2023

Los 22 Grand Slams de Rafa Nadal

Entry type: Single project

Country/area: Spain

Publishing organisation: Mundo Deportivo, Rafa Nadal Academy

Organisation size: Big

Publication date: 2022-06-08

Language: Castellano

Authors: Senior Graphics Editor: Ferran Morales
Data: Angel Rigueira

Biography:

My name is Ferran Morales and I have been working as a data visualizer at Mundo Deportivo, a century-old sports newspaper based in Barcelona, for 23 years. At the beginning, my work was mainly focused on the paper edition, but over time I have evolved towards a more digital profile. I have learned to use new technologies and have kept up to date with trends in the field of digital journalism.

Project description:

We made an infographic of the ATP ranking and Grand Slams year by year of the Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal, published in the paper edition of Mundo Deportivo.
The incredible thing about this work was that we were contacted by Rafa Nadal’s Academy to reproduce the visualization in a 3 meters high by 15 meters wide mural.
It was a great challenge, I never imagined that a data visualization we published in Mundo Deportivo would end up in Rafa Nadal’s own museum. It was a unique and especially rewarding experience.

Impact reached:

The museum’s visualization mural is a popular attraction for visitors, as it allows them to take pictures with a life-size image of Rafa at the end of their tour of the museum. Many highlight the effective presentation of the tennis player’s career, considered one of the best in history.

Techniques/technologies used:

We made the graphics with Illustrator, the data we worked on in Google Sheets.

Context about the project:

The challenge I set myself when creating this visualization was to show Rafa’s race data in a different and attractive way. Initially, I had some doubts about using a radial graph, but after making the first sketches and showing them to some people, I realized that I had found a different and attractive way to present the data. It is always difficult to know what kind of visualization will work best for each project, but I think in this case we found a solution that turned out to be very effective.

What can other journalists learn from this project?

We can never predict the reach of the work we do every day at the newspaper. Every article we write and every story we tell can reach a much wider audience than we could ever imagine.

Project links:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t5meVQPG0JQcGogDnV7IiQYSuH9-BLOc/view?usp=share_link

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t5pvimRffMO6MlK2MxCZnXjx_RAY07Ll/view?usp=share_link