Data Visualization
The arrangement of the team member cards offers a colorful, innovative, yet organized approach to what could otherwise be quite common and boring. The team member cards are given personality and consideration to the uniqueness accorded to each individual. The effectiveness of the cards is encompassed in their function for organizing each team member according to their information, job roles/descriptions, and locations. The inclusion of a photograph allows a sense of identifying what each individual looks like and how they are choosing to express their image to the world. Additional information could be included to offer a more broad inspection of each individual’s background. In “The Demographics of Others,” Yau has masterfully created a grid that displays information in a way that is easy to comprehend and navigate. The font, colors, and tabs are organized in such a way that there is little to no difficulty for the average web surfer to understand how to operate the grid. The data itself is arranged in an orderly fashion and is inclusive for the most part, excepting the wide and colorful spectrum of sex and gender that really ought to be considered. There could be a greater level of effectiveness shown in how the grid is able to illustrate the parts of the world in which commonalities exist between varied demographics through the use of different mediums such as maps or world charts. “Based on a True Story” is a kaleidoscopic experience, but its complexity is overwhelming. The arrangement of the data on what almost appears a variegated color spectrum is confusing at first and one isn’t quite sure how it operates without further exploration. Without clicking or hovering over anything, it could be mistaken as entirely dysfunctional or without information. The intensity on the level of detail is perhaps too much in terms of being able to effectively navigate each small slide of information per line of graphics. However, the medium is creative and colorful and encompasses a vast deal of content.