3rd April, 2023 📈 📊 🌏 #Dataviz #Datastories #DataStorytelling
How to Tell Data-Driven Stories With Ease
Data-driven storytelling uses infographics and data visualization to convey information with charts, maps, and interactive elements for easy understanding. It's applied in fields like digital journalism, science communications, brand storytelling, and educational content.
Pageflow empowers content editors to build such interactive data storytelling websites without coding knowledge, allowing you to focus on what really matters: telling your story.
Presenting information in a vibrant style
With the amount of data generated today, it's increasingly challenging to understand and comprehensively share information.
We at Pageflow aim to provide the tools to easily merge text, images, videos, and interactive elements into compelling scrollytelling websites.
This article highlights how anyone can apply data storytelling simply and effectively.
Scroll down ⬇️ to read the full article or directly pick a specific example:
Example - Interactive Charts
Example - Social & Audio Emebeds
The benefits of visualizing data through interactive elements such as responsive charts and maps, scroll animations, before-after sliders, multimedia content and video animations include:
Improved comprehension
Presenting facts and figures in a narrative format can help people understand complex information more easily. In addition, this approach encourages readers to stay on the page longer and explore the story further, ultimately leading to a more immersive storytelling experience.
A super comfortable way to enrich web stories with responsive infographics is Datawrapper. To create a Datawrapper chart, map, or table, copy your data from the web, Excel, or Google Sheets. You can also upload CSV/XLS files or link to a URL or Google Sheets for live-updating charts.
With a vast selection of chart types and numerous design options, you can effortlessly transform raw data into a captivating data visualization.
Example - Interactive Pie Chart
Interactive charts allow viewers to engage more deeply with your data by, for example, clicking on specific data points or hovering over areas to display additional information. This involvement increases engagement and helps your audience better process and contextualize information.
Try it for yourself and imagine how many words and static images would be needed to illustrate the following three examples:
Sri Lanka’s outstanding foreign debt
Use one of 19 interactive and responsive chart types ranging from simple bars and lines to arrow, range, and scatter plots.
Datawrapper.de
Once you've published your Datawrapper chart, copy and paste the embed code into your Pageflow story and determine the position and background color to get a fully responsive data experience across platforms.
Example - Interactive Map
Interactive maps offer the ability to better understand spatial or temporal relationships and geographic distributions. Users can zoom into specific areas, view information about particular locations, or even apply their own filters to customize the map according to their needs. This enables a better understanding of geographic data and their relationships.
Global population unable to afford a healthy diet in 2021
Three interactive and responsive map types let you create anything from locator maps to thematic choropleth and symbol maps.
Datawrapper.de
Example - Responsive Tables
Unlike static graphics, interactive infographics automatically adapt to the size of the screen and the device used. This ensures optimal readability, regardless of the device being used.
The richer, the healthier?
Responsive data tables allow for lots of styling options and let you include bar, column & line charts, heatmaps, images, a search bar and pagination.
Datawrapper.de
Why we ❤️ Datawrapper
We chose Datawrapper as our preferred infographic tool early on because it covers a wide range of data visualizations while being exceptionally user-friendly. No special prior knowledge is required to achieve amazing results.
With Pageflow Next, it's easier than ever to embed Datawrapper links as content elements. Once you've published your Datawrapper chart, copy the embed code and paste it into your Pageflow story. Determine the size, position, and background color to create an impressive, responsive data experience on desktop, tablet, and smartphone.
Whether you want to create interactive charts, maps, or responsive tables, Datawrapper offers a simple and intuitive solution for designing engaging and meaningful infographics that look good on all devices.
You can find a great 👉 tutorial video here. Discover for yourself how easy it is to bring your data to life with Datawrapper.
Increased engagement
For a good reason, interactive content has become increasingly popular in data storytelling. They can help to make data more memorable and impactful for viewers, and encourage deeper user engagement.
When you present data using interactive elements, viewers can actively participate in the reveal process, making them feel more invested and engaged. In addition, by allowing viewers to control the pace and direction of the visualization, interactive elements create a more personalized experience that resonates with each individual.
Example - Before-After Slider
One famous example of an interactive element is the before-after slider, which allows viewers to see the changes in data over time or in different scenarios. This comparison creates a strong visual impact, making the data more memorable and easier to understand.
Business development 2021-2022
Example - Scroll Animation
Scroll animations have become increasingly popular in data-driven storytelling to create a more immersive and engaging experience for readers.
Complex datasets are broken down into smaller, more manageable sections with which readers can interact more deeply. Each piece of information is revealed through scrolling, similar to a flipbook.
Just create a sequence of phase images to build a scroll-triggered animation
Team Pageflow
🌅 David wakes up and checks his fitness tracker, seeing that he's completed 10% of his daily step goal.
🏃♂️ He eats a healthy breakfast and goes for a walk, adding another 10% to his step goal by the time he's done.
💼 David arrives at work and completes 30% of his daily tasks by lunchtime.
🥗 He takes a break and has a healthy lunch, fueling him for the rest of the day.
💻 David returns to work and completes 50% of his daily tasks by mid-afternoon.
🧘♂️ He takes a break to stretch and meditate, helping him stay focused and energized.
💪 David finishes 70% of his daily tasks by the end of the workday.
🏋️♂️ He heads to the gym and completes a tough workout, pushing him to 80% of his daily fitness goal.
🏠 David returns home and spends time with his family, enjoying quality time and adding a few more steps to his fitness tracker.
Read the following blog post, If you want to find out more about scroll animations in Pageflow:
Greater visual impact
Video animations and animated infographics can tell their own story and help readers understand progress over time. They can also help identify trends in data that may be difficult to discern from raw data.
Example - Animated Videos
For this example, we searched the web and found lots of beautiful data visualization on NASA's websites.
Since the late 19th century, the Earth's average surface temperature has increased by approximately 1°C (1.8°F) due to human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial processes.
The period from 1880 to 1910 was relatively stable, with minor fluctuations. However, starting in the 1920s, global temperatures began to rise, and this trend has continued to the present day.
By the 1950s, scientists had started to recognize the link between rising CO2 emissions and global warming. In the 1980s, the scientific consensus on the reality and severity of global warming became clear, leading to the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. The 21st century has seen some of the hottest years on record, with the years 2016, 2019, and 2020 being the hottest on record.
Credits: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio
The effects of global warming have been evident in various ways, including melting glaciers, rising sea levels, more frequent heat waves, and more extreme weather events such as hurricanes and droughts.
To mitigate the impact of global warming, various efforts have been made, including the Paris Agreement
of 2015, which aims to limit global warming to below 2°C (3.6°F) above pre-industrial levels. However, the level of greenhouse gas emissions has continued to rise, making the goal of limiting global warming increasingly difficult. As we move into the future, it is essential to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit the impact of global warming. Failure to do so will have severe consequences for the planet and future generations.
Credits: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio
Endless resources
Embedding short interviews, audio files, social media posts, and statements from popular platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, or Twitter into your content can be a powerful tool to support a thesis or message.
Well picked resources can add additional strength or credibility to a statement. Moreover, this form of citation is a helpful method for incorporating copyrighted content in a privacy-compliant way.
Example - Video Embed
For instance, in an article about the impacts of COVID-19 on the healthcare system, short interviews with frontline workers from various news sources or Twitter posts could be embedded.
These firsthand accounts allow readers to hear about the challenges healthcare professionals faced during the pandemic, adding a new level of depth and understanding to the story.
Example - Audio Waveform
The targeted use of spoken word can help establish an emotional connection with the audience, making the story more engaging and memorable.
Audio statements can also provide a unique perspective for a data-driven story. The targeted use of spoken word can help establish an emotional connection with the audience, making the story more engaging and memorable.
Voices and sounds can complement a narrative with a sense of immediacy and depth, making audio statements and background audio valuable tools in data storytelling, in general.
John F. Kennedy: We choose to go to the moon
Playful elements enhance learning
Gamification is an effective technique for conveying learning content. Increased involvement, motivation, and retention allow us to better understand and remember the presented data, leading to improved learning success. Playful elements can help maintain interest in a story.
Example - Animated Counters
Our brand-new counter feature allows you to animate key figures with just a few clicks and visually set them apart from the rest of the content.
You can easily set the starting and target values, the unit, placement, animation style, font size, and color with just a few clicks. The counters start counting as soon as the middle of the viewport is reached.
is the length of the Trans-Siberian Railway,
the world's longest railway line.
of the world's energy is produced by renewable sources.
metric tons plastic ends up in the ocean each year
Example - Question and Answer Section
This fictional quiz with 7 questions is designed to test the understanding of previous content within a story and reinforce core messages through repetition. The example quiz is accompanied by emojis and background videos and audios to enhance the sensory experience and allow for deeper immersion.
A quiz is an excellent tool for e-learning, as it provides a quick way for your audience to assess their understanding of the material and reinforce their learning.
Sound can be muted again using the speaker icon in the navigation.
💭 What is the primary
cause of man-made climate change?
🔥🌍💨
The burning of fossil fuels, which releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
💭 What is the main
greenhouse gas responsible
for global warming?
💨🔥🌍
Carbon dioxide (CO₂)
💭 How much of the world's
energy is produced by
renewable sources?
☀️💨🌊
Around 26%
💭 How much plastic ends up in the ocean each year?
🌊💔🗑️
Around 8 million metric tons
💭 What is the primary source of air pollution in cities?
🚗💨🌃
Vehicle emissions
💭 What is the main source of water pollution?
💦💔🏭
Agricultural and industrial activities
💭 What impact has eating meat and other animal products on climate change?
🌍🥩🐄
A longer answer here now as an example for different fields of applications: The impact of meat and other animal products on climate change is significant. Animal agriculture is responsible for approximately 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than the entire transportation sector.
One of the main reasons for this is that livestock farming requires vast amounts of resources and energy to produce food for animals. This includes land, water, and crops such as corn and soybeans, which are used as feed. The production of these crops requires large amounts of fossil fuels, fertilizers, and other resources that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
In addition to the emissions produced during production, the digestion process of livestock also produces significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Methane is estimated to have a global warming potential 28 times higher than carbon dioxide over a 100-year time frame.
The transportation and processing of animal products also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. For example, the transportation of livestock to processing plants, as well as the refrigeration and packaging of meat, all require energy and contribute to emissions.
Overall, reducing the consumption of meat and other animal products can have a significant impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate change.
Conclusion
Pageflow is a powerful platform for creating engaging and impactful data-driven stories. You can make your message more impressive and memorable by using various features to create impactful visualizations, infographics, and interactive elements. Whether creating a story for a business presentation, a nonprofit campaign, or a personal project:
Pageflow can help you quickly build a story that will capture your audience's attention and make a real impact.
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Find out more about Digital Storytelling and Publishing with Pageflow