Data Art & Storytelling at Make Your Data Speak 2024
Step-by-step guide for the nomination
Make Your Data Speak 2024 award has officially opened its doors for registration, accepting submissions until April 1. In this article, let’s delve into he Data Art & Storytelling category, where participants have the opportunity to craft their narratives using data.
Whether your passion lies in economics or ecology, this category encourages participants to define their own topics and create compelling tales through unique visualizations. The competition is not just about presenting data; it’s about transforming raw information into a visual masterpiece that captivates and communicates effectively.
You can submit projects you’ve previously created. However, it’s crucial to be mindful of confidentiality rules, especially if your project was developed for a company.
If you don’t have a ready project yet, you can embark on the journey of creating data visualizations from scratch!
1. Start with Data Collection
Begin by gathering a robust database relevant to your chosen topic. Depending on the nature of your subject, consider conducting surveys to supplement your data with real-world insights. The foundation of any impactful visualization is rooted in the quality and relevance of the data it portrays. Also, don’t forget that you can find ready-made datasets in public sources.
2. Highlight your path with insights
Before diving into the sea of data, articulate the insights you aim to unearth and the key indicators you want to highlight. This foresight will guide your data exploration and bring clarity to your visualization objectives.
3. Sketch your vision
With a clearer vision, sketch a rough draft of your visualization. This is the blueprint where your ideas take shape. Decide on the types of diagrams that will best convey your story — whether it’s the simplicity of a line chart or the complexity of a hierarchical treemap.
4. Create Your Visualization
Once armed with a comprehensive dataset, it’s time to let your creativity flow. Meticulously work with the data to extract meaningful insights and patterns. The visualization you create can take various forms, be it an interactive display that engages the audience dynamically or a static representation that speaks volumes in simplicity.
5. Share your results
Once your visualization is born, share it with the world. You can create a dedicated project website to showcase your work or publish it on an online gallery. Embrace the power of collaboration by gathering feedback. Learn from the insights of others and refine your visualization to perfection.
6. Send your finished project for evaluation by our jury. Important! Applications will be accepted until April 1, 2024
This is only part of the jury, see the full list on the website.
To provide a source of inspiration, let’s reflect on some insights from the winning projects in the Data Art & Storytelling category of the previous year. These projects not only demonstrated technical proficiency but also showcased the power of storytelling through data.
Project made by Martina Dossi — VFSG for B2P: Rural urban nexus
Martina Dossi took the gold with a story about the work of the charitable organization Bridges to Prosperity. Bridges to Prosperity (B2P) works with isolated communities to build trail bridges over impassable rivers and create lasting connections to essential services and opportunities.
The project is about the rural-urban nexus brief and highlights the results of an internal study on trail bridge population catchment in Rwanda, conducted on six bridges.
Take a look at this elegant project, each part of this static poster is filled with interesting diagrams and visualization techniques. In addition to the beautiful visuals, the project involved a significant analytical effort, processing and presenting a large amount of data!
You can explore the project and all its elements at the following link.
Project made by Nicole Klassen — VFSG UNDP Accelarator Labs
Second place went to Nicole Klassen with UNDP energy visualization. This project was created in Tableau and includes both analytical insights and a beautiful sunburst chart in the top left corner, which presents the data in an elegant and eye-catching way, drawing attention to the project.
The accelerator labs, which the project is dedicated to, point out grassroots innovations that move us towards a more sustainable planet. It is the world’s largest and fastest learning network on sustainable development challenges.
The project is interactive, so by hovering over any part of the sunburst chart, you can learn more about the regions where the innovations came from, the energy sources they address, the sustainable development goals they target, and the themes of each innovation. In addition to the beautiful diagram at the beginning, the project includes interesting visualizations and data slices. You can explore the entire project by following the link.
Project made by Silvia Romanelli — Sinking
Third place goes to Silvia Romanelli with a prediction of sea level rise by 2090. “Sinking” is a static project with elegant contours of islands resembling the world under a microscope. The pleasant, calming color scheme of the project cannot hide its disturbing internal message.
The global average sea level has risen about 8–9 inches (21–24 centimeters) since 1880. But sea level rise at specific locations may be more or less than the global average due to local factors.
This visualization shows the level the sea could reach by 2090 around 13 Pacific Island Nations, based on research by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
You can take a closer look at the islands on the project page.
Project made by Martina Zunica — Tech Skills Migration Infographic
The Audience Award is worth a mention! In addition to the hard work of our juries in selecting winners from these impressive projects, there was also a free vote on our contest website for the project with the most audience appeal. Martina Zunica’s Tech Skills Migration Infographic, an incredible data storytelling project, won the award with its distinctive feature of complex and captivating color coding.
The following analysis provides us with an overview comparison of skill migration data, focusing on tech skills, which are among the most coveted and needed in the professional landscape, especially in recent years.
Take a look at how succinct and interesting the flow of skills is presented using an alluvial diagram. It’s also amazing that the preferences of the jury and the audience diverged here!
You can see the project here.
Look at these projects! They reflect the issues that concern people all over the world, and such projects help to draw attention to important topics.
We look forward to seeing your projects ! Make your data speak!
