Rodolfo Almeida

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Freelance dataviz designer and visual journalism editor at Nucleo
Master in Design at EBA-UFRJ and member of LabVis

My work consists of finding ways to explain and visualize complex concepts and data through clear and understandable charts, diagrams, maps, and illustrations.

I hold a graduate degree in Journalism from PUC-SP (Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo) and a Masters degree in Design from UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), where I've conducted research on representations of the climate crisis in data visualization as a member of LabVis.

In the past, I've been responsible for dataviz and infographics at Nexo Jornal, produced video stories at Estadão and collaborated with dozens of outlets and institutions, such as The Intercept, Revista Piauí, Natura&Co, Loft, Climate and Land Use Alliance, Greenpeace, WWF, and more.

I tend to prioritize projects for social impact and I'm specially interested in socioenvironmental issues and how they relate to technology.

My workflow usually consists of a combination of GIS cartography, Adobe Suite and R Stats — but I’m interested in finding the tools necessary for each task and collaborating with partners with complimentary skillsets.

Currently I work part-time as a visual journalism editor at Nucleo, an independent outlet investigating Big Tech, and take on freelance and commissioned projects — so feel free to reach out!

In this website you will find a selection of projects I've worked on with talented professionals along the way — full credits and attributions in links (some are behind paywalls, unfortunately).

    AWARDED
    • 40º prêmio Direitos Humanos de Jornalismo 2023Second place and honorable mention for two Sumaúma stories
    • Livre.jor Prêmio Mosca 2023Winner for a Sumaúma feature on the yanomami genocide
    • Cláudio Abramo Journalism Awards 2022Winner (innovation category) with Nucleo's BotPonto
    • 39º prêmio Direitos Humanos de Jornalismo 2022Second place for a Sumaúma feature
    • SND ÑH 2019Bronze medal
    • Cláudio Abramo Journalism Awards 2019Winner (dataviz category)
    • Malofiej 27 — Bronze medal (electoral coverage)
    • Malofiej 26 — Bronze medal (graphics portfolio)
    • SND ÑH 2018Bronze medal
    EXHIBITIONS
    • Collective show: Information XYZ 2023, at the Inspace Gallery (Edinburgh, Scotland) as a part of the Information+ Conference
    • Collective show: Línguas Ameríndias – Ontem, Hoje e Amanhã 2019, at Memorial da América Latina as a part of Unesco's IYIL
    • Collective show: Avesso Introspecções Manifestadas 2015, at Rua do Sol 172, Porto (Portugal)
    • Part of Catalogue: Biennale di Venezia — Walls of Air 2018 with a feature on immigration
    TALKS, LECTURES AND TEACHING

Macromicroscope

This animated videoinstallation urges viewers to reevaluate their understanding of ecological relationships. The final product of my Master's research, this project was exhibited at the Information+ Conference, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Amazon cities and the climate

Animated GIF showing pictures of the printed infographic. One side is a large page filled with a big map of the Amazon on the center, on the borders are illustrations of scenes from the Amazon forest. The other side is comprised of text explaining the project.

This large-scale infographic comissioned by the NGO Rede Interação and produced with the communities of Santarém, illustrates how urban life relates to climate change. I was responsible for research, writing, design, maps and illustrations.

The fate of Belo Monte

Map showing areas at risk around the Pimental dam, in Volta Grande do Xingu

President Lula must decide whether to renew the operating license of Belo Monte, the biggest and most catastrophic hydroeletric plant in the Amazon. I did a bunch of maps for this feature.

Climatopias Posters

Quick-cut animation showing parts of the posters. They have white backgrounds, strong bold black text reading words like 'retreat', 'fortify' and 'float'.

Series of posters designed for Alizé Carrère's doctoral research on Climatopias. Each poster showcases different (utopic/dystopic) strategies for adapting to climate change. On display at the University of Miami's School of Marine & Atmospheric Science.

A country out of breath

An animated visualization and sonification that invites the reader to sync their breath with the pulses to understand how Brazil got to the sad milestone of 500 thousand deaths by Covid-19. My first use of Ableton in a dataviz context.

Amplia Saúde Stories

Amplia Saúde provides scientists with tools to analyze data on atmospheric pollution and maternal/neonatal health. I produced four data stories and designed their website. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CNPq and Faperj.

To drill or not to drill: Foz do Amazonas

Animation showing different thematic maps, all showing the same region of the northern coast of Brazil, with the Foz do Amazonas region highlighted. These maps show effects on biodiversity, indigenous lands and more.

One of the central environmental disputes of Lula's third term, the drilling for oil in the Foz do Amazonas region sparked immense controversy. These maps I produced for Sumaúma show the extent of possible impacts on the region.

Punished for revolutionizing Indigenous health

Montage of two different charts. In one, circles show how the debt of the couple has grown over the years. In the other, an illustrated collage shows how they approached indigenous health.

The story behind the couple of doctors who created the Urihi healthcare model that saved the Yanomami in the 1990s and 2000s — and were punished for it. I've produced maps, charts and illustrations for this special Sumaúma feature.

Indigenous land demarcations

Animated GIF showing the data on the amount of lands demarcated by each brazilian president. These numbers are shown in shapes similar to 'cocares', traditional indigenous headresses worn in many regions.

President Lula started his third term promising to demarcate every Indigenous land in the country. This report assesses if he will actually be able to deliver. I collaborated with charts based on the shape of traditional headresses.

Sexualization of minors on the Kwai app

Illustrative image with a bright orange background and a big maroon-colored attention sign in the center.

Kwai is a popular video-sharing app in Latin America. It is also completely infested with videos sexualizing minors. In this investigation, we ran some tests to assert how frequently the app shows disturbing content of this kind.

The radicalization of Jovem Pan

Illustration of one of Jovem Pan's presenters overlayed by abstract bar charts

This visual analysis produced for Piauí with Novelo Data's team illustrates how one of Brazil's biggest TV outlets became a disseminator of Bolsonaro's ideology. For this piece I watched hundreds of programs to piece together a video montage.

Deforestation in the meat business in Brazil

Map of the Amazon region with a streamgraph superimposed over it showing cattle flows

This collaborative investigation from Unearthed, Greenpeace and Repórter Brasil revealed how Brazil's biggest meat company bought almost 9,000 cattle from one of the biggest deforesters in the country. I collaborated with maps and charts.

Yanomami under attack

Map of the Yanomami territory

The Yanomami land is the largest Indigenous territory in Brazil and one of the main targets of illegal miners. Sumaúma has been investigating the situation and has published a number of reports on it. I've been collaborating with charts and animated maps.

Natura &Co's Commitment to Life

Animated gif showing different charts (bars, lines, area) in rapid succession

Layout and visualization system developed to present Natura &Co's progress in a variety of sustainability and ethical targets, presented in a four-page factsheet and included in the company's annual reports.

HITS Cyberadvocacy dashboard

Animated GIF showing three different screens from the dashboard containing bubble charts, parliament charts and project cards

Diálogo Brasil, an initiative of CLUA (Climate Land and Use Alliance), needed to organize the socioenvironmental cyberadvocacy dashboard. I redesigned the UI with new visualizations and a focus on enabling quick insights.

Cattle laundering in Brazil

Part of a larger investigative initiative made in collaboration with OCCRP, CCCA and Fiquem Sabendo, this piece for Piauí details how cattle laundering works and how integral it is to the meat business in Brazil. I produced charts and an animated video.

Sao Paulo's real estate landscape

Large vertical streamgraph comprised of Sao Paulo's neighborhoods data followed by a map of the city

Over the course of 2022, I produced many visual stories, charts and maps for Loft, one of Brazil's largest real estate platforms using their original data on the sector.

Amazon under siege

Animated GIF showing the correlation between the deforestation arc and new shooting clubs in the Amazon

Bolsonaro's disastrous firearms policy led to an explosion in the number of shooting clubs in the Amazon, correlating with an increase in violence in the region. I collaborated with The Intercept's team producing maps and charts from this data.

Covid-19 stories flooding the front page

Inspired by Josh Begley, I analyzed the front page of every Folha de Sao Paulo print edition between January and June 2020 and highlighted Covid related stories.

The history of party politics in Brazil

Diagram of the fusions and creation of political parties in Brazil

Brazil currently has more than 30 registered political parties. This intricate chart attempts to organize their complex histories since 1945. This project won a bronze medal in 2018's ÑH prize.

What’s left of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil

Small multiple maps of the atlantic forest coverage in brazilian states

Sadly, not much. This analysis visualizes SOS Mata Atlântica’s data through maps, charts and diagrams

Paraíba do Sul river basin

Map of the Paraíba do Sul river basin, in southeast Brazil

Basemap of the Paraíba do Sul river basin and Juiz de Fora region produced for Marmelos Zero Museum, a historic site dedicated to Latin America's first hydroeletric power plant.

Protecting the unknown

Map of the legal Amazon highlighting recently discovered species

In this project for Greenpeace I visualized potential threats to wildlife in recently discovered species. For this piece I got to use Blender generated reliefs alongside QGIS geoprocessing.

Jacobin Brasil #2

Animated GIF showing parts of the map of Sao Paulo and a large streamgraph on a blue background

I produced charts and maps for the print edition of Jacobin Magazine: one on the federal prison system and the other on inequality in Sao Paulo.

Legal reserves in Brazil

Illustrated treemap chart showing the amount of legal reserve farmers should preserve

Piauí magazine comissioned an analysis of the status of legal reserves in rural properties in Brazil. I got to show the results with a combination of maps and illustrated charts.

Population density maps

Maps of the population density in Sao Paulo, Rio and Fortaleza

Series of maps for a quiz asking the reader to guess the city by its density map. Inspired by this Guardian material

Soaring hate crimes

Animated gif of a bar chart showing the number of hate crimes on differente social networks increasing dramatically

The Intercept comissioned a study on hate crimes online. I produced a series of animated charts showing these soaring numbers.

Nucleo Journalism illustrations

GIF flashing images of illustrations and identity assets developed for Nucleo Journalism

I've illustrated dozens of stories for different vehicles I've collaborated with. For Nucleo Journalism, especially, I developed the visual identity of the publication and its articles, combining collage with vector illustration and noisy textures.

The rhythm of brazilian literature

Visual comparison of the rhythm in the prose of Paulo Coelho, Machado de Assis, Clarice Lispector and Raduan Nassar

An analysis of cadence and rhythm in the prose of selected authors. This visualization was covered on Storybench.

How Bolsonaro voted in 20 years as a lawmaker

The voting patterns of Bolsonaro during his years in the brazilian parliament

An analysis of the voting patterns of president Jair Bolsonaro during his 20 years in the brazilian lower house. This project won a bronze medal in the 2019's ÑH prize and was nominated for 2020 SIGMA Awards.

Tintin's travels

World map in mercator projection with the faces of Tintin and Snowy

Tintin's travels are controversial. This infographic shows where the young reporter has been to in each book — and who accompanied him.

Exhibition: endangered Indigenous languages

Pictures of maps on the walls of Marta Traba Gallery, where the exhibition took place

These maps use data from Unesco and Funai showing the state of Indigenous languages in the country. Shown at "Línguas Ameríndias – Ontem, Hoje e Amanhã", an exhibition at Memorial da América Latina, part of Unesco's IYIL 2019.

Voting patterns on Supreme Court justices

Proximity based charts visualizing how brazilian justices vote

Network and heatmap visualizations for a special feature on the voting patterns of brazilian Supreme Court justices.

Climbing the highest peaks on Earth

Visual comparison with Google Earth imagens on the sizes of the 14 peaks

Fun visualization on the success rate of climbers of the 14 tallest peaks on Earth.

Traço, Território

Animated GIF showing the outline of Brazil's shape being formed from historical maps

How does a country get shaped? In this project for Desestrutura, I overlayed historical maps to produce an animation of Brazil's outline being formed. This project was featured in Datavizbr.

Video stories at Estadão

Mosaic of frames from various video stories I shot, edited and animated

A playlist with selected stories I produced, shot, edited and animated on a variety of topics at Estadão. Individual credits in each video.

130 years after the end of slavery

Charts, layout and art direction for a special feature covering the living conditions of the black population 130 years after the end of slavery in Brazil.

Stories from Cerrado

Title lettering reading 'Historias do Cerrado'

The Cerrado biome is under threat. This feature for Rede Cerrado and WWF tells the stories of its inhabitants through maps, illustrations and diagrams.

Cities GDP

Scatter plot and small multiple maps showing the main economics sector in municipal economies

Charts and analysis on the main economic sectors in brazilian municipalities.

All the ways to board a plane

Small multiple animations of the main issues passengers face when boarding a plane

A 1 minute reduction on boarding time on planes can save airlines $30 to $250 dollars. This animated story details research on the most efficient boarding methods.

Public and private lands on Brazil

Brazil map showing only public lands

Who owns the land? These maps visualize how much of the country’s territory belongs to private entities, the government, settlings, Indigenous areas and more. Inspired by NYT’s analysis of the Trump-Clinton divide.

Network of characters in the MCU

Scrolling view of the diagram showing when Marvel characters are present in the same film

Visualization displaying the films in which selected characters appear in the MCU. Fun — but nightmare inducing to draw.

Volcanic eruptions in the quaternary

World map with isometric illustrations of different types of volcanos

An animated look at Smithsonian’s Volcanism Program data on eruptions through the times — complete with maps and illustrated explainers on volcano types.

How electoral surveys work

Frames from the video showing charts and illustrations

Script, research, voiceover and illustrations for a video explaining how political surveying works in the wake of Brazil’s dramatic (and traumatic) 2018 national election.

Olympics in Ancient Greece

Digital collage of etchings and greek illustrations from public domain publications, via Internet Archive

Let the games begin! Visualizations, GIFs and art direction for a feature on the significance of olympic games in Ancient Greece.

How much do judges earn

Scrolling view of the main chart in the feature, showing how judges' wages are built

How can brazilian judges earn more than their wage ceiling? This analysis details how their earnings are constructed and visualizes the judiciary’s data on the issue.

Where critics and audience disagree

Violin plots showing the distribution of ratings from critics and audience in TV shows, music, film and videogames

A comparison of professional and user Metacritic scores in different genres and mediums.

Data on slaves: 1872 census in Brazil

Digital collage using illustrations of slaves from Johann Mortiz Rugendas

The 1872 brazilian census was unique for a number of reasons. Most notably for being the only piece of national data to include slaves. This features analyzes those numbers and what their gathering reveals about slave owners in the country.

Comparing courts and fields

Overlayed courts of the courts used by different sports

Visual comparison of the sizes of courts and fields of different sports on a single scale. Very fun to draw.

How the constitution has changed over the years

Small multiple charts showing the occurrences of words such as democracy, rights and budget in the constitutional text

2018 marked the 30 year anniversary of Brazil’s 1988 constitution. This series of charts analyzes how the document has been altered since. This project won the Cláudio Abramo Journalism Awards in 2019 in the dataviz category.

The data and facts on pension reform

The debate around pension reform in Brazil seems overwhelming. This video attempts to get the facts straight through official data and animated charts.

How electricity is generated around the world

Small multiple charts showing the composition of the power grid in 6 different countries

Charts, maps and reporting on the power grid of different countries.

Resquícios Cromáticos

Closeup of the cover, showing the album title

Digital illustration and design for brazilian indie rock band O Nó's debut album. This work was among Minuto Indie's “best covers of 2020”.