2021
10 things I learnt from my own data viz after spending 75 days alone in lockdown
Country/area: United Kingdom
Organisation: Medium
Organisation size: Big
Publication date: 11 Dec 2020
Credit: Chesca Kirkland (solo project)
Project description:
A data visualisation exploring the relationship between different variables, documented daily throughout the UK’s first national lockdown as a result of COVID-19. All data points documented were from April 1st 2020 to June 30th 2020, totalling 91 days. The first 75 of these days were spent in solitude living in a second floor flat with no outdoor space, the final 15 days were spent in a house with 3 housemates and a garden.
Impact reached:
The power of visualising this data has revealed patterns and trends about myself that I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t have visualised them how I did.
Seeing the patterns emerge I now have a clearer idea of the key things that positively impact my mental wellbeing: regular meditation, time in solitude, and tangible creative projects.
Techniques/technologies used:
I used google sheets to collect all the raw data, and then after sketches in my notebook, designed three posters on Adobe Illustrator, all by hand.
What was the hardest part of this project?
The hardest part of this project was visulising 14 different data sets onto one graphic that can be easily understood by an audience that isn’t use to reading data vilusations or infographics. Beacause I myself am a graphic designer, as well as the one creating it, I knew instincitvely knew how to read the graphical language, however someone from a different background might not have the same intuitions.
What can others learn from this project?
By seeing patterns and trends within the data viz, it gave me the chance to step back and assess the patterns in my behaviour and how they impacted my wellbeing. Seeing the patterns emerge I now have a clearer idea of the key things that positively impact my mental wellbeing: regular meditation, time in solitude, and tangible creative projects.
Maybe we should all be applying the benefits of data vis to our own wellbeing?
