The article

Written by Erwin R. Tiongson, the Washington Post op-ed analyzes on Hot Wheels cars and their relationship to economics through the “made in” label at the bottom of them.

Concept

The author reflects on the example of a toy car made in Malaysia in both the 1970s and 2016, highlighting the contrast between economies that thrive and those that remain stagnant over time. I took this as the key concept for my illustration: one car is never able to move forward, no matter how much it tries.

Implementation

I hand-coded a website for the article, with an animated illustration as part of the website. In my illustration, rows of moving grayscale toy cars represent the forward momentum of global economies, with each car progressing in unison. However, a single red car is unable to move beyond a certain point before a black claw—similar to that of an arcade, or a factory—lifts it and places it back in the row.

As you scroll through the page and read the article, the rows of cars slowly disappear before the single red car drops down.

Print

I also designed a printed version of the illustration.