Visual Storytelling Strengthens the Case for a Dynamic Economy

Graphicacy’s data visualization team helps EIG promote the proven benefits of change and churn

After a tumultuous 24+ months, the United States is looking to gain some encouraging economic momentum. Policymakers now have a unique opportunity to aim higher by promoting a dynamic economy with levels of change and churn that fuel sustainable growth. The problem? A fear of change and misconceptions about a “dynamic economy” still loom large.

The Economic Innovation Group (EIG) is working to change that. In March 2022, EIG launched a new data-driven initiative to position dynamism — largely defined by worker mobility and new business startup rates — as a means to greater economic well-being for all.

Following a successful engagement with Graphicacy for their Distressed Communities Index, EIG again called on the data visualization design leader to clarify the ideas and benefits of dynamism succinctly and with impact. The resulting multimedia assets are a vibrant departure from EIG’s static reports of the past, which lacked the appeal needed to galvanize support for a dynamic economy and simply explain why it mattered.

Their timely research has already factored into the Biden Administration’s efforts to promote greater competition in the American economy and jumpstart new business formation. EIG also featured the data during its online American Dynamism Series featuring the nation’s top entrepreneurship experts.

A translation mission

Graphicacy’s first task in creating the new Case for Dynamism assets was to make an intricate, polarizing economic principle as approachable as possible.

“We asked Graphicacy to take complex, arcane material that’s been buried in academic literature for a decade and make it resonate with individual Americans and policymakers,” EIG Director of Research Kenan Fikri said. “We needed to translate dynamism’s data and definitions into bite-sized pieces to show economic churn translates into economic opportunity.”

Fikri acknowledged that winning support for dynamism would require provocative messages that challenge long-held assumptions. “We need to show how companies going out of business can actually be good for workers when the economy is functioning as it should, how changing jobs improves earnings, and how more churn in the labor market helps marginalized populations,” he said. “Many policymakers and even economic pundits still misunderstand the core concepts.”

Doubling down

To drive these concepts home and inspire action, Graphicacy proposed incorporating a scrollytelling component to create an engaging landing page around dynamism.

Diving into the details

The scrollytelling animation reinforces dynamism’s key principles and presents substantive evidence around its benefits for America’s workers. Readers move through narrative text and animated charts depicting recent data points along with historical context. As a whole, the story shines a spotlight on some key truths, including:

• New firms generate the most net job growth.
• Labor market churn within a dynamic economy creates job opportunities for traditionally marginalized workers.
• Dynamic labor markets accelerate wage growth.

“Dynamism is an abstract noun with many different meanings for people,” said Fikri. “A key goal for us is to put out the authoritative definition of the term and eventually see it used correctly in more policy debates.”

The scrollytelling culminates with three action prompts for policymakers related to dismantling barriers to opportunity in the labor market, enacting strategic immigration reform, and nurturing adaptability in the build environment.

Some data visualization projects call for one interactive element, but in this case, the scrollytelling experience led to a richer and more informative case for dynamism.

“Graphicacy understands what it takes to tell a strong story,” said Fikri. “In addition to the visualization elements, they pushed us to simplify our sentences and use analogies to make the concepts accessible for a broader audience. Our hope is that we will very soon see more widespread adoption of dynamism as a term and a practice coming from more corners of the political and economic establishment.”

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.