No box to check: How Sarah Almukhtar and The New York Times used visual storytelling to break down the Census definition of “White”
The US Census paints people’s ancestry with a broad brush. While people of Middle Eastern and North African origin are put into the racial category of “white,” this designation does not accurately capture their unique identities, leaving many feeling misrepresented. “No Box to Check: When the Census Doesn’t Reflect You” is a recent project by Karen Zraick, Allison McCann, Sarah Almukhtar, Yuliya Parshina-Kottas and Robert Gebeloff that uses the visual language of watercolor to explain the diversity within this group.
As the reader scrolls down the page, the watercolor strokes in the illustrations representing Middle Eastern and North African Americandisappear and are replaced by colored dots arranged in analogous colors, symbolizing the diversity in how people, defined as “white” by the U.S. government, define themselves.
Storybench spoke with Sarah Almukhtar about her role in the project, the challenges of visual storytelling and her advice for designers entering the field of interactive journalism.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
As a designer, how did you collaborate with journalists and researchers on this project?
We all worked together to structure the story. My role as a designer was to think about how to visually present the findings. The graphics journalists analyzed survey data, counting responses, identifying trends and drawing conclusions. I took those insights and brainstormed ways to represent them visually. It was a highly collaborative process, with everyone contributing to both the structure and the visual elements.
With a year’s worth of survey data, how did you approach deciding what to visualize?
I wasn’t involved in the initial sorting, but we created spreadsheets to identify trends in responses. Many questions were multiple-choice, so we analyzed percentages to determine common patterns. From there, we worked on visualizing comparisons through charts and graphs. We also examined open-ended responses to highlight meaningful quotes that provided context behind the statistics.
What inspired the watercolor and color choices used in the visuals?
It took us a white to get to that decision to use illustration. We were trying to figure out a way to represent the diversity within this community. A lot of times people will think of a certain ethnicity as one group that thinks one way. But obviously, in real life, that’s not true. People have all kinds of opinions and ways of identifying, even within the more specific categories that the Census is finally providing to people. So one big theme we found in the responses is like, there’s a diversity of opinions and responses, so we wanted to find a way to show that. Yuliya [ Parshina-Kottas, an illustrator and journalist] started experimenting kind of with different ways that we could illustrate the diversity and have visual interest throughout the piece. She played around with the colors. I worked with her on that as well and we figured out ways to weave it through the project.
Were there any alternative approaches you considered?
Initially, we thought about making the piece heavily multimedia-based, asking survey respondents to submit photos and videos of their lives. But it was challenging to maintain visual consistency. Some people sent high-quality photos, others didn’t and many didn’t submit images at all. So, we decided to limit that aspect and instead use a few selected selfies while exploring illustration as a primary visual approach.
How much creative freedom do you usually have in a newsroom setting?
It depends. For this project, decisions were very collaborative, so I wasn’t solely responsible for the visuals. In other projects, if I’m the only designer, I have more creative control. Here, my role was to refine and develop the team’s collective ideas – once we settled on using illustrations, I worked with Yulia on how to integrate them effectively.
What tools did you use for the visuals and data visualization?
We primarily used JavaScript and CSS for the interactive elements.
What is the role of a designer in a newsroom?
I describe it as designing custom articles. Most stories are published using standard templates, but some, like photo essays or interactive pieces, require more visual storytelling. That’s when a designer steps in to structure the content and create an engaging experience. My background is in graphics journalism, so I also collaborate on the reporting, multimedia selection and even structuring the written content to ensure a seamless flow.
What advice do you have for designers looking to work in newsrooms?
Understand that your role isn’t about personal expression, it’s about supporting journalism and working as part of a team. Storytelling is a crucial skill. Unlike traditional graphic design, news design requires an understanding of journalism, audience engagement and how to visually convey a narrative. Having a journalism background helps, as does learning how different newsroom roles interact. You’re never working in isolation; your role is to enhance the reporting visually.
