Infographic Prototype

I have finished developing the graphics for my infographic and designing the way I want it to look.

The prototype can be found here:
Infographic.swf 

This is how i would like the infographic to look. However, the coding to drop and drag the icons limits the visual interactivity, so I may not be able to have the icons floating on the screen or some appearing larger than others to immediately portray which categories spend more than others. I need to work on a balance between the visual aesthetic of the infographic and the actual functionality.

Data Visualisation

Icons representing data spending types

I have created the following icons to represent each data type. Along with these icons, titles will appear when the user hovers over the buttons.

Government Spending icons: from left to right
- Community Services and Culture
- Education
- General Government Services
- Defence
- Health
- Infrastructure, Transport and Energy
- Industry and Workforce
- Social Security and Welfare

Household Spending icons: from left to right
- Medical Care and Health Expenses
- Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages
- Household Services and Operation
- Miscellaneous Goods and Services
- Other (clothing, personal care, domestic fuel and power, alcohol and tobacco products)
- Housing Costs
- Household Furnishing and Equipment
- Recreation
- Transport

I think these icons visually represent the data types in an aesthetically pleasing and recognisable way.
The icons can be selected and dragged onto the scale in order to see the level of spending and make comparisons to other data sets.

Developing Interface - icons

Now that i have a rough idea of the interface layout, I need to create icons that represent each of the spending types.

Here are some that I found inspiration from:

1. Shutterstock

I like the use of colours with these, I think I will definitely need to use a range of colours in order to differentiate between the icons when they are floating on the interface.

2. Google Images

The graphics on these icons give me a good idea of how I might represent each category. For example, I really like the heartbeat one which could represent health etc.

I want to keep the icons quite simple - drawing on design analogies such as a scholars cap to represent education. However, when the user hovers over them text will appear to let the user know exactly what spending type that icon is. This eliminates any confusion over what the graphic/icon stands for.

Interface Mock Up

This mock up roughly shows the layout of the interface, and how it might function. The icons floating at the top are in two spending categories - government and household. The size of the icons also indicates the amount of money spent in each. They can be dragged and dropped onto the screen to see the spending amount in comparison to other spending types.

I still want to have a filter or layer option for the user, so I will continue to work through the data and interface layout.

Sketches - developing interface layout

I have continued developing the interface layout, also taking into consideration the practicality of the coding involved, and my level of skill.

The rough sketch below shows a more achievable layout for me and will still be visually effective.

I want to have the icons floating at the top of the screen which you can drag and drop onto the main screen, at which point they turn into cylinders or perhaps a dollar sign etc. The bar to the left of the screen is the point of measure, and the size of the shape represent how much money is being spent on that particular spending type. Users can drag and drop multiple icons to compare data.

I could have two screens in which the user can compare both government spending types and household spending types. I need to decide whether I want to have them separate or have them all together. I think I want them all together so that the user can compare any spending type they want to, and not be confined to comparing only government types to household types.

I would also like to have a filter option in the form of check boxes that allow the user to choose to display percentage of GDP, increase or decrease in spending, and how much is spent per Australian. However this might be something I would do to improve the infographic at later stages.

Sketches - brainstorming interface layout

I have started brainstorming ideas around the display for the infographic. I think it would be effective to have the stage as a map of Australia from birds-eye-view, with the icon (expenditure categories) floating around on the interface. The map immediately shows users the context of the data, but the icons would be floating so that the user does not associate the data to a particular location on the map - a state or city. The icons would also be bigger or smaller than others depending on the level of expenditure they have.

The user can click on one of the icons and the view changes to front-on to display more information about the expenditure type, how much is spent, the increase or decrease since the last term etc.

The user can also compare the categories by dropping and dragging more than one onto the current data open.

I want to stick to a fairly fluid layout, and try to get away from structured graphs or tables. I want to play with the interactivity as I think it is what will make this infographic the most effective, considering the complexity of the data.

My first sketches are below:

Birds-eye view:

Front-on view:

Refining the Concept

Where is your money spent? See how much you spend on McDonalds compared to how much you contribute to national health, or recreation compared to social security and welfare.

Identifying perspectives, attitudes and assumptions:

The main attitude or assumption that I believe most people have toward their spending is ignorance or unawareness toward the amount of money they spend each week on seemingly small things like fast food, alcohol, personal care and recreation.

I want to address is the complicated nature of national spending that makes it hard for people to comprehend, or gain perspective of how their money is being spent. I want to create a perspective for the user, so they can put government expenditure next to their own household expenditure and compare where money is being spent.

Objective:

This infographic appreciates the complexity of national and household expenditure, and seeks to offer users a simpler way to comprehend their spending habits. Due to the attitudes, assumptions and perspectives identified above, the aim of my infographic is to easily show users and taxpayers where their money is being spent, and hopes to bring light to areas of spending that may need to be changed.

Types of spending:

Government Expenditure 2010-11

http://www.aph.gov.au/budget/2010-11/content/overview/html/overview_37.htm

Community Services and culture: $8679 million

Health: $56 880 million

General Government services: $92 862 million

Industry and workforce: $14 727 million

Education: $32 996 million

Defence: $21 000 million

Infrastructure, transport and energy: $12 539 million

Social security and welfare: $114 961 million        

- I need to average these amount to an individual Australian per week so I can accurately compare them to the below household spending types.

Household Expenditure 2003-04:

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/6530.0Main%20Features32003-04%20(Reissue)?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=6530.0&issue=2003-04%20(Reissue)&num=&view=

Food and non-alcoholic beverages: $153/week

Housing Costs: $144/week

Transport: $139/week

Recreation: $115/week

Misc goods and services: $80/week

Household services and operation: $55/week

Household furnishing and equipment: $53/week

Medical care and health expenses: $49/week

Clothing and footwear: $35/week

Domestic fuel and power: $25/week

Alcoholic beverages: $25/week

Personal care: $20/week

Tobacco products: $15/week

NOTE: The data for Government expenditure is from the 2010-11 Budget. However, the data for Household expenditure is from a ABS 2003-04 research study. Although it is not accurate or ideal to compare data studies conducted years apart, this is the most recent information I could find during my research for Household expenditure. Due to the lack of more recent data I will be using this information in my infographic, and comparing the data variables as best as possible.   

Going Forward:

• I need to organize and synthesise the information so they can be compared accurately – e.g. make the amounts for each data set both per Australian, per week.
• Brainstorm different ways of representing the data/comparisons
• Analyse the pros/cons of each

Ways to represent the data/comparisons:

Having researched and refined my data, I now have to develop how I want to represent the data. I really want to allow the user to visually see and associate these data sets because being able to compare what one spends on McDonalds in comparison to what one spends on healthcare is really quite incomprehensible to most people.

Since researching other national spending infographics and illustrations, I have decided to start playing with the idea of have all the spending types represented as icons in an area of the screen (perhaps a bar at the top) and allow the user to select what data they want to compare and drag and drop these categories onto a larger screen, to really compare and associate the information. I need to think about how I want to portray the scale and measurement of the data – whether by a bar graph, pie chart, percentages, dollar amounts etc.

I want to really play with the multi-touch aspect of the infographic and make the interaction element the main focal point of the application. If the infographic is easy and fun to use, the data will most likely be communicated more effectively. 

Research: UK Government Spending Graphic

UK Government Spending by Department, 2009-10

This graphic is an illustration of UK Government Spending by Department in 2009-10:

Illustration: Jenny Ridley for the Guardian


"This is the most comprehensive atlas of public spending available, put together by us with the help of the Institute of Fiscal Studies."
Simon Rogers, The Guardian, 2010.


This graphic displays spending in the different departments of the UK government. I like the use of colour, shape and size to differentiate between the different departments and the levels of spending in each.


However, Although the layout is quite effective, I feel the graphic is fairly overwhelming and crowded with so much colour and shape that it becomes too great for the user to comprehend all at once. I think interactivity would be very beneficial for this graphic, particularly if the user has the ability to filter and layer the data so only specific information is displayed at one time.


I think i could use elements of this graphic for my own infographic - particularly the colour, size and shape aspects. 

Initial Concept

Concept for persuasive interactive 

information graphic for touch screen

I would like to create a comparative infographic that communicates comparative information about Australian expenditure. I want to show the differences and similarities between how much we are spending on commercial industries such as advertising and tourism and how much we spend on national healthcare, welfare and education.

I could also compare this to our household expenditure – how much we spend on petty things like fast food and beauty products – when we could also be contributing to social good.

I can display this information as comparative multiples so users can compare the data but also have filtering and layering options to single the data down to particular information sets.

This infographic will offer users a simpler way to compare expenditure data across catergories and industries. The message within this infographic is mainly to make people aware of what their government is spending – whether it is too much on commercial industries, or not enough on a particular area of health or welfare. From there, people can make their own decisions about the efficiency of Australian expenditure. 

Data sources I have thought about using include:

1. Australia's national agency for health and welfare statistics and information:http://www.aihw.gov.au/expenditure/

• Health: http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=6442472450&libID=6442472431
• Welfare: http://www.aihw.gov.au/welfare-spending/
• Disease: http://www.aihw.gov.au/disease-expenditure/
• Public Health: http://www.aihw.gov.au/public-health-expenditure/
• Expenditure Links: http://www.aihw.gov.au/expenditure-links/
• Tables: http://www.aihw.gov.au/cognos/cgi-bin/ppdscgi.exe?DC=Q&E=/expenditure/health_exp_2010_state1_1

2. Commercial Industries:

• Advertising
• Tourism
• Gardening/Horticulture

3. Household  Expenditure: http://www.apo.org.au/research/what-waste-%E2%80%93-analysis-household-expenditure-food

                 

4. Fast Food