Empathy Forecast Workshop, New Podcast, and Updates No images? Click here Visualisation, Communication, and Big DataTable of Contents
Hi there, It's been a while since we've been in touch—we hope you've been doing okay! I'm not sure about you, but for us it's been an action packed few months trying to navigate this new landscape we find ourselves in, and getting creative about how to support our customers and our network. One of the things we have been working on is building a new (free) community on Slack aimed at teaching others visualisation and communication skills to apply to their own careers. We'd love you to join us! We've included some examples of the content from the discussions in this newsletter. It's shaping up to be an interesting community! Here's your invitation link—we hope you find value in being a part of the conversation. Empathy: a Foundation for Communication SuccessIf you've ever worked with us on a video project, you will know all about the Empathy Forecast. It's an activity that we developed in-house to better understand the target audience for a communication project. It's particularly useful at helping to craft the language to use in a video or message, especially when trying to bring about change in behaviour. We've documented the process in this article for you to use in your own role, but we know that getting the confident to apply this activity in your work comes from experience, so we invite you to join our next upcoming free workshop. We'll take participants through how to run this activity in an online group setting. Featured Video: We RideWe Ride Australia is an independent voice in Australia working to secure the policies, infrastructure, and programs to ensure cycling contributes to healthy, safe and enjoyable mobility for all. We got to work with them on their latest campaign, which was aimed at inspiring every day people to change the world, one trip at a time, and to urge local councils to improve cycling infrastructure. We did this by getting into the shoes of the every day Australian, connecting with them on an emotional level, and visualising the statistics of how cycling and walking make such a positive impact. We also structured the video in a modular fashion, so the client could have access to multiple versions—the full 90-second story, and then 60-second and 15-second versions to promote on social media and other platforms. Take a look! Talking Data Visualisation with Shirley WuIf you're a fellow visual thinker like us, then you'll find this podcast inspiring and it may spark some new ideas in your own work. I was lucky enough to get to chat with Shirley Wu, a data visualisation specialist who shared a bit about what she does—turning complex multi-layered data into beautiful visualisations. Her work makes sense of information that the rest of us would otherwise struggle to grasp. We also got side-tracked talking about our mutual love of the hip hop musical, Hamilton (something she has also created a visualisation about!) Getting a peek into Shirley's world shows just how powerful it is to be able to visualise information, and make it useful to a wider audience—something she does amazingly well. Enjoy!
UX Australia 2020 Wrap-upWe recently sponsored the UX Australia 2020 conference, an event we've been affiliated with for many years. The conference ran virtually for the first time, spanning four days, and I took visual notes of the keynote presentations (which I've included below) and ran a couple of fun mini how-to-sketch workshops for attendees. It was also great to see the organisers being creative in how they utilised technologies like Miro (a digital collaboration tool) to create a bustling hub for attendees and sponsors throughout the life of the event. It really was a model example of how a virtual conference can be more than just a series of webinars, with attendees interacting with each other, posting their thoughts on the content in real time, and exploring sponsor exhibits to enter competitions, access free content, and share job postings—just like you would at an in-person conference! The Miro board was a very interactive and fun addition to the main presentations, and it was exciting to see how the UX Australia team have pivoted to create an event that adapts to the modern world and current restrictions on our lifestyle. It will be interesting to watch this online event space continue to develop. That's all for now, have an amazing rest of your week, and reach out any time if you have questions or need assistance. Stay safe, and well. |