Chance Brinkman-Sull

Undergraduate

MASTER’S PROJECT

2017 SND student contest 1st place - Special Sections: The legacy of Roderick McDavis

A three-part interactive retelling of what was likely the deadliest influenza outbreak to have occurred onboard a troopship in the 1918 pandemic, using entries from a soldier’s diary.

VIRTUAL PRESENTATION

An ill-fated voyage

The Washington Post Express

The Post

About me

An early graphic, circa 2002 A summary of the day I had at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, back when I was at arguably the peak of my career.

2016 SND student contest 2nd place - Front page newspaper: McDavis announces his retirement

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE

VisCom meet & greet

I am a designer currently working as an infographics specialist at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where I create informative graphics that accompany stories published in digital and print formats. I also create interactive experiences to give readers an alternative way of engaging with content (aka keeping it fresh). I graduated in December 2020 with a Master of Arts in Interactive Information Design. You can check out my Masters project here. When I’m not working on graphics and masters projects, you’ll probably catch me listening to a podcast as I plan my next project, while watching a movie, reading a book and gaming with some old pals — all at the same time of course.

2018 Pennsylvania Associated Press media editors contest 1st place - Best Illustration or Graphic: Squirrel Hill Synagogue Massacre sequence of events

Pittsburgh police data dashboard

Hi, I’m Chance.

I’m an information designer, visual storyteller, and a creative problem solver of things.

Currently based in Pittsburgh, PA, designing data-driven graphics and digital experiences for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Pulitzer Prize - Breaking News Reporting, 2019Staff of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "For immersive, compassionate coverage of the massacre at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue"

Data, timelapses, and interactive design

Selected awards

The Chautauquan Daily

2019 Keystone Press Awards 2nd place - Graphic/Photo Illustration: The horizontal drilling process

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Graduate

2019 PR Xchange Awards Winner - Materials promotion collections, services, resources: Ohio University Libraries deck of playing cards

Portfolio

I was recently invited by the School of Visual Communication (VisCom) to give a presentation on my experience in the school, where I’ve been since graduating, and my ongoing collaboration with the National Army Museum of New Zealand. Many thanks to VisCom faculty for having me!

Recent work

Digital work

Next Section →

The subject matter of the infographics I produce varies widely. Here are a select few out of the many I design.

Below are some of the interactive graphics I have designed for the Post-Gazette. Tap on them to interact. (If on desktop, resize your browser window to view the responsive layout.)

Below are some selected “linkslides” I have designed for the Post-Gazette’s digital news app, NewsSlide. “Linkslides” are essentially teasers for the various online stories that appear periodically throughout the app.

September 2018-present

Back to home

SELECTED WORKS

Print work

I design infographics and illustrations for publication across all Post-Gazette news platforms. I also regularly collaborate with reporters, photographers and developers to create interactive content featured online and in the Post-Gazette’s digital news application, NewsSlide.

Contact

Resume

About

During my time as a design intern at the Express, I laid out pages, produced multiple illustrations/graphics, and designed multiple covers reflecting the current news cycle. Selected work is featured below.

Summer of 2017

←Previous

CHANCE BRINKMAN-SULL

After interning as designer at the Daily for two summers, I returned in 2018 to serve as assistant editor of the paper, and worked closely with the executive editor and photo editor to budget the daily paper, and manage a staff of 25 interns, which included a team of four designers. Below are selected works, most of which are from my time as a designer in 2015 and 2016.

Summers of 2015, 2016 & 2018

Below are some of the projects I completed while a graduate student at Ohio University from 2017-18, including event and exhibit posters I produced as a graduate assistant for the University Libraries.

Collaboration at 2018 Malofiej student workshop:

View project

Selected work from graduate assistantship at OHIO libraries:

I returned to Ohio University in Fall 2017 to pursue a Master of Arts in Interactive Information Design. After completing the majority of required credits that year, the last step was to complete a Masters Project, which I successfully defended in November 2020.

Read process

UX study and redesign (tap to open document)

Fall 2017-Spring 2018; Graduated Dec. 2020

2018 Soul of Athens project (tap to view):

Graduate studies

Other work

Masters Project

DATA VISUALIZATION: Tap on any of the screenshots to view the interactive prototype.

MAP: A visitor’s guide to Ohio University’s official airport.

More work

I studied Information Graphics : Publication Design, with a specialization in journalism at the School of Visual Communication at Ohio University. Here are some of the projects I completed.

Fall 2013-Spring 2017

Capstone Project

My undergraduate capstone consisted of three projects: A diagram, a map, and a data visualization.

Undergraduate studies

DIAGRAM: Tap on the poster below to view an interactive prototype.

The Post is a student-run newspaper covering Ohio University and Athens County. As Design Editor I co-led a major redesign of the paper's print and web publications. After the redesign, I served in the newly formed position of Graphics Director and managed all graphics and illustrations published online and in print.

Post redesign

Daily broadsheet

A collection of work I produced after The Post transitioned from a broadsheet to a tabloid format.

A collection of work I produced when The Post was published as a daily broadsheet newspaper.

Featured Work

I’m an information designer, visual storyteller, and a creative problem solver of things. Currently based in Pittsburgh, PA, designing data-driven graphics and digital experiences for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

VisCom meet/greet

An early graphic, circa 2002 A summary of the day I had at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, back when I was at arguably the peak of my career.

VIRTUAL PRESENTATION

← BACK

UX study and redesign (tap to open document):

Fall 2017-Spring 2018; Grad. Dec. 2020

View project (desktop only)

Summer of 2017

The Washington Post Express

After interning as a designer at the Daily for two summers, I returned in 2018 to serve as assistant editor of the paper. Below are selected works, most of which are from my time as a designer in 2015 and 2016.

Summers of 2015, 2016 & 2018

The Chautauquan Daily

I studied Information Graphics : Publication Design, with a specialization in journalism at the School of Visual Communication at Ohio University. Here are some of the projects I completed.

Fall 2013-Spring 2017

Undergraduate studies

The Post

Early concept of Part 1 of "The Death Ship.” I scratched this initial prototype in favor of a more rigid layout to simplify the inherently complicated presentation.

Screen recording of animation in Part I being controlled by scrolling.

Design and development

As the story continued to form, the main challenge of the project became clear: How could I present both the diary and contextual annotations simultaneously as a cohesive story? The solution? Scrollytelling.

Life behind “The Death Ship”

... and the various “fade to blacks” in Part III.

A couple of my early sketches. One of them is used in the final project. (An easter egg of sorts.)

Screen recording of fades and animations in Part III being controlled by scrolling.

Decluttering the story

What’s next for the project?

Parts from the original paper that sparked the idea for the project:

Scrollytelling made it possible for me to do more cinematic reveals like the ship at sea in Part I...

Scrollytelling enabled me to present each diary entry, freeze it in place, and have annotations reveal themselves as the user scrolled. Figuring out the flow and spacing of the annotations took plenty of trial and error. Initially, I had planned for more variety in how the entries could be presented.

I taped two pieces of cardboard together to form an giant timeline, where I plotted the most crucial details from the diary as I read. This exercise further familarized me with the story, and actually enabled me to to see a physical representation of the plot, with the most eventful peaks at the time of the outbreak.

The outbreak was so disasterous that the New Zealand troopship on which it occurred became known as the “Death Ship.” I was hooked on the story right from the start, and set out to learn everything I could about it.

Process

I highlighted anything in the transcription I thought stood out and recorded copious amounts of notes, questions I had and things to consider.

This project was born out of intense curiousity, fueled by the events of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and brought to light by the generosity of several New Zealanders.

Ultimately, I went with “The Death Ship.”

Early exploration

But after several prototypes, I realized that it was better to have a concrete layout that all entries adhered to. The content, design and animations would be enough to keep the reader occupied. This project was an exercise in treading the line between overloading the reader with information, and presenting them with just enough.

View project (desktop only)

One of the many challenges of this project was filtering 90+ days worth of diary entries into an approachable narrative. I found it helpful to visualize my selected entries in a story map, which I continued to cut and revise as I developed the story.

This journey isn’t over just yet. I have plans to get this project published, possibly in collaboration with a New Zealand museum or other historical organization. Stay tuned!

I contacted the article’s author, who then connected me with the diarist’s grandson, who kindly provided me with a transcription of the diary to use with my project. As I read and reread the transcription, the earliest forms of the story began to take shape.

This project originated from an academic paper I read back in March 2020, three weeks into the COVID-19 quarantine in Pittsburgh, PA. The paper discusses a New Zealand soldier’s diary and the unprecedented perspective it gives one of the worst outbreaks onboard a troopship during the 1918 pandemic.

Life behind “The Death Ship”

View project (desktop only)

An early title for the project was “A sea like glass,” which is how the soldier described the ocean at the height of the outbreak.

Screenshot of landing page

This project was born out of intense curiosity, fueled by the events of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and brought to light by the generosity of several New Zealanders.

MASTERS PROJECT

In addition to the project originally being five parts, I had planned to include multiple illustrations per chapter. I learned very early into development just how much I would need to cut back on my plans. But the outline was a great place to start, and helped to organize my thoughts.

With the help of developer Sam Underwood, a scrollytelling script was devised for specific use in Tumult Hype, the program the bulk of the project was subsequently developed in.

Final version of Part 1 of "The Death Ship.” The layout for each entry is consistent throughout the project, in contrast to my earlier concepts.

Parts from the original paper that sparked the idea for the project.