The Curious Minnesota archive

More than 260 stories after the launch of Curious Minnesota, we celebrated the project’s fifth anniversary with an online feature that highlights our growing archive of Minnesota history and culture. The stories are filterable, searchable and fun — with the option to read anything random, if you're feeling curious.

10 years, 10 couples

On Aug. 1, 2013, when the state’s marriage law became gender-neutral, gay, lesbian and nonbinary couples entered into an institution they’d long been denied, claiming its rights and complications. We looked back at 10 years of same-sex marriage in Minnesota by having conversations with 10 couples, nine of whom married — and in one case, divorced — over the decade.

What happened to Heather Mayer?

Police ruled Heather Mayer’s death a suicide. Her mother set out to prove them wrong and uncovered an escalating tale of violence. Nearly four years later, the circumstances of Heather’s death remain a mystery. This story was reported for years before it published. As a designer we had to balance a careful line between showing the true nature of the abuse and not retraumatizing or being gratuitous. We made careful design choices to give readers control over their experience in the story.

Holiday Cookie Finder

I worked with newsroom developer Tom Nehil to redesign the Star Tribune's Holiday Cookie Finder, a database of over 100 different holiday cookie recipes submitted by readers since 2003. We brought in a warm and nostagic color scheme, as well as a recipe page design that was directly inspired by cookbooks for ease of use. We also focused on the print styles so the recipes could be printed out to a single page and put right into a recipe box.

A night in Minneapolis from evening, to dusk until close.

More than a dozen Star Tribune reporters and photographers fanned out across Minneapolis to document a summer night. What they found was a city of resilience — not a ‘dystopian ghost city.’ I used varying background colors to highlight the passage of time as you progressed through the story.

50 years of Twin Cities pride

The Star Tribune compiled an oral history of Pride in the Twin Cities to celebrate its 50 year anniversary. In that time, it grew from a few dozen people marching down Nicollet Mall to some 400,000 people "filling downtown Minneapolis with sweat and glitter and rainbows." This project had a wealth of assets, including stylized portraits, historical photos and video interviews.

How Twin Cities housing rules keep the metro segregated

To examine residential zoning patterns in the Twin Cities, the Star Tribune requested zoning maps from more than 100 communities and reporters reviewed zoning ordinances from each city. The results found that people of color were disproportionately living in multi-family housing due to the racist history of zoning laws.

Breaking down the video: What during at Daunte Wright's fatal traffic stop

An analysis of the body camera footage with insights from the Brooklyn Center Police policy manual and a comparison of guns and tasers. This story took four days, from initial pitch to publish.

I also translated the story into an Instagram post for our social audiences.

We asked for your last normal photos. Here's what you shared.

Inspired by a TikTok trend and my own habit of scrolling through my camera roll, I asked Minnesotans to share their last "normal" photo with the Star Tribune — and more than 300 people did. The result was a look at the beautiful, mundane moments we've been missing for so long.

I also translated the story into an Instagram post for our social audiences.

Blood relatives

An important story by Andy Mannix about the families in Minnesota who lost loved ones to police violence and are trying to change the system. We knew we wanted to include as many of these families' voices as possible, but time and resources were scarce. To help solve this, I created a form that Andy sent to each family, allowing them to share their thoughts on policing in Minnesota and photos of their relatives.

We used these responses as pulled quotes throughout the piece and in an Instagram post.

Where the scoops happened

Sid Hartman was a Minnesota institution — a sports reporter at the Star Tribune who started working for the paper in the early 1940s and didn't stop until his death last year, at 100 years old. His office was like a shrine, and this piece gives readers a chance to peek into his workspace and look around.

I also created an Instagram post based off of this project that keeps the "where's Waldo" nature of the article.

What would it take for Trump to win Minnesota over Biden?

A team effort with our newsroom developer, Mike Corey, and the polgov team. I had a lot of fun creating the user interface for this tool that Mike built, trying to make sure it was approachable for all readers, not just the politically-savvy ones.

To help achieve this, we kept the design playful, including the use of confetti and happy and sad mug shots for each candidate based on the current projections.

One week in Minneapolis

I was furloughed the Thursday and Friday of Memorial Day weekend — like so many others, I spent the week refreshing Twitter, seeking constant information as the city reeled after the murder of George Floyd. I pitched this project to my bosses that Friday, and worked over the weekend to collect the best of our Star Tribune coverage and compile it into a visual timeline of the week in Minneapolis that changed the world.

Best of the decade

The top 10 moments in the arts throughout the past decade across all mediums — from movies, to classical music, to local books and more. The lack of cohesive art options gave me an opportunity to play with color and animation to tie them all together.

Denied Justice

Denied Justice was an investigation into the police handlings of sex assault cases in Minnesota. The Star Tribune team built their own data base by requesting records from all across the state, and came to a sobering conclusion that only 7% of reported sexual assaults ended in coviction — the majority were never even forwarded to prosecutors.

This was a huge undertaking, and in the end resulted in 9 stories, a video database, a landing page, and a sister podcast produced with a local television station.