Data-Visualization-Portfolio
Critiquing and Revisualizing Trends in Social Media Use by Generation
GWI Social Media
Link: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-social-media-use-by-generation/
What Makes this Visualization Interesting
Throughout this project, I will revisualize data on social media trends among generations originally presented by GWI as seen above. The infographic details generational trends in social media use and is intended for a marketing audience who wants to understand how to reach particular segments of its target audience. I chose this infographic because it was very eye-catching and aesthetically pleasing, but upon closer inspection did not clearly convey the data. The data characterizes each of the target segments by their social media use and even explores trends across regions for global marketers, but in its current form, it is difficult to make accurate comparisons between groups because the styles of charts used do not suit the data. Thus, I decided I would explore this data and revisualize it, so that this useful information could be more clearly communicated to the target audience and show the impact of design choices on the meaning of data.
Critiquing the Initial Graphic
The original infographic is very aesthetically pleasing. The bright colors are attention getting and modern in a way that suits data about social media. Additionally, the graphics are very clean and organized. Given the strength of the color scheme, I maintained the colors throughout my own desings. However, the types of charts used make the data difficult to interpret. According to the narrative from the article the infographic was in, the stacked area chart is meant to demonstrate trends in social media use over time, with an emphasis on the slope of the change. However, this slope is distorted when the areas are stacked on top of one another and subject to the slope of the other categories. The authors attempted to show the changing slope through call out bubbles detailing the year-to-year change in time on social media, but these call-outs were difficult to interpret, so the main point of interest was still not clearly conveyed on the chart. For the circle chart, it was difficult to compare the sizes of the circles between countries because they were not aligned with one another. This makes it difficult to see how generational trends differ between countries, which means the main finding of the data is not clearly represented by this style of visualization.
Drafting the Redesigned the Graphic
Graphic 1
Design Rationale
To redesign the stacked area chart, I drew a line chart that represents change over time. I maintained the constant color scheme for each generation, though I changed the average to a pale grey so that it would not stand out as much. A line chart is a conventional way of demonstrating change over time, and by using straight connector lines rather than curves, I put an emphasis on the slope as the authors discussed. I represented the year on the x-axis and the minutes of social media on the y-axis for a continuous variable, minutes were a more clear representation than decimal portions of an hour.
Feedback
User 1
Can you tell me what you think this is?
The plot shows the differences in amount of time on social media between different groups over time (2014->2018)
Can you describe to me what this is telling you?
There has been an upward trend in social media in general, but younger generations spend more time on social media.
Is there anything you find surprising or confusing?
No, this is pretty standard. I would like to maybe see a breakdown by smaller time spans like months if it were available. Maybe you could add age ranges for the generations.
Is there anything you would do differently?
You could add different marker types for the generations. I don’t think you need Year on the x-axis either since the labels already make it clear what you’re talking about.
User 2
Can you tell me what you think this is?
A graph about how much people use social media.
Can you describe to me what this is telling you?
As time progresses, use of social media has been increasing and young people use it a lot more.
Is there anything you find surprising or confusing?
Not really.
Is there anything you would change or do differently?
I don’t think so.
Graphic 2
Design Rationale
To redesign the circle chart, I focused on aligning the values for each region, so that generational trends could be compared through each region. I maintained the same color scheme for generations and represented the generations on the x-axis to make sure it was clear. I included the average number of social media accounts on each circle because it can be difficult to interpret the meaning of size differences alone. I also added a description of what the numbers represented because this was difficult to understand in the original infographic. I did notice that the color scheme still drew your eye to the generation categories, but unsure of the best way to fix this, I sought feedback from my reviewers.
Feedback
Can you tell me what you think this is?
The plot shows the average social media accounts by generation and region.
Can you describe to me what this is telling you?
Younger generations have more accounts than older generations. People in Latin America and Asia have more accounts than people in other regions.
Is there anything you find surpsising or confusing?
I think the size of the dot is not a super clear representation of the number. I think these kinds of charts work better if there are bigger differences in the numbers and sizes. With the colors and the axes, it is difficult to focus on the regions because my eye is drawn to the colored generations. It is just a little overwhelming.
Is there anything you would change or do differently?
I wouldn’t use different colors for different generations. Maybe use a heatmap on a table or something else. I just don’t think the dot size thing is working.
User 2
Can you tell me what you think this is?
A plot of social media accounts for different regions and generations
Can you describe what this is telling you?
Not really.It is pretty confusing.
Is there anything you find surprising or confusing?
Assuming the number is the number of separate social media accounts a single person has, I think, some of these groups have way more accounts than I would have expected.
Is there anything you would change of do differently?
I want it to tell me what its trying to say. Speak your truth chart. But in all seriousness, I think it just needs a different design. There’s too much going on here for me to figure out what you’re trying to tell me.
Final Redesign
Trends in Social Media Use by Generation
Since 2014, the average amount of time spent on social media per day has been increasing across generations. While Millenials spent the most time on social media from 2014-2016, Generation Z has surpassed Millenials and used social media the most in 2017 and 2018. Both Millenials and Generation Z for much more time per day than Generation X and Baby Boomers, so social media outreach may be of particular use when targeting these generations. Interestingly, the increase in time on social media appears to have plateaued for Millenials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers between 2016 and 2018. With millennials reporting a slight decrease in social media use in 2018, it will be important to monitor social media use by generation going forward to assess how much of a role social media continues to play in the lives of people in different generations and target advertisements appropriately.
GWI’s analysis of social media use finds that multi-networking varies among generations with higher rates of multi-networking among Generation Z and Millenials compared to Generation X and Baby Boomers. Multi-networking trends also differ between regions and among generations by region. Latin America and the Asia Pacific region have higher overall rate of multi-networking, so marketing strategies that are useful for multi-networking would be appropriate for many of the population segments in these regions. The Middle East and North Africa region has a much smaller range of multi-networking among generations ranging from 6.4 to 8.5. Additionally, generation Z has lower multi-networking rates than Generation X and Millenials in this region, which is a trend not found in other regions. These unique trends may warrant further exploration to understand how the social context of the countries influences multi-networking and other aspects of social media use in order to better develop marketing strategies for this region.
Feedback Reflected in Final Design
For the line chart, I did not get much feedback from the critiques as both reviewers generally liked this chart. One interesting piece of feedback was to remove the ‘Year’ label on the x-axis, which I incorporated as it was redundant. I chose the line chart because it clearly showed trends in the data over time, and both of my reviewers clearly understood this, and when interpreting the meaning of the chart, they commented on trends in the time spent using social media by generation. Thus, the critique justified the rationale behind my redesign.
I made extensive changes to my circle plot in response to the feedback I received from the critique. My reviewers were very confused by my original sketch. While it was easier to differentiate the sizes of the circles, the meaning of the numbers in the circles was confusing to viewers as it did not directly relate to the axes. Additionally, the coloring put an emphasis on comparing values within a generation rather than making comparisons by region. In response, I redesigned the visualization to a connected dot plot. The connecting line connects dots within a region which portrays each region as a unit that can be compared to one another. This puts more of an emphasis on comparing generational trends between regions rather than looking at differences within one generation by region. Additionally, the connected dot plot includes the multi-networking units (average number of social media accounts per person) on an axis which makes the information much easier to interpret. This style of chart allowed me to maintain the same color scheme without the color scheme distracting from the regional comparisons.
Return to portfolio: https://aemichalowski.github.io/Data-Visualization-Portfolio/