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Interactive News Story, “How the Virus Got Out,” The New York Times
This is a Interactive news story. Designed by Jin Wu, Weiyi Cai, Derek Watkins, and James Glanz for The New York Times. It is dated March 22, 2020 and we acquired it in 2024. Its medium is original: software (interaction design, web-based). documentation: web archive and video. It is a part of the Digital department.
The video above is a screenrecording that documents a possible interaction with the work.
"How the Virus Got Out" is an interactive news story by Jin Wu, Weiyi Cai, Derek Watkins, and James Glanz for The New York Times, published on March 22, 2020, just eleven days after COVID was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. The story traces the transmission of COVID-19. The team synthesized complex data—from telecommunications companies; airlines; global agencies; local governments and health officials; researchers, scholars, and modelers—that they rendered as animated dots overlaid on maps. Watkins digitally built the maps as 3D scenes, which could be dimensionally panned over and zoomed into for a cinematic effect.
The story opens with a map of China on which red dots, originating in Wuhan, flow outside of China’s borders. Scrolling triggers the next text box and animation. More maps of China depict teal dots, that show the volume of uninfected travelers, moving among Chinese cities during Lunar New Year. The teal dots flow through a map of international airline routes. Red dots move among the teal dots to signify the proportion of those infected with the virus. The dots incessantly twitch "to underscore that the virus was always moving," commented Watkins.
As a reader scrolls, each scene presents a new piece of information that builds on the last. This continuous, linear scroll and the story’s simple design language—red and teal dots flowing on maps into and out of cities—give continuity and clarity to complex, critical data. The story demonstrates the pivotal role graphic design played during this devastating time, making visible what we couldn’t see.
It is credited © The New York Times, acquired with permission and cooperation of The New York Times.
Cite this object as
Interactive News Story, “How the Virus Got Out,” The New York Times; Designed by Jin Wu (Chinese, b. 1990), Weiyi Cai (Chinese, b. 1993), Derek Watkins (American, b. 1985), James Glanz; Made for The New York Times; original: software (interaction design, web-based). documentation: web archive and video; © The New York Times, acquired with permission and cooperation of The New York Times; 2024-14-3
