Ángeles García is a photographer for El Sol de Tijuana newspaper. Outside of war zones, Mexico ranks as the most dangerous place for journalists, and covering organized crime presents the greatest risk. In this story, we present García’s work, her role in the community, the risks she faces and the essential role journalists play in Mexico.

RESPONSIBILITIES

This was the second story in a series about the dangers journalists face in Mexico. From the start, I worked closely with the VOA Press Freedom editor and reporter. I offered multiple approaches for how we could visually tell the stories with photos, drawings and graphics. Ultimately we decided to weave narrative text with sections of comic book panels to describe the personal stories of the journalists.

In addition to illustrating the story, I designed and programmed the page. I created static and interactive maps and graphics that visually coordinated with with the illustrations. I also incorporated subtle CSS animations and looping gifs that are triggered as the user scrolled down the page.

I used responsive web design to tailor the presentation so that it works well on a phone or a larger desktop monitor. The comics load significantly faster than videos, which is critical in VOA markets with limited bandwidth.

Finally, I produced a series of short animated clips that were used in a television version of the story.

We published the series in English and Spanish. I modified a storyboard tool that I’d previously built, to help simplify the translation process for the comic book sections, graphics and web presentation.