Nothing important is legible at first.
Zoning code, ballot eligibility, an epidemic in week three — each one starts as a mess with a deadline attached. The trick isn't cleverness. It's staying in the confusion long enough to find the one upstream thing that makes the rest of it move.
Four of themDescending geographic scope
01
usvotersabroad.org
Connecting Americans in every country with election officials in every state.
Hard part — "we helped" is easy to report. "We moved turnout" needs a counterfactual.
Every country
02
covidactnow.org
Pandemic data for people who had to make a decision that afternoon.
Hard part — a number honest about its own uncertainty, that a school board can still act on.
One country
03
prohousingmissoula.org
Zoning and housing reform, block by block, in a town of 78,000.
Hard part — the parking-minimum math is trivial; the neighbor meeting is not.
One city
04
howmanythings.com
A volleyball scoreboard, and a survey of my friends on how many mugs is too many mugs.
Hard part — none. That's the point of it.
26 friends