What is #dataviz animation good for? A thread with examples.
By far the most common and intuitive use is to show time
Population over time
Global temperature change over time
Political polarization over time
#interactive" target="_blank" rel="noopener" onclick="event.stopPropagation()">people-press.org
#interactive" target="_blank" rel="noopener" onclick="event.stopPropagation()">people-press.org
Position in the pool over time
The NYT example also shows movement in space. Another more intuitive use for animation.
Movement of balls
@karimdouieb/all-the-passes" target="_blank" rel="noopener" onclick="event.stopPropagation()">observablehq.com
@karimdouieb/all-the-passes" target="_blank" rel="noopener" onclick="event.stopPropagation()">observablehq.com
Perhaps less intuitive for a creator, but powerful for the viewer is to Show Process
Or the simplified process of going from high school player to NBA superstar (or not)
pudding.cool
pudding.cool
Or dropping from a high income household to a lower income household
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
Far less common is using animation to show variability.
Folks at the University of Washington did some of the original research with Hypothetical Outcome Plots
medium.com
medium.com
And election predictions with the dreaded needle
Panning and zooming can be effective to emphasize or deemphasize data points
Emphasizing just how much Flint's water is beyond the standard
Emphasizing the immensity of the new interest in Prince after his death
pudding.cool
pudding.cool
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