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 programmes 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 visualisations 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 democratisation, while keeping the platform's users in mind.
From insight to concept
The main focus for this platform was user personalisation 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 visualisations.
After benchmarking different platforms with different purposes – such as social media based on boards – a visualisation tool with a comprehensive navigation architecture was considered as the best option.
Design Challenge
The challenge was to build multiple data visualisations that could adapt to different window and responsive sizes, while remaining accessible and relevant to each user.
Color and form factor
Different shapes were optimised for comparative data. The UNICEF colour palette, and the Global Goals were used to properly differentiate data visualisations.
Personalisation
Users can create their own combination of data and export them into CSV or XLS files. They could also download their visualisations combined as a PDF.
Responsiveness
The data visualisation adapts to different devices and window sizes, ensuring everyone can access the data regardless of their device.
Accessibility
The colours of the original UNICEF palette are a bit bright to guarantee maximum legibility. Therefore, an accessibility mode was designed to modify those colours, resulting in better contrast and improved legibility.
Impact
The new visuals had a positive reception. Although there is no specific impact data for the published update, its visual accessibility and the navigation to obtain personalised data helped to attract a community of more than 350 collaborators on GitHub, who interact with the open data platform.
The portal allows auditing $3,020 millions in humanitarian aid funds, detailing the spending on 448 emergencies in 104 countries.