Hardline regimes around the world attempt to suppress internet access and spy on online users. To combat this trend, Voice of America decided to create a simple primer to help people evade online censors.

When we started the project we knew that we:

  • Wanted to create simple explanations of complex tools.
  • Needed to support multiple translations.
  • Could repurpose art across the explanations to illustrate recurring concepts.
  • I proposed that we create a series of simple responsive comic book introductions for each of the tools we were profiling. Unlike a large, static infographic explanation, comic book pages divided up into panels are ideal for reflowing onto different devices.

Animated loop showing a cartoon character typing on a computer and receiving a 404 error because of a dictator on the other side of the computer.

RESPONSIBILITIES

I illustrated and designed the comics. I created a flexible CSS library to make the comics responsive. I also used TabletopJS and a Google spreadsheet to facilitate the translation of the comics across multiple languages. I then designed a simple responsive site to help users navigate between the tools. Finally, I helped repackage the project into an epub format to help share the information with other people unable to access the content online.