Dear Data
What is Dear Data?
Dear Data was a collaborative handmade project. Me and a partner created a weekly data portrait of data that we collected for three weeks. At the beginning of the week we would choose a topic to track then we collected our data and designed our charts on our own. At the end of a week, we showed our findings and compared our different approaches.
Research
Dear Data was originally a collaborative project created by designers Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec. For 52 weeks they tracked their data and sent each other post cards of charts they designed based off of the topic they were tracking for the week. After sending many of these post cards to each other for a year they became friends.
Week 3- Shopping Habits
Data Tracking
Process Sketches
Week 2- What We Drank
Data Portrait Sketches
These first sketch iterations I made for each week. They are close to my final sketches but all had too much “chart junk” when I first sketched them with the elements I chose to represent what I tracked.
Week 1 -Tiktok/Reel Content
Side by Side
Week 1
The first week we went in different design directions. I made a more organic design while Riley made a design that aligns with the app designs on phones. We had similar ideas for the icons such as the heart for liking a reel/tiktok and colors for the type of content.
Week 2
Week 3
What we learned
Overall, Riley and I learned a little more about our own habits and about each other. I had a lot of fun with this project being able to get off of the screen and make something with my hands and tracking data I otherwise would not think about on a day to day basis.
This week we focused on tracking what kind of short form content we consume in a week. I tracked what Instagram Reels I watched in the morning and evening. I watched them in groups of 5. I tracked the type and how I interacted with the content.
I decided to make these branch/tree designs to be a metaphor of how online content can branch off and lead down a rabbit hole of more content. I also wanted to contrast an organic design with the digital nature of Instagram Reels.
After this week was done I have a better understanding of what content I consume which much of it consists of animal themed reels and craft videos.
For week 2, we tracked what we drink in a week. I tracked the type of drinks, the cups I used, time of day, and the amount.
I originally was tracking as much as the amount of sips I drank but decided to condense them down to make the chart not so full. I decided on doing a bubble design since drinks are associated with bubbles and to give a simple and clean look for the design.
After this week was done, I learned I drink water mainly in the mornings I am at work and sugary drinks in the evening.
For the final week of the project we tracked our shopping habits. I tracked what I shopped for, if I actually purchased the item, if I had it on a list, and the amount shopped for.
The design was inspired by tags on shelves. I used icons that are commonly associated with shopping like the cart, carrot for groceries, and the heart for wish lists.
Overall, I learned that I do a lot of shopping in a week both online and in person. I mostly do my grocery shopping on daysI work.
For Week 2, we had similar icons such as the water drop and lightning. We also had similar ways to represent the amount we drank. We both made linear charts but I decided on a horizontal chart and Riley made a vertical chart. I find the similarities of our charts interesting since we did not share our designs at all during the week yet we both had similar ideas on how to draw them.
When looking at our Week 3 charts , I decided to represent my data more linearly while Riley used more groupings of his icons for his data. We both had similar ideas of what symbols would represent shopping actions as well as using lots of color.