Expand the Reach of Your Data Visualizations
Exploring Export and Embed Options
Graphicacy’s data visualizations humanize all types of information through vivid maps, narrative-based stories, and intuitive, timely graphics. When information is too valuable to live only in one place, we empower clients to easily expand its reach.
By exporting all or part of a visualization, viewers can share that data with their personal networks or in professional circles. Meanwhile, exporting data files allows users to comb through raw data and discover their own insights. And with embedded visualizations, partner organizations, media outlets, and others can publish live maps and graphics on their own web platforms.
Here, we’ll break down the multiple sharing options and the use cases for each.
Cutting to the chase with high fidelity PDF
Decision makers in business and government have limited time and attention. Presenting only the most pertinent data via PDF makes the best use of both.
That’s why Graphicacy included a PDF export option within the Distressed Communities Index (DCI), which it re-designed and re-built for the Economic Innovation Group (EIG).
“Data is our currency on the Hill. It’s what gets us invited in,” said Kenan Fikri, Economic Innovation Group’s (EIG) director of research. “To show up with a visually striking and compelling profile of your own district to an office, it’s invaluable in our line of work and a great conversation starter on how to build a more inclusive economy.”
When users export PDFs of the Index, they not only download a map of the selected jurisdiction (state, zip code, congressional district, etc.), but all the data associated with that jurisdiction in a single file. As a result, EIG can deliver a convenient, all-in-one package to busy legislators about the economic status of their districts.
PDFs represent the closest 1-to-1 static replication of a dynamic visualization, preserving the spirit of the original visual and the story it tells.
Reaching more people with images
Images provide concision similar to standalone PDFs, but they offer greater versatility.
JPEG, GIF, PNG, and other files are the most easily shared formats, so they have the potential to reach the wider audiences across social media, in digital or physical presentations, or by email.
Image exportability was an important inclusion for the Testing Trends Tool Graphicacy built for the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center (CRC). When users export an image of a state’s data, the image includes Johns Hopkins’ branding and metadata — such as the date and time of last update — that puts the information into context. That context was critical, according to JHU Lead Program Coordinator Mary Conway Vaughan, as the data was intended to help users make informed real-time decisions about COVID-19 risk in their area.
“We wanted people to be able to share the trends tracker on social media and in presentations,” Vaughan said. “The ability to save a quick JPEG was really key and gave us a level of control that basic screenshots could not.”
Democratizing data through CSV files
Certain audiences prefer sorting through and interpreting the raw data behind a visualization. The VIEW-hub team at the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health received frequent requests to make their raw data available through a CSV download for research purposes, which led to Graphicacy adding that feature into the latest VIEW-hub visualization.
“Sharing CSV files has opened up the possibilities for what the data can be used for,” said VIEW-hub Project Coordinator Kirthini Muralidharan.
CSV files present data in a spreadsheet where researchers and others can sift through and spot new trends, bolster their own data collection efforts, or even draw new conclusions not identified in the visualization.
Strengthening partnerships with embeds
Partners in data visualization projects have a vested interest in sharing the result of their work, even if that result lives on a different organization’s website. Enter embeds.
The embed function transports a dynamic version of a visualization onto another website, where users may explore all or some of the original elements. Links to the source visualization keep the embedded version current without requiring human intervention.
Embeds are also useful for sharing data with certain media outlets who may include the visualizations in articles or web stories for added context.
For more information on how to give your data new life and reach a broader audience, contact us.
Graphicacy partners with clients to tell engaging stories with data. Graphicacy’s team combines storytelling, thoughtful human-centered design and deep technical capabilities to build and deploy strategic, data-rich digital projects. Graphicacy’s team has created data visualizations and infographics for top-tier organizations and companies, domestically and internationally, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, the World Bank, the Center for American Progress, the Anti-Defamation League, and many others.
