This investigative project brought together reporters, designers and photographers to tell the heartbreaking story of babies born to mothers addicted to opioids, who were therefore dependent themselves.
Our goal was to engage readers on an emotional level but also to help demystify the growing phenomenon of babies being born dependent on opioids. The Tennessean‘s lead designer, Bill Campling, handled the design of the front page (top image), and I put together the inside pages and infographics by working with the two reporters, who provided the text, and the photographer, who provided the news photography.
We wanted to provide infographics that could explain how opioids work on the brain and how opioid addiction affects pregnant women, their fetuses, and children born to addicted mothers. A Nashville doctor remarked that these were the most helpful explainers he had seen on the topic at the time.