The Creative Practice of an Individual: Amanda Cox

Alexia Forsyth
15-104
October 25, 2022

Amanda Cox presented for the Eyeo Festival in 2018 where she discussed processes, practices, and lessons she has learned through her career. She is the editor of a feature of The New York Times called The Upshot. It launched in 2014 and is aimed to provide news and commentary via graphics and charts. Amanda graduated from St.Olaf in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in math and economics and graduated from the University of Washington in 2005 with a master’s degree in statistics. She won the National Design Award in 2009 and the Excellence in Statistical Reporting Award in 2012. I really admire Amanda’s work because it is useful and practical. Through her data visualization, she has been able to make a difference in media politics and information distribution. She worked on a project that measured the percentage of children who grew up rich and how their wealth changed as an adult. She looked into differences in race and incarceration rate. In the 2016 election, her team worked on a project called ‘Chance of Winning Presidency’ that repetitively forecasted the likelihood of Clinton and Trump’s success. Although the code behind each of her projects is complicated the outer visual is simple and user-friendly. She explained the impact and importance of her work more than the code behind it, avoiding using intimidating jargon.