Stories in Motion: Narrative-based Data Visualization

Working with our partners to tell their powerful stories

Behind every data set is a story. As a leading data visualization company, Graphicacy helps organizations around the globe develop a narrative-based approach to present their data — ultimately using it to tell powerful stories that engage, inform, and inspire diverse audiences.

Building on that strategy, we created scrollytelling solutions and motion graphic videos to communicate ideas and concepts beyond what static websites or even dynamic maps, graphs, and tables can do.

Scrollytelling and motion graphics dial down data complexity and spotlight high-level takeaways, empowering organizations to broaden their reach and present their most critical points succinctly with flair.

Active Engagement with Scrollytelling

Scrollytelling creates an interactive experience for web users by revealing, highlighting, or animating new information as the user scrolls down a page. Scrollytelling brings out key data points so audiences won’t miss them, and it provides links and prompts for users to delve into greater detail.

This method was a pivotal feature in Graphicacy’s recent work with the Afterschool Alliance. The organization turned to our interactive data designers to visualize findings from its America After 3PM survey, which collected data on supply and demand for afterschool programs around the country.

“We wanted Graphicacy’s help to portray the national data and key points from the survey in a way that would engage a viewer, make the information easy to understand, and get people interested in learning more,” said Nikki Yamashiro, Afterschool Alliance’s vice president of research.

We redesigned the America After 3PM landing page to walk viewers through the main survey takeaways one section at a time. As users scroll down the page, new graphics emerge with added context along the way. Users also have options to jump off to a companion dashboard module and explore data further at state, region, and city levels, with easy access back to where they left off.

“Before, our survey landing page was more of a repository for information,” said Yamashiro. “Now, policymakers, parents, educators, and advocates immediately see the story. The more detailed information is now easier to share as well — people have the ability to use this data to make their own cases for afterschool programming.”

Must-watch Motion Graphic Videos

Where scrollytelling methods require active user engagement, motion graphic videos do all the work to deliver a compelling story. Organizations can host these videos on their own websites and share them easily across social media, email, or other platforms.

Graphicacy partnered with the Center for American Progress (CAP), a progressive think tank, to illustrate a seismic upcoming shift in the American workforce. Rather than presenting data in a table or pie chart, we created a thematic video using a large oak tree to symbolize the evolving workforce. A portion of the tree’s leaves transitioned to orange and fell away to illustrate Baby Boomers going into retirement, while bright green, new buds emerged to represent the influx of immigrants and first-generation Americans who will fill the vacancies.

Accompanying scrollytelling features emphasize the changing demographics and tell the broader story in a way that static numbers simply cannot. “Charts and graphs don’t finish the job of convincing people to take action,” said Jeffrey Osborn, Graphicacy’s creative director. “Adding a narrative helps humanize the data and pull in emotional components that are relatable and inspirational for users.”

We also leveraged the power of video to transform decades of data from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) into a compelling story about how the Care Model has helped extend the lives of those diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (video at top of page).

Working with partner Noisy Neighbor, Graphicacy created an 81-second video that conveys a high-level message of hope around the Care Model for patients and families, while at the same time providing data-driven insights to clinicians and researchers. The video was broadcast at the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference and widely shared on social media.

Ultimately, it epitomized the potential of narrative-based data visualization — connecting the audience to the big idea better than numbers or graphics could alone.

Contact us to learn more about how we can team up to tell your story through scrollytelling or motion graphic videos.

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.