Slate's best photo illustrations of 2014.

Slate’s Favorite Photo Illustrations of 2014

Slate’s Favorite Photo Illustrations of 2014

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Dec. 31 2014 8:35 AM

Slate’s Best Photo Illustrations of 2014

Our favorite photo illustrations of the year.

“Which City Has the Worst Allergies?”
Sorry, Washington, D.C., you are not the center of the pollen universe.

Allergy season in Louisville, KY.

Photo illustration by Juliana Jiménez Jaramillo. Photos by Shutterstock and the Library of Congress.

“Patent Style
A fashionista’s guide to the history of American intellectual property.

Photo illustration by Juliana Jiménez Jaramillo.

Photo illustration by Juliana Jiménez Jaramillo. Images courtesy of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Spanx.

“America, Truck Yeah!”
The United States’ latest SUV-buying binge shows how badly we needed President Obama’s fuel economy rules.

Photo illustration by Juliana Jiménez Jaramillo. Photos by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

Photo illustration by Juliana Jiménez Jaramillo. Photos by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

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Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photos by Getty Images and Thinkstock.

“Down With the Internet Review Board!”
How would you like it if a bunch of online randos could get you fired? That’s life for professors.

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Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photos by Thinkstock.

“Vladimir Putin, Olympic Champion”
Startling images of the Russian president’s winter sports triumphs.

Vladimir Putin's Gold Medal Sweep of the Sochi Olympics

Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photos by Reuters.

“My Dementia”
Telling who I am before I forget.

Illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker

Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photos courtesy of Gerda Saunders.

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“Making a Killing”
Military veterans are clamoring to teach the art of war to businesspeople.

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Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photos by Getty Images and Thinkstock.

“Rethinking Spring Cleaning”
It’s an antiquated ritual—but we need it now more than ever.

The Thinker

Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photo courtesy of Erik Drost/Flickr Creative Commons.

“The Yellow King Unveiled! Five Theories, in the Style of True Detective Magazine.”
True Detective is not just the title of a TV series. From 1924 to 1995, it was the name of a pulpy “true crime” magazine that, especially in its early days, had terrifically lurid covers advertising the shocking stories within. We decided to pay tribute to those wonderful covers and guess at what would be revealed upon the series’ season finale.

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Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photo courtesy of HBO.

“How Complicated Was the Byzantine Empire?
Right-wingers are always complaining about the "Byzantine" tax code.

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Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photos by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images and courtesy of np&djjewell/Flickr Creative Commons.

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Boyhood Deserves a Best Picture Nomination”
Here's what it would take to make it happen.

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Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photos by Thinkstock, IFC Productions.

“One Weird Trick to Stop Facebook Hoaxes
The social network could be a force for truth—if it wanted to be.

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Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photos by Kimberly White/Getty Images and Thinkstock.

“Hate Thy Neighbor
How Israel teaches its citizens all the wrong lessons.

Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photos by Ronen Zvulun/Reuters.

Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photos by Ronen Zvulun/Reuters.

“She Takes After You!”
What to do when your kid starts swearing.

Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photo by peredniankina/Thinkstock.

Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photo by peredniankina/Thinkstock

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“The Top 10 Movies of 2014”
Slate’s movie critic on the monsters, the mothers, and the minifigs of the year in film.

Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photoss by Merrick Morton/Twentieth Century Fox and Regency Enterprise, Atsushi Nishijima/Paramount Pictures, Causeway Films/IMDB, Warner Brothers/IMDB, Matt Lankes/IFC Films, and Magnolia Pictures.

Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photos by Merrick Morton/Twentieth Century Fox and Regency Enterprise, Atsushi Nishijima/Paramount Pictures, Causeway Films/IMDB, Warner Brothers/IMDB, Matt Lankes/IFC Films, and Magnolia Pictures.

Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photos by Comstock/Thinkstoc,Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photos by Comstock/Thinkstock and thegreekphotoholic/Thinkstock.

Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photos by Comstock/Thinkstock and thegreekphotoholic/Thinkstock.

“The Sony Hackers Are Terrorists”
We’ve never seen a cyberattack like this one. Here’s why it’s so frightening.

Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photo by Devrimb/Thinkstock.

Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photo by Devrimb/Thinkstock.

Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photos by Eric Issele/Thinkstock.

Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photos by Eric Issele/Thinkstock.

“Does Drinking Soda Really Age Your Cells?”
How the science of telomeres turned into a spurious health trend.

Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photos by serdar_yorulmaz/Thinkstock and Trifonov_Evgeniy/Thinkstock.

Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photos by serdar_yorulmaz/Thinkstock and Trifonov_Evgeniy/Thinkstock.

“People Don’t Hate Millennials”
They hate 21st-century technology.

Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photo by AntonioGuillem/Thinkstock.

Photo illustration by Ellie Skrzat. Photo by Antonio Guillem/Thinkstock.