Global-to-detail Personalised Data Visualisations
Context
The UNICEF Open Data platform holds a massive amount of information. Users may find it difficult to navigate through the different multi-level views, from global to detail, and therefore, understand the real impact of programs and donations.
UNICEF commissioned Domestic Data Streamers, which brought in Galactic Creative Studio (where I led as Creative Director) to design the UX, UI, and data visualizations within 6 months.
From research to Insight
UNICEF had already identified its users and their main goals. Those users were mainly donors, country stakeholders, and researchers. Each one of them had a different data goal for the platform. The challenge was to identify and deliver the data that each one wanted, without adding visual noise.
Therefore, a multi-casual path with purpose-related filters was designed. This improved data comprehension and democratization, while keeping the platform's users in mind.
From insight to concept
The main focus for this platform was user personalization and the global-to-detail navigation structure. It was necessary to create an easy-to-use tool for navigating data, but also one that allowed on-screen data visualizations.
After benchmarking different platforms with different purposes, such as social media based on boards, a visualization tool with a comprehensive navigation architecture was considered the best option.
Design Challenge
The challenge was to build multiple data visualizations that could adapt to different window and responsive sizes, while remaining accessible and relevant to each user.
Color and form factor
Users can create their own combination of data and export it into CSV or XLS files. They can also download their visualizations combined as a PDF.
Personalisation
Users can create their own data combination and export it to CSV or XLS files. They can also download their visualizations combined as a PDF.
Responsiveness
The data visualization adapts to different devices and window sizes, ensuring everyone can access the data regardless of their device.
Accessibility
The colors of the original UNICEF palette are a bit bright to guarantee maximum legibility. Therefore, an accessibility mode was designed to modify those colors, resulting in better contrast and improved legibility.
Impact
The new visuals were well received. Although there is no specific impact data for the published update, its visual accessibility and the navigation to obtain personalized data helped to attract a community of more than 350 collaborators on GitHub, who interact with the open data platform.
The portal allows auditing $3.02 billion in humanitarian aid funds, detailing the spending on 448 emergencies in 104 countries.