annunziata-portfolio
Data visualizations for 94870-A3 - Telling Stories with Data // https://nannunz.github.io/TSWD-portfolio/
Who am I?
Hi, I’m Nicole (she/her), a Public Policy and Management master’s student (MSPPM) at CMU interested in data visualization. Originally, I was a student of History and Africana studies, which gave me the opportunity to study the historical roots of contemporary issues and opened the door to my interest in public policy.
I aim to combine my love of writing and storytelling with data analytics to craft more compelling narratives and develop more equitable policies! My professional background is primarily in organizing and political communication—consequently, making policy work community-led and accessible is deeply important to me! Data visualizations, for me, are about democratizing information and closing the communication gap between academics and the communities we seek to partner with; building this portfolio is a crucial first step towards that goal.
What I hope to learn:
My goal is to master, or at least get a solid handle on, the art of telling a story through simple visuals. I am particularly interested in labor economics, anti-poverty policy, and anti-trust measures—none of which can easily be conveyed just through writing! Even the most aural prose or groundbreaking research fails to make an impact as significant as a compelling chart or infographic in conveying the urgency or severity of new information—I want to use data visualizations to inform, persuade, and mobilize readers. The problem, unfortunately, is that I do not have a refined sense of aesthetics (I just love bright colors!) and I am a verbose writer—that is to say, I will need to work on reigning in my maximalist approach to things when developing visuals for this portfolio. I would like to learn how to strike a balance between creating graphics that are overly detailed (because the details can just be so interesting!) and sacrificing too many details, and consequently, necessary clarity and specificity. Much of the research I hope to do deals with fairly large data sets—I want to distill that information so that interpreting it can be as effortless and intuitive as possible.
Aside from developing a better intuition for color and simplicity, I hope to explore more unique methods of data visualization! While pie charts certainly have their place, they can be easy to skim or dismiss. I hope to develop a better sense of what visuals readers might find compelling enough to actually process (without going overboard or manipulating the scale for dramatic effect), and if possible, do it in a way that is subtle enough that they won’t need to spend too much time dwelling on the interpretation.
Finally, it would be wonderful to familiarize myself with Tableau, as it will serve me as an invaluable resource beyond this course. I welcome any and all learning resources!
In short, I want to move away from being someone who embodies the “Graphic Design is My Passion” internet meme to someone who, with enough patience and effort, can help create visualizations that truly speak to people.
Portfolio
All the Work, None of the Stability: The Gig Economy Experience
Critique through Redesign: Politico’s Covid-19 Line Graph