Loneliness a global epidemic
Information design
CLIENT: Student Project
2025
OVERVIEW
This project was set to design for a magazine focused on raising awareness of social issues through infographic-led design and the clear communication of quantitative data. As a group we were tasked with designing a double-page spread infographic, supported by a series of animated assets for social media promotion. Within this brief, our group chose to explore the issue of loneliness and social isolation, using data, visual storytelling, and motion to translate complex statistics into an emotionally engaging narrative for a wide audience.
Challenge
We quickly realised that designing work that is both easy to digest and impactful becomes significantly more difficult when working with quantitative data. Numbers can be challenging for audiences to interpret, and without careful consideration, data can easily become overwhelming or misleading.
A major challenge we faced was selecting meaningful datasets that could be translated into clear visuals. Although there was a wide range of available data surrounding loneliness and social isolation, not all of it was suitable for visualisation. The data collection process itself was time-consuming and required careful organisation, so we divided tasks within the group where I was a part of focusing on gathering and analysing datasets, while other teammates began sketching potential visual responses using the data we collected.
Through this process, we narrowed our research down to six key datasets. Alongside this, we explored multiple visual approaches through sketching and experimentation, ensuring the information remained accessible while also conveying a sense of hope rather than reinforcing negativity.
We began by carefully selecting datasets that were visually and emotionally communicative. This meant prioritising data that could clearly demonstrate patterns and change over time, rather than attempting to visualise everything available.
Through extensive sketching and experimentation, we tested multiple visual systems – such as maps, pictograms, and line graphs – to identify the best ways to communicate each dataset. Visual hierarchy and scale were used deliberately to guide the reader through the information on the page.
RESEARCH
For the animation deliverable, each member chose a graph to bring to life. My focus was the pictogram, which I started by creating a storyboard to plan the movement and pacing of the video. Once the storyboard was finalised, I moved into After Effects to animate the character, carefully considering timing and the flow to make the animation engaging but still easy to follow.
The next step was to digitise some of our sketches and test how they would work at scale. We focused on translating the graphs into three different concepts, this allowed us to see how the visualisations interacted within the layout and refine the design before committing to the final infographic.
DESIGN
We began the process of combining the strongest elements from our three concepts to form a our final infographic. This stage required careful evaluation of each layout to determine what communicated the message most effectively. We selected the map as the hero graphic due to its immediate visual impact and ability to communicate global scale. Colour and typography were also refined at this stage to ensure consistency and emotional alignment with the theme of loneliness.
As the static design evolved, the animation work progressed alongside it. After creating the simple story board I moved to After Effects and started working through it frame by frame. I imported the needed character for the frame and followed my sketches. If I encountered time issues or ways to enhance the flow I would make slight changes to my story board, to ensure the animation is within the time limit and has a smooth motion throughout.
