In this age of data creation, personal data visualization has emerged as a key tool for understanding the nuances of our behaviors, habits, and emotions. These visual representations can reveal patterns in everything from our digital screen time to our emotional states, turning abstract numbers into insightful narratives about our daily lives. When done well, this can lead to increased self-awareness, improved decision-making, and enhanced personal growth.
A classic example of personal data visualization is the ‘Dear Data’ project. This unique endeavor by designers Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec is a testament to the storytelling power of data. Over the course of a year, they turned weekly personal data collection into intricate, postcard-sized data visualizations, covering everything from their complaints to moments of laughter. Their innovative approach demonstrated that data isn’t just about business trends or scientific research—it’s also about highlighting the patterns of our daily lives in compelling and meaningful ways.
Dear Data Project
At the start of my data visualization course, we were introduced to the ‘Dear Data’ project as preparation for our own personal data collection. First, we had to come up with three main questions about ourselves, each with their own sub questions. Next, we had to choose one of our main questions and begin recording our data in real time.
How much time do I spend consuming online content?
- How many hours am I spending consuming online content a day?
- What platforms do I use the most to watch content? (YouTube, Twitch, Netflix, etc.)
- What genres or types of content am I consuming? (Funny or creative content, gaming content, TV or movies)
- How long do I spend on each platform? On each type of content?
At the end of the week, it was time to analyze, organize, and visualize our data. I struggled to find any significant patterns in my data besides the fact that I watched YouTube content every day, and at least one episode of a television show on any streaming service. When it was finally time to start the process of visualizing, I went back to my collected data that I had organized into a table. The first column being the days of the week (starting with Mon and ending with Sun) and the top row being “Total Watch Time,” “Platforms and Time,” “Type of Content,” and “Time Spent on Each Type.” From here, I started sketching different ways to visualize my data which ultimately led to a chart of sorts using plants and roots. Dear Data: A Week of Online Content is presented below:
As part of my visualization process, I looked back at the Dear Data examples for inspiration and came across Week 27: A Week of Media. This was one of my favorites because I liked how she used a series of plants to visually represent her data. I decided to adopt a similar style for my visualization where each plant is a day of the week, with the top half of plants illustrating the platforms and time, and the bottom half of roots illustrating the time spent on each type of content.