Visual journalism often reveals what can’t be seen with the naked eye: the microscopic, gigantic, hidden or historical. This year, we examined virus particles, deep ocean currents and partisan segregation. Here are some standout visual stories from 2021.
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We investigated what unfolded at the Capitol riot from many angles.
"As we sifted through footage and began to assemble a timeline of the day’s events, we were shocked by the events that happened simultaneously," @LaurenLeatherby said. nyti.ms/3pC29VD
We went behind the scenes at Pfizer to see how a vaccine is made.
"We combined short videos of human-scale processes with delicate illustrations of the molecular-scale changes that are required to create an mRNA vaccine," @13pt said. nyti.ms/3eBLN99
We used maps to see how the racial makeup of the U.S. shifted over the last decade. nyti.ms/32Paa0l
We simulated how much risk the pandemic still posed to air travel. nyti.ms/3zkDNDe
We spent four days with the gymnast Sunisa Lee to capture her uneven bars routine in 3-D.
"Our challenge was to help our audience gain a deeper appreciation for Lee’s talents under [Simone] Biles’s shadow," @BedelSaget said. nyti.ms/3eB5OfY
We created an interactive wildfire tracker.
"We wanted the map to be as clear and easy to use as possible, so a lot of time was spent comparing different colors and symbols for displaying fires, plumes of smoke and air pollution," @grammata said. nyti.ms/3EL1CFc
We reconstructed a neighborhood destroyed in the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. nyti.ms/3FJpnyT
We explored the future of the Empire State Building.
"We turned to public records, vacancy listings and interviews with more than 75 of the building’s occupants to create the dataset we used in this piece," @collinskeith said. nyti.ms/32AcDw5
We investigated what could have contributed to a South Florida building collapse.
"We reviewed more than 1,000 pages of documents and drawings and worked with structural engineers to confirm our findings," @singhvianjali said. nyti.ms/3FIXwPk
We explained how global warming could shift the Antarctic current.
Turning "data into an interactive map to show readers how Antarctica’s ice shelves are melting from below required me to run over a million calculations simultaneously," @blueshirt said. nyti.ms/3FD9Yjs
See more of the year's best graphics, design and visual investigations from The New York Times. nyti.ms/31aXyAj
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