a massive undertaking. The writing reminded me of a noir novel. So, a designer and I brainstormed several versions of the main graphic displayed on the story. I then developed a vertical timeline of the victims, complete with short biographies on each person. The other notable piece within the story is the footer. Each button in the footer takes users to a different chapter of the story.
FAILED
This series of stories looked deeply into school bus safety data provided by Arizona. Reporters spend months developing stories school bus safety inspections. With this landing page I wanted to highlight, what I felt, were some of the most important takeaway from the series. The page serves as a one-stop-shop for users: it puts the stories, data and graphic in one easy-to-access spot online. My goal was to give readers one URL to remember or to share.
How a $95 speeding ticket becomes $243
This story is a great example of how I took one reporter’s story idea and turned it into something related, but much more online-friendly. The original story focused on a program in Phoenix that helps drivers who can’t afford to pay court fines associated with traffic tickets. I accompanied the reporter to city hall for her interview with the gentlemen in charge of the program. Together, we were able to get a dollar-for-dollar breakdown of the surcharges and fees added to Phoenix city traffic tickets. The traffic ticket story garnered a much larger audience online than her original story.