Brief
The figure above is a visualisation of Wildfires in Australia. Australia faced catastrophic wildfires of unprecedented levels between 2019 and 2020, making it one of the worst wildfires the country has ever experienced when measured by the environmental and financial impact (Filkov et al., 2020). The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, commonly known as NASA, collects fire-related data using its satellites, and this data is usually made available. The underlying data used in creating the visualisation in Figure 1 is from NASA’s active fire data repository. This report aims to provide details on the visualisation above, covering the design process, goal and inspiration and critique of the visualisation.
The design process can be broadly divided into four steps. These steps were heavily inspired by the double-diamond design framework developed by the Design Council. The framework provides an iterative design process using the 4 D’s – discover, define, develop, and deliver – to help designers address issues relevant to society. Referencing the double-diamond framework, the steps are:
1. Understanding the data
2. Defining an intended goal for the visualisation
3. Exploratory data analysis
4. Implementing design goals
References
Filkov, A. I., Ngo, T., Matthews, S., Telfer, S., & Penman, T. D. (2020). Impact of Australia’s catastrophic 2019/20 bushfire season on communities and environment.
Framework for Innovation: Design Council’s evolved Double Diamond—Design Council. (2019, May 17). https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/skills-learning/tools-frameworks/framework-for-innovation-design-councils-evolved-double-diamond/