Lena V. Groeger

Graphics Director

Photo of Lena V. Groeger

Lena V. Groeger is the graphics director at ProPublica, where she oversees a team of interactive visual storytellers who create information graphics and graphical stories. She has been recognized for her work through numerous awards, including the Malofiej Awards for Infographics and the Society for News Design awards. She has taught classes on design and data visualization at New York University, The New School and City University of New York, and she’s a founding member of the Data Institute, a two-week workshop where journalists learn about design, data and code.

Prior to joining ProPublica in 2011, she covered health and science at Scientific American and Wired magazine. She has a degree in science journalism from NYU.

Disenfranchised by Bad Design

There is in fact a widespread problem with ballots in the United States: they’re often horribly designed.

If It Needs a Sign, It’s Probably Bad Design

More words won’t solve your design problem.

Election DataBot

This new tool, updated every 15 minutes, collects huge amounts of election data and reports the most interesting details, in real time, about campaign finance filings, congressional votes, polls, forecasts, Google search trends, and more.

Discrimination by Design

The many ways design decisions treat people unequally.

Looks Can Kill: The Deadly Results of Flawed Design

From automobiles to software, poorly designed products just might kill you.

Set It and Forget It: How Default Settings Rule the World

The many ways we act by default (without even knowing it).

5 Things I Learned Making a Chart Out of Body Parts

The story behind a graphic on insurance that turned into an unlikely viral hit.

Too Human (Not) to Fail

How design keeps you from screwing up and prevents disaster when you do.

Announcing our Five NAHJ/NABJ Scholarship Recipients!

ProPublica will award scholarships to five journalism students to attend the NAHJ/NABJ Annual Convention this summer.

Unsafe at Many Speeds

Your risk of getting killed by a car goes up with every mile per hour.

How Typography Can Save Your Life

What words look like matters — in some cases, a whole lot.

Tax Avoidance Has a Heartbeat

Every year at dividend time, demand to borrow German stocks spikes.

Renter Beware: Ten Ways Unscrupulous Landlords Cheat NYC Tenants

Here are the top 10 ways unscrupulous landlords take advantage of tenants, and what you can do about it.

We Blew $17 Billion in Afghanistan. How Would You Have Spent It?

The U.S. government has wasted billions of dollars in Afghanistan, and until now, no one has added it all up. Project after project blundered ahead ignoring history, culture and warnings of failure. And Congress has barely blinked as the financial toll has mounted. Here’s just what the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found. See for yourself how that money could have been used at home.

The Making of a Narco-terrorist

Five criminals in far-flung parts of the world, five D.E.A. sting operations, five dubious links between drugs and terror. The characters are different but the story remains the same. Authorities said each case demonstrated alliances between terrorists and drug traffickers, but most of the alleged links fell apart in court. Here’s how narco-terrorism cases are made.

Price Check: How Companies Value Body Parts

Benefits for the same body part can differ dramatically depending on which company you work for.

Follow ProPublica

Latest Stories from ProPublica