Stunning Dataviz in S-H-O-W 2021
Visualizing impact in eight projects presented in GraphicHunter’s conference
Visualizing Impact was the theme of the online S-H-O-W 2021 conference, hosted by GraphicHunters in April. That was the first time I could attend a GraphicHunter’s conference (the benefits of online events, since I’m six hours away from the Netherlands), and I was impressed with the high level of the presentations and the organization of the event as a whole.
Speakers explored the different perspectives on the topic of visualizing impact and presented some fantastic dataviz. In this article, I share eight projects that fascinated me on the first day of the event.
Breaking barriers: the path to equality
Rebecca Conroy, co-founder and managing partner at data visualization studio Beyond Words, shared this data-driven interactive game that aims to promote awareness about the financial barriers faced by millions of women in the world.⠀
This analysis was developed with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with the World Bank.
Try “Breaking Barriers” here to see other issues such as women’s ability to travel outside, open a bank account in the same way as a man, and which countries allow men to be compensated more than women for doing work of equal value.
Why is this viz impactful?
- This project not only does the hard work of digesting complex data, but it also stimulates readers allowing them to think about different situations related to women's rights worldwide.
- It engages the user by presenting an interactive, game-like experience, and it is simple to understand how it works at a single glance.
Visualizing Palestine
Ahmad Barclay is an architect, visual communicator, and product designer. He is actively engaged in various projects involving visual storytelling and has been a partner with Visualizing Impact since its founding.
He developed projects concerning Visualizing Palestine, an initiative that creates data-driven tools to promote narratives of the Palestinian-Israeli issue. One of the tools is the Palestine Open Maps, a platform for searching, navigating, downloading, and digitizing historical maps of the region.
The team of Visualizing Palestine works is the intersection of communication, social sciences, technology, design, and urban studies to promote justice and equality.
More details about this map and related projects are available here.
Why is this viz impactful?
- In Ahmad’s words, “everyone loves old maps”. This project is a great example of how history can be digitized in a brilliant way.
- It is also highly interactive and allows users to choose unique or combined maps and it’s possible to navigate through various regions.
America is more diverse than ever, but still segregated
Aaron Williams is a senior visualization engineer in Netflix and previously worked as an investigative data reporter specialized in data analysis and visualization for The Washington Post. In the conference, he presented a study concerning diversity and segregation in the United States.
The separation of different racial and ethnic groups into separate social worlds means that members of different racial and ethnic groups have different lived experiences. They have different daily rounds. They’re exposed to different neighborhoods on a daily basis. Residential segregation has separated these groups by educational quality and occupational opportunity — Kyle Crowder, professor of sociology at the University of Washington
The analysis shows that some cities persist deeply segregated, even as the country itself becomes more diverse. In the complete analysis available in The Washington Post it is possible to explore race and diversity by city.
Why is this viz impactful?
- These maps quickly reveal patterns and trends while delivering a large amount of data. It’s easy to notice which regions are less or more diverse, and where various races live in the US.
- The interactive map provides highly detailed information about neighborhoods and enables users to navigate to specific areas in the country.
2019 was the second-hottest year ever, closing out the warmest decade
The data and visual reporter Nadja Popovich covers climate change at The New York Times. Her work often uses interactivity to help readers relate to the impacts of our warming world, as shown in this visualization revealing the temperature anomalies across the globe from 1880 to 2019.
The analysis shows that the past decade was the hottest on record, and 2019 was the second-warmest year ever, just behind 2016. The article also describes regions that experienced extreme warmings, like Australia, Australia, and Southern Africa. It is available in The New York Times.
Why is this viz impactful?
- This dataviz simplifies information by condensing more than 100 years of the world temperature variation into a piece that can be viewed in less than a minute.
- It uses colors to contrast the temperature variation, allowing the viewer to easily get a sense of how rapidly the planet is warming.
Viz for Social Good
Alli Torban is an information design consultant and host of the podcast Data Viz Today. In her talk, she shared the mental model that guides her decision-making when developing engaging graphics for different audiences. She also highlighted the Viz for Social Good project.
Viz for Social Good is a volunteer-based project that helps nonprofits to harness the power of their data and to promote social good through data storytelling. The volunteers have partnered with various organizations, including UNICEF, the United Nations, and the African Youth Mentorship Network.
You can view other Viz for Social Good work here. And if you haven’t already, consider signing up for a good cause! You can join as a volunteer here.
Why is this viz impactful?
- It presents information in an elegant, clean, and captivating format. It reflects a thorough attention to detail from the choice of symbols to the colorization of the data.
- This dataviz draws attention to the cause of Viz for Social Good and serves as an invitation to meet and join a meaningful volunteer project.
Pandemic and COVID-19: who are the super spreaders?
Julie Brunet, an independent data and information designer, and creator of Datacitron, developed an overview about super-spreaders: people that are disproportionately involved in outbreaks of COVID-19.
She explored the super-spreaders issue from different angles and also explained how to help users understand more complex charts. This analysis — and other great data collages — can be found on datacitron’s Instagram.
Why is this viz impactful?
- Even the more distracted, low-interested audience certainly will stop to read this viz. It was made for Instagram and serves the purpose of being informative and eye-catching on a social network where people are usually scrolling while distracted.
- Data visualizations have become key to giving information about the coronavirus pandemic. It’s essential to have this clear communication since the public’s ability to make sense of data has never been more crucial.
Perpetual Plastic
The data-driven designer and marine scientist Skye Moret presented the impressive #PerpetualPlastic. The project produces physical data sculptures out of flip-flops washed up on Bali’s beaches that represent the paths and fate of all plastics ever produced.
The project won the first prize at the National Geographic Ocean Plastic Innovation Challenge and can be accessed in full here.
Why is this viz impactful?
- When real-world data is visualized with real-life examples, the results are stunning. This visualization is not only beautiful, but it’s also informative and full of value. Plastic has turned into a waste problem and this project shows it amazingly by using the material itself.
- The sculpture’s connection to beach clean-up activities suggests opportunities for action and stimulates people to engage.
Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours
Last but not least are Nicholas Rougeux’s projects. He is a web designer and data artist who creates data art based on a variety of topics like science, music, literature, and more.
In his presentation, he highlighted some personal projects that have impacted him along the way. Among these was his recreation of Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours.
Each color lists where it’s found in nature (animal, vegetable, and mineral), as well as showing the singular colors that make up the tint. There are also images to help picture clearly what the colors look like in nature.
The project in full is available here.
Why is this viz impactful?
- Nicholas Rougeux is known for his artistic angle on data. His creations are always intensely detailed, creative, and full of artistic value.
- The result of this re-creation of Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours is a beautiful version of the original, supplemented with interaction and photo references. The project is impressive and a delight to look at.
Despite the different topics, all projects tell relevant and engaging stories. Additionally, they have a compelling design that makes it easier for the audience to follow the message. This is when the magic happens: we deliver impact with visualizations by telling compelling stories in a way that inspires our audiences to action or by encouraging them to learn something new.
I hope you find these projects as inspiring as I did. Once again, congratulations to GraphicHunter’s team for the wonderful conference!
Amanda in a nutshell: I’m a Brazilian mechanical engineer turned data analyst, and (as you can imagine) very enthusiastic about dataviz and storytelling with data. I also love to travel and drink good coffee. If you want to connect, please feel free to join me here on Medium or on LinkedIn :)
