It is easy to feel overwhelmed by our digital lives—by the cacophony of voices in our social feeds or the rapid dispatches of breaking news—particularly this past year. But, focussed through the right lens, online information can enlighten, transform, or delight us. That is what the best visual and interactive stories do.
Earlier this year, shortly after President Trump announced his travel ban, we published a visual essay by the photographer Tomas van Houtryve, who travelled through Turkey, Greece, and France, following the “digital breadcrumbs” left by refugees on Instagram. The feature challenges our perceptions by highlighting how refugees present themselves in contrast to how they are portrayed in the media. In “Faces of an Epidemic,” the photographer Philip Montgomery shows the day-to-day realities of the national opioid crisis as seen in Montgomery County, Ohio, where the situation is most urgent. The visceral potency of Montgomery’s images highlights the wreckage left in the wake of the opioid epidemic—the faces of those now gone, of those who have managed to recover, and of those left behind.
The tools of storytelling have never been more vast. This year, we also brought stories to life through interactive games and sketchbooks, explainer graphics, data visualizations, and immersive animations. Our readers can create endless numbers of love letters using our love-letter generator or follow our Poetry Bot on Twitter and Facebook to receive a poem a day from our archive, including poems by Audre Lorde, Joseph Brodsky, and Ada Limón. Others might explore, in a browser or through a virtual-reality headset, Christoph Niemann’s “Enchanted Forest,” the three-hundred-and-sixty-degree illustrated cover of our Fiction Issue. And, from our World Changers Issue, readers can wonder at small things with a big impact in our “Micro-Revolutions” package. Here is a selection of the year’s best visual and interactive stories.
Visual Features
Micro-Revolutions
Spidersilk, edible drones, artificial wombs, and other small things with a big impact.
Faces of an Epidemic
In Montgomery County, Ohio, opioid addiction permeates everyday life.
Europe’s Migrant Trail, Through the Instagrams of Refugees
Following the “digital breadcrumbs” left by refugees on social media.
Richard Avedon and James Baldwin’s Joint Examination of American Identity
In 1964, the two artists published “Nothing Personal.” A reissue, published this past fall, includes this image of one of the last living Americans born into slavery.
How Millennials Like Their Makeup
At Beautycon—where Sephora meets Coachella—cosmetics are sold with the self-empowering language of Instagram.
Dubai, the World’s Vegas
A frictionless layover in a non-place of a city. Photographs by Ben Thomas
Vacation in Iran
“When I was a child, we often spent our time—at home and on trips—hiding from the revolution. Today’s youth is getting to rediscover the country.” Photographs by Newsha Tavakolian
We Are Witnesses
A portrait of crime and punishment in America today.
The Las Vegas Shooter’s Accessories
There is a whole class of products designed to make semiautomatic guns automatic.
Interactives
Christoph Niemann’s “Enchanted Forest”
The three-hundred-and-sixty-degree design for our Fiction Issue cover includes hidden riddles of the literary variety.
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The New Yorker Poetry Bot
A new way to discover, read, listen to and share poetry from the magazine’s archive.
Popularity of Names Invented by Authors
Choose from the list below to see how many babies in the U.S. were given that name. Based on the story "Notes from a Baby Name Obsessive," by Lauren Collins.
Guess These New York City Elevators
Can you identify the buildings that they belong to?
Timeless Looks, Deconstructed
Liana Finck illustrates and explains various fashion looks.
Netflix: TV Shows Recommended Hyper-Specifically for You
Jason Adam Katzenstein and Blythe Roberson on Netflix’s recommendation algorithm.
How Did You Afford That Place?
Will McPhail illustrates some possible scenarios.
A Love-Letter Generator
A New Yorker variation on Christopher Stachey's love-letter generator, based on the emulator developed by David Link.
New Innovations in Noise-Cancelling-Headphone Technology
Block out more than just noise with these auditory breakthroughs. Illustrated by Jeremy Nguyen.
Let’s Reason About Unreasonable Things
Are Vampires More Likely Than Fairies? A poll inspired by Kathryn Schulz’s “Fantastic Beasts and How to Rank Them.”
