Visually Telling the Story of Immigration and Innovation

Graphicacy developed dynamic imagery to help the Economic Innovation Group (EIG) showcase the ways skilled immigration fuels American innovation and economic growth.

Immigration remains a hot-button issue in American politics — and it needs clarity. Enter the Economic Innovation Group (EIG), a bipartisan public policy organization. EIG is committed to creating a more dynamic American economy, — a key ingredient of which is high-skilled immigration.

With their “Immigration Policy Is Innovation Policy” initiative, EIG highlights the impact of immigration using economic data and statistics. And the numbers don’t lie: Immigrants develop innovative technologies and scientific discoveries, create American jobs, and revitalize communities.

While EIG’s statistics were simple enough to understand, they wanted to broaden awareness and excite a diverse audience of users. A more compelling narrative could also help local thought leaders make the case for welcoming more skilled immigrants within their communities.

To achieve their goals, EIG turned to Graphicacy to produce engaging visual storytelling that brings the numbers to life and underscores how skilled immigration contributes to dynamism in the American economy.

Visualizing the Statistics

The Immigration Policy is Innovation Policy project makes the data-driven case for immigration in four sections: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Revitalizing Communities, and A Bipartisan Way Forward.

The Entrepreneurship section might surprise even those who believe in immigration as a positive force. For example, 55% of American startups valued over $1 billion were founded by immigrants.

For this and other sections, Graphicacy turned those numbers into dynamic, animated visuals. Visitors can scroll through a lively representation of data along with text offering more granular insights behind the main statistics.

“The original assets created by our design team had a ‘collage’ feel to them,” said Eduardo Velez, Graphicacy’s Senior Data Visualization Engineer. “One challenge we faced in engineering was separating the image assets to move separately and interact in a way that made sense, so that the viewer enjoys scrolling through the platform.”

The EIG story then tells how immigrants foster American commercial and scientific innovation. As one of a series of “chapter” openers, Graphicacy conceived a fade-in image of a woman looking through a microscope, with expanding bubbles revealing key numbers:

To help make the point that America’s success has always included immigrants, Graphicacy incorporated clever contextual storytelling cues by animating a historical image of Tesla’s revolutionary patent.

Meeting Unique Challenges

As the project evolved, Graphicacy’s designers supported the EIG team well beyond the visuals themselves. EIG was facing a tight deadline, so Graphicacy worked iteratively with the EIG team.

“Graphicacy brought their storytelling expertise, but they also helped us strike a healthy balance between our ambitious ideas and what was possible,” said Amelia Sandhovel, Senior Communications Associate with EIG. “They offered valuable insights and updates at every step.”

Among the technical challenges, Graphicacy made sure that “the final version had the same look and feel across all media, from phones to computers,” said Jeffrey Osborn, Graphicacy’s Creative Director. “It took time to get the aesthetic that EIG wanted, but we eventually devised a unique scrollytelling experience for them.”

In their research, EIG found that Americans of all ideological backgrounds support skilled immigration. The EIG team had struggled to convert the data into a clear and compelling visual, however. How could they both contrast the numbers for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents and show unity across all three groups?

Graphicacy’s designers developed a waffle chart showing an overwhelming 71% of all American voters backing skilled immigration. As the user scrolls, three separate dynamic waffle charts appear, each filling up to show each political affiliation’s support. With one quick scroll, Graphicacy turned a complex statistic into digestible data nuggets — and an easily understandable representation of consensus.

Engaging a Wider Audience

From the beginning, EIG had planned the project to marry data with creative storytelling to “inform and inspire policymakers, experts, media figures, and other stakeholders,” according to Milica Cosic, EIG’s Chief of Staff.

“We needed captivating and impactful imagery, and Graphicacy delivered beyond our expectations,” said Milica.

At the same time, Graphicacy and EIG worked to convey a sense of friendliness and energy for broader appeal. EIG hopes the general public will discover the project and see the truth behind the numbers.

“Graphicacy helped us develop a more human kind of story than many of our other data-oriented projects,” added Amelia. “Their dynamic imagery really drives that point home.”

Graphicacy helps organizations like yours tell informative, provocative, inspiring stories using facts, figures, and trends to show audiences why your mission matters — and what their role is in the fight.

Mission-driven organizations have trusted Graphicacy to help them visualize a better world for more than a decade, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Johns Hopkins University, the World Bank, the Center for American Progress, the Anti-Defamation League, and many others.