Charlie Smart

I’m a developer and designer interested in making sense of complicated data, concepts, and stories.

I currently work as a graphics editor at the New York Times, where I make interactive graphics, maps, games, and other internet gizmos. Before that, I worked at small studios specializing in information design.

My work has received awards from the Society for News Design. Coronavirus tracking tools I worked on were part of a package that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for public service journalism.

I like to spend time outdoors, rock climb, and play the guitar.

email / twitter / linkedin

Selected work

The New York TimesInside the Deadly Maui Inferno

A reconstruction of the Maui fires, showing the chain of failures that left more than 100 people dead. We used Cesium to render Google 3D tiles and a whole bunch of custom code to render videos and data layers on top of the 3D map.

The New York TimesCan You Gerrymander Your Party to Power?

This game aims to teach readers about the mechanics of partisan gerrymandering. I designed the game UI and built it using Svelte. After playing, readers could compare their scores and maps to other readers.

The New York TimesNew York Times Live Election Results

I play a lead role in designing and building pages for The New York Times’ live election results and live forecast (a.k.a. “the needle”). I have worked on every major election since the 2020 primaries. The app is written in Svelte and Typescript.

The New York TimesNew York Times Coronavirus Tracking

I spent most of 2020 working on a small team to design and build the Times’ Covid-19 tracking dashboards. We published trackers for every state and county, along with tools that let readers customize a dashboard to track Covid in places important to them. These pages were viewed more than a billion times and were part of a package that won the Pulitzer Prize for public service.

The New York TimesAn Extremely Detailed Map of the 2020 Election

I designed and built a map of precint-level results of the 2020 presidential election. Readers can search for their address to see how their precinct voted and how the vote shifted from 2016.

The New York TimesHow Kyiv Has Withstood Russia’s Attacks

This story uses immersive 3D maps to show how Ukraine held off Russia’s advances on its capital city.

The New York TimesPolitical Fundraising Scams

Visualizing how a group of Republican operatives created fake non-profits, which raised $89 million and siphoned 99% of it into the pockets of shady vendors and the non-profit founders themselves.

The New York TimesA Close Look at the Chaotic House Republican Majority

A visual analysis of the factions within the House Republican caucus.

The Pudding / Climate Impact LabNew Jersey’s Rising Coastal Risk

I used WegGL to created animated maps and charts showing the projected impact of sea level rise on New Jersey’s coast.

The Pudding / YouTubeYouTube Rewind

Animated charts showing popular YouTube videos in 2019 for YouTube rewind.

I have also worked on projects about Covid hospitalizations, demographic change, campaign finance, solar eclipse traffic, Trump’s criminal cases, and many other things. For a more up-to-date list of my work, you can view my New York Times bio.