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W.INK
THE WHY

Because women's sports deserve data analytics, too

A love letter to women's basketball and the beauty of data

I'm Haley, a quantitative researcher turned designer who grew up in Minnesota watching the Wolves and Lynx. I made W.INK (ink for the W) because sports analytics has been central to men's basketball for decades, but the same rigor has never been standard for the women's game. I'm here to change that, but I want to do it differently.

A lot of places that take data seriously also make you do the work, handing you a dashboard full of filters and a page of acronyms nobody stops to explain. I'd rather tell you the story so you don't need to know basketball, or even statistics, to join in.

Why a zine? Because the WNBA has energy, spirit, style, and a strong perspective, which is exactly what zine culture is made of. Every page is inspired by zines and risography, down to the palette made from real risograph drum inks.

The W has never been only about basketball, either. It's a league that cares about people, a broader message, and being on the right side of history. That's why I put just as much effort into design and storytelling as I do analysis.

You'll see a lot of Lynx here because that's my childhood team, but this isn't meant to stay just one person's zine. W.INK is for the whole W and for everyone who knows it's about time women's sports analytics caught up with the men. I'm so excited to finally share this project and see where it goes!

We take women's sports seriously, with a W.INK ;)

@WINKHOOPS

Here's the zine on Instagram

  • Which WNBA mascot are you? with WNBA in a knockout and mascot in lime over blue, above three overlapping mascot portraits in circles.
  • A white card with crop marks: Because women's sports deserve data analytics, too, with women's and data on the lime highlighter, over a row of nine ink swatches.
  • Four color fields, teal, orchid, scarlet and pink, one letter each spelling W I N K, with a white basketball at the center, its rim and seams drawn in thin ink, winking.
  • 88.5M unique viewers, in baby blue on an orchid card: 2026 is the most-watched WNBA season ever.
  • Charting the W's best 3pt shooters, and Kayla McBuckets' record-breaking night, over a scatter of every 80-make season since 2003.
  • The inks: eight swatches with a dot screen, labeled by name: lynx lime, fluorescent pink, blue, lynx navy, scarlet, sunflower, orchid and light teal.
  • The standings: Minnesota Lynx lead at 31-9, then Valkyries (29-11), Aces (28-13), Dream (27-14), Fever (26-14), Mystics (25-16), Wings (25-16), Liberty (24-16), above the playoff cut line.
  • Miles Ahead: the title in lime over blue, the question What makes Olivia Miles so special, and her portrait on a lime dot plate.
  • W.INK's statement: Women's basketball, charted like it matters, with a chart of rising bars ending in lime.
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