Graphicacy Enters 11th Year Focused on Impactful Visualizations
We closed out our first decade by helping clients address inequality in government, education, gender, and local economies as well as climate and sustainability issues.
When Graphicacy launched in 2012, much in our world was different — and yet so much feels the same. Economic shocks, climate challenges, inequality, and election disparities demanded attention and lasting change.
Over the past 10 years, Graphicacy has helped mission-driven organizations Visualize a Better World in these areas and others while inspiring people to take action. We evolved from creating visual histories with Timeplots to developing interactive assets for groups like The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Center for American Progress, who do such important work for our communities and our planet.
Along the way, we’ve grown our talented team to continue delivering the latest innovations in data visualization and digital storytelling.
In 2023 we will build on our success as visual storytellers by expanding our motion & graphics design services. In the past we’ve created motion graphic videos and custom illustrations for clients including American Institutes for Research, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and World Resources Institute. Beyond our core offering of data visualization, our further growth in this area will allow us to create more beautiful and engaging motion graphics, animation and illustration for our client partners to add interest, context, explanation, conceptual thinking and emotional resonance to their research and mission-driven communication.
Read on for a few highlights from our landmark 10th year.
Revealing Inequality in Politics for Vote Run Lead
Our team had the privilege of once again supporting Vote Run Lead last year in designing engaging social media shareables and a new date explorer. The organization inspires more women to run for office by calling attention to an alarming disparity: The percentage of women holding state legislative seats across America is far less than the percentage of women who comprise the state population.
We helped Vote Run Lead build the State of My Democracy data explorer — released in time for the 2022 midterm elections. Our teams collaborated to create a robust tool that allows users to easily explore women’s representation in state legislatures, see where states stand on issues of importance to them, and commit to running for office.
Tracking Systems Change with the World Resources Institute and the Bezos Earth Fund
The World Resources Institute (WRI), in collaboration with the Bezos Earth Fund, created the wide-ranging Systems Change Lab data platform to reveal obstacles to curbing global warming, halting biodiversity losses, building a just and equitable economy, and more of the world’s most pressing needs.
Working with WRI and interactive agency Outright, we helped create a dynamic visual dashboard for Systems Change Lab that allows a wide range of users to track progress, learn and share pathways to change, and encourage bolder action.
Displaying Disparities with the Center for Economic Inclusion
Across Minnesota’s Twin Cities’ region, exclusionary policies have historically limited economic opportunities for Black, Indigenous, Asian, and Hispanic residents. The nonprofit Center for Economic Inclusion aims to right this injustice.
This past year, we helped transform their website’s Indicators for an Inclusive Regional Economy into a dynamic catalyst for reform — one that inspires action among employers, policymakers, and others capable of moving the needle for greater inclusivity.
Visualizing Gaps in Education Access for BASTA
BASTA is a nonprofit consultant committed to bridging the employment gap for first-generation college students. We worked with them to demonstrate that many first-gen students miss out on great jobs after graduation for a simple reason: they don’t know these opportunities exist.
Our team told a compelling, data-driven story on BASTA’s Your Career Insights page using an interactive scrollytelling approach that unveils compelling graphics along with text articulating the benefits of exposure to more careers.
Chronicling Gender Inequality for the World Bank Group
The World Bank Group maintains one of the largest collections of data focused on women’s issues: the Gender Data Portal. For many, the information in this portal is essential for shaping impactful policies and campaigns, identifying data gaps, and drawing attention to urgent problems.
We dramatically overhauled the Gender Data Portal’s user experience to make the full breadth of critical information easier to navigate and understand for a much broader audience, highlighting disparities and issues around areas such as health, education, employment, and domestic violence.
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 has created data visualizations and infographics for top-tier organizations and companies, domestically and internationally, including the Johns Hopkins University, the World Bank, the USA for UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency), the Anti-Defamation League, and many others.
