- Progress Bar / Timebar
- I included a Timebar across the top of this wireframe so that the user can easily and quickly discern which period of time they were viewing data for. The Timebar also allows them to position in their minds, the relative distances (in time) between periods. This improves the interpretability of the story because it simplifies how users track differences over time by splitting the timeline into eight manageable chunks.
- Consistent Visual Platform
- The world map that I included in this wireframe is an example of a consistent visual platform. I included it because it provides consistency it analyzing the various countries by hovering or clicking on them.
- Feature Distinction
- This wireframe uses feature distinction by highlighting and displaying an annotated arrow for each country when they are either hovered on or clicked on. This improves the interpretability of the story because there is no way all that data could be displayed effectively, but by using feature distinction, all the data is at least available.
- Familiar Objects (but still cuts)
- The line plot at the bottom of the wireframe is an example of the visual narrative element, familiar objects. As the user changes the time period, that chart displays the same type of line plot with a still cut of that time period data.
- Continuity Editing
- I included continuity editing so that users could track the immigration statistics of an individual country over time. They can achieve this by clicking/selecting a country and then proceeding to click through the time periods. This improves the interpretability of the story because it allows users to ask questions and find answers by drilling down into specific subsets of the data.
- Linear Ordering
- The sequence of time periods at the top of the screen are linear because the story is easier to interpret when each time period’s position on the timebar is representative of its position in terms of history.
- Hover Highlighting / Details
- If the user hovers over a country they will see the countries name and the total number of immigrants who moved to the US during the selected time period. This improves the interpretability of the story because users are able to get more detailed information if they so choose.
- Navigation Buttons
- The arrow buttons in the bottom right corner of the wireframe serve as navigation buttons. They will navigate the user between time periods and update the data displayed on the map.
- Annotations
- Both the map and the line chart at the bottom feature annotations to provide the user more contextual information regarding the respective country.