Shivam

Telling Stories With Data - Final Project: Part 2


After every fall, there is a rise...

A ray of hope for CMU Heinz Graduates in these times of layoffs.

1. Wireframes and Storyboard

The initial version of the wireframe and storyboard for the project (built using Shorthand) can be accessed using this link.

Note: Some updates were made to the initial draft of the storyboard based on user feedback in Project Part 2. The link to the final version of the storyboard can be found in Project Part 3.


2. User Research

Target Audience

  • The primary audience of this project is the master's students at the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).

Approach to Identifying Interviewees

  • Since my primary audience is CMU's Heinz graduate students, and I wish to show them a ray of hope in these challenging times of layoffs, I selected all my interviewees from various graduate programs at the Heinz college.
  • These interviewees would help me get focused and targeted feedback from my actual audience.
  • I selected three interviewees (all about the same age - mid 20's) from three different graduate programs (MISM Global, MISM-16, MSISPM) at Heinz College. Such variation would help me get feedback from a diverse audience.

Interview Script


Question Intent
What sticks to your mind? To understand the "Ah-Ha" moment in the storyboard
Is the presentation clear and easy to understand? Was the flow logical? To understand if the presentation made sense and to evaluate the effectiveness of the communication
Do you feel engaged? To understand if the presentation was appealing and engaging
Did you find anything unclear? Any unanswered questions? Any confusions? To know if something in the presentation is broken and needs more work or needs to be changed/removed
Are the color scheme and visualizations logical? Is it suitable for the theme of the project? Any changes required? To understand if the theme, visualizations and color scheme work well and go in line with the presentation
Do you see the ray of hope that I wish to convey? Is the "hope" described in the presentation sufficient or something is lacking? To understand if the presentation is reaching out to the audience in conveying the message
What would you change? Any new ideas? Any suggestions? To get new ideas and learn about specific improvements
Is there a clear call to action or next step? To understand if the conclusion made sense

Interview Results


Question MISM Global Student MISM-16 Student MSISPM Student
What sticks to your mind? The dogs in between. The visualizations were amazing. They were so interactive. I liked the race chart. The running lines in one of the chart.
Is the presentation clear and easy to understand? Was the flow logical? Yes, I found it easy to understand. Sometimes, the images and visualizations were not loading at the beginning. But after a few seconds of wait, they work fine. The flow was proper. I really enjoyed it. Yes it was easy to understand and the flow was logical.
Do you feel engaged? Yes, I feel engaged. I wanted to know more about the topic after reading the title. For sure. The title got my eyes glued to the screen looking for hope. Yeah, it was quite engaging. All the visualizations were interesting and they gave out quite a lot of useful information.
Did you find anything unclear? Any unanswered questions? Any confusions? Things are clear in general. But, I find a lot of '!' marks at a lot of places. I am not sure if they are appropriate at all places. Nope! The presentation was sound and clear to me. Not really. A lot of things were covered very well and the information was interesting.
Are the color scheme and visualizations logical? Is it suitable for the theme of the project? Any changes required? In the graph which had a lot of circles, the names were not visible for the small circles. Maybe you can work around this. Sometimes, red, blue and white all three at one place do not go well. Makes me think of the US flag. You can see if you can play around a bit here. Some paragraphs/text areas had a lot of colors. Try working with lesser colors if possible. I find the color scheme to be good. The visualizations are appropriate as well. The photos at some places are not very relevant. Maybe you can change them a bit.
Do you see the ray of hope that I wish to convey? Is the "hope" described in the presentation sufficient or something is lacking? After waiting for so long, when I saw the first hope, I was indeed not satisfied. I felt the wait was not worth it. But eventually, with more specific hopes, it worked out well. Yes, I was waiting for the hope for so long and it appeared finally. The way you made the presentation progress was very nice. Yeah, I see the hope that you wish to convey.
What would you change? Any new ideas? Any suggestions? There were a lot of lines in the chart where you were comparing the salaries of the different programs. They are good. But, maybe, you can show only two lines. One with the average salary of the Heinz program and the other with the US overall. Nothing much apart from the point regarding color choice that I mentioned earlier. Maybe, the photos of the dogs were not that relevant since we are talking about Heinz graduates. But maybe, to add the fun, they might work as well.
Is there a clear call to action or next step? Yes, I need to be calm and keep applying. Yeah, there is hope for me and all Heinz graduates. Yes, there is a clear call to action such as keep applying, keep hunting for jobs, don't worry and everything would be good in the end.

Next plan of action


Note: Some of the below actions were suggested during the in-class feedback.
  • Work around the color choice a bit. Try to have lesser colors where possible.
  • Use lesser '!' marks.
  • Update the graph which compares the salaries of the Heinz college graduates. Include an average line and compare it with the US overall. Maybe, I could have a drop-down that allows comparing each program (and the Heinz average) with the US overall one by one.
  • Add more relevant photos to the presentation.
  • In the initial long story, which starts with "What's in the air at the renowned CMU's Heinz College?", try highlighting important words and check how they fit the presentation and design.
  • Highlight the main tech hubs (cities) in the circle graph with a different color.
  • Add a graph showing the employment statistics of Heinz graduates during the time of COVID (which was a recession period as well).
  • For the race chart, dark maroon and black look the same from a far eye. I would try playing with the colors of the lines in the race chart.

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