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.
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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.
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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.
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