Project description:

24 hours in the most legendary gas station of Helsinki is a visual reportage that deconstructs what happens in a day in a gas station. The calculator shows real time how many cups of coffee and how many donuts are being sold, how many customers and how much money is coming in, as we move hour by hour in the story. The day contains one robbery attempt, one homeless person, one celebrity, many taxi drivers, regulars, first-timers, young and old, drunk and sober. Like any day in this family-owned gas station. 

Impact reached:

240 000 readers, that is an excellent number for us. We were able to show what happens behind the scenes in a legendary place in Helsinki that everyone has visited. 

Techniques/technologies used:

The story is a combo of various techniques. It all started with counting things and making an excel, how many donuts did the sell, how many coffee cups, how many trash bins they empty, how many steps was in the owners sports app. We got a lot of data also from the gas stations sales/ order systems. The visual layout of the story is a combo of videos, photos, code and visualized data. 

What was the hardest part of this project?

To be honest, reporting. It’s against our working hours act, to work over 12 hours in a row, and in this project, you couldn’t take breaks. So, we needed to have double staff for the reporting, to be sure we don’t miss anything during those 24 hours.  

The story is a fun sneak peek behind the scenes in a place that everyone knows, but no one prob thinks, how it works actually. 

What can others learn from this project?

Counting stuff is fun and rewarding! 

Project links:

dynamic.hs.fi/2020/eltsu24h/