David Sleight

Senior Director, Design & Product

Photo of David Sleight

David Sleight is ProPublica’s Senior Director, Design & Product. He became ProPublica’s first design director in May of 2014, and is responsible for ProPublica’s overall design and presentation across platforms.

Previously, he worked with startups as a consultant specializing in user experience, editorial presentation and product design. Before that, he led the interactive design team at BusinessWeek.com, and helped build some of the first web-based textbooks at Pearson Education.

In 2016, Sleight was named a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize and was the recipient of a Communication Award from the National Academies for his work on ProPublica’s “Killing the Colorado” series. Projects he has worked on have been recognized by the Pulitzer Prizes, the Online News Association, the Society for News Design, Malofiej, PDN, the Society of Illustrators, and American Photography and American Illustration.

A New Article Page Design at ProPublica

A few weeks ago we quietly launched a new look and feel for stories at ProPublica. A lot changed under the hood. Here’s what’s new.

The Black American Amputation Epidemic

Black patients were losing limbs at triple the rate of others. The doctor put up billboards in the Mississippi Delta. Amputation Prevention Institute, they read. He could save their limbs, if it wasn’t too late.

Convicted Based on Lies

These 10 men went to prison after prosecutors relied on the dubious accounts of jailhouse informants. Years later, each of them was exonerated.

ProPublica’s Year in (Mostly) Visual Journalism

2018 marked 10 years of pairing fearless investigative journalism with engaging and inventive presentations.

How a Dubious Forensic Science Spread Like a Virus

From his basement in upstate New York, Herbert MacDonell launched modern bloodstain-pattern analysis, persuading judge after judge of its reliability. Then he trained hundreds of others. But what if they’re getting it wrong?

Fuel to the Fire

How a U.S. law intended to reduce dependence on fossil fuels has unleashed an environmental disaster in Indonesia.

Photos: An Indonesian Village That’s Fighting for Its Life

In Bea Nehas, the small plots that homes are built on are in constant jeopardy of being burned to the ground and bulldozed. A sprawling plantation that surrounds the village produces huge volumes of palm oil.

Unprotected

An acclaimed American charity said it was saving some of the world’s most vulnerable girls from sexual exploitation. Then they were raped, and that was only the beginning.

Standing by Their Convictions

The DNA didn’t match. The witnesses weren’t sure. But the prosecution persisted.

Hell on Wheels

Fatal accidents, off-the-books workers, a union once run by a mobster. The rogue world of one of New York’s major trash haulers.

The 2017 Year in Visual and Interactive Storytelling

Highlights from a year of ambitious visual storytelling, data journalism and interactive presentations at ProPublica.

Long Story Short

An annotated history of the 30-year fight over a single polluted Air Force base.

‘What Are We Going to Do About Tyler?’

Tyler Haire was locked up at 16. A Mississippi judge ordered that he undergo a mental exam. What happened next is a statewide scandal.

The Bomb That Went Off Twice

The explosive compound RDX helped make America a superpower. Now, it’s poisoning the nation’s water and soil.

The Taking

The federal government’s boldest land grab in a generation produced the first border wall — and a trail of abuse, mistakes and unfairness.

How Military Outsourcing Turned Toxic

Fraud. Bribery. Incompetence. The military’s use of contractors adds to a legacy of environmental damage.

Welcome to the New ProPublica.org

A new publishing system brings a refreshed design and improved features to our site.

Sikhs in America: A History of Hate

Demonized as immigrants. Mistaken for Muslims. For more than a century, Sikhs in the U.S. have faced suspicion and violence.

Kaboom Town

The U.S. military burns millions of pounds of munitions in a tiny, African-American corner of Louisiana. The town’s residents say they’re forgotten in the plume.

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