DataViz
Wireframes and Storyboard
Food insecurity in college students is the major focus of the story but a lot of additional aspects need to be explored to fully tell the full picture, food waste in the US, and food insecurity globally, nationally, and within campuses. The wireframes developed followed the story arch on starting from understanding food waste in the US then understanding food insecurity that still exists. The narrowing down of the story was using key statistics to move from a global perspective to a national perspective then the student’s perspective. After this narrowing down, the rest of the article focuses on the problem of food insecurity among students and how different socio-economic factors play in who has access to food. The story then took a turn to call out the solution which involves food waste in the US and repurposing wasted prepped meals as well as donations to national and local food banks.
Link to shorthand: https://preview.shorthand.com/X7rFo4Ion2dIy7iA
User Research and Interviews
To get feedback from the initial website draft, three participants were recruited. Two participants were former college students, and one participant was a current college student. Two participants went to a private 4-year university, one participant went to a public 4-year university. The participants all identified as female between the ages of 23-29 years. Participants were selected because they had different timeframes of when they were in school from currently still in school to 7-year alumni. Because most of the results showed more disparity among female students, they were also the target group to explore. There were also varied amounts of funding they received from federal aid with one participant receiving a federal Pell Grant and one participant not getting federal aid but scholarships from a private university. They all went to different schools and all studied different majors in school.
The following questions were created to elicit feedback from the wireframes:
- What is the story trying to convey? Why do you think that? What elements of the website add to your understanding of the story? What elements do not?
- What is the key statistic being presented in this story? How do you know this?
- What are the charts trying to convey?
- How effective is the call to action portion of the story?
- Anything else to add that was not covered?
Summary of Feedback
The summary of the feedback is included in the table below:
Interview Feedback Summary
| Questions | Interviewer 1 | Interviewer 2 | Interviewer 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is the story trying to convey? | Pretty straightforward, and I was able to follow along with the story. Got hung up by the section that says “HUNGER by COLLEGE STUDENTS” - should it be “in” not “by”? Also, did not understand the percentage values in the text - the gray or the red? | The statistics of students without food resonate with me because I remember being hungry in college too but this is very informational! Didn’t understand some of the graphs though. | I was confused about the story because the first page talks about hunger but then we start talking about food waste and oversupply and no mention of college students till the end. |
| Why do you think that? | Being exposed to the news. Wasn’t aware of it before. | Just the information presented on the website. | I am following the graphics and nothing points to students or hunger or food insecurity. |
| What elements of the website add to your understanding of the story? | I like the clear data statistics and the graphics. | The words, the written data, and the comparisons. | I like the called-out statistics and some of the charts. Also like the consistency in most of the colors and the comparisons. |
| What elements do not? | None | The graphs. | I do not like that the stadium is there without any food context. It’s confusing. Also, the Race and Gender chart has too much information, maybe split it? |
| What is the key statistic being presented in this story? | I like that Hunger is a pervasive problem and affects more people than we realize. | College students are hungry. | There is a lot of food but also a lot of hunger. |
| How do you know this? | From what was shared on the data and statistics. | I read it on the website. | It seems like what is being presented is there is so much food but not enough people get it. |
| What are the charts trying to convey? | Some of the charts can be clarified like the pie charts. | I can only understand some of the charts but the chart about race and gender breakdown for students was difficult to understand. | I think some of the charts are redundant. I am not sure why the US map is there and why the pie charts are there when the pies can be condensed into one thing and we are supposed to be referring to students, not the entire US. |
| How effective is the call to action portion of the story? | I think it is effective. | I think is very effective. | I don’t have an issue with it. |
| Anything else to add that was not covered? | You can focus on the fact that even in wealthy countries like the US, there are still disparities in necessities like food and water that should be addressed by the government and capitalist companies should not be emboldened to contribute to food waste for the sake of their bottom line. There are also environmental impacts down the road. | Not really. | It seems like the story is very disconnected. It seems to be referring to food waste then US food insecurity is not enough about colleges and students without you explaining it. I would clean up the story and rearrange some slides. |
Summary of User Feedback
Some of the concerns raised by the participants were the lack of understanding of some of the major graphs. A key one that kept coming up in both the interviews and the class activities was the food insecurity disparities between race and gender. Most participants could not understand what was being presented and why it was important. When explained to them they were visibly shocked by the results which made it seem like they initially glossed over it or misinterpreted the graph. The graphs were not connected and seemed to be thrown together so it was hard to follow the story.
Another concern was the use of color to indicate areas of food security in the pie chart. While people were able to follow the different pie charts it became evident that people were spending too much time trying to compare the difference between what was on the left and what was on the right. And some users that used their phones made it even harder because they were not aligned. A participant did not see the point of these charts if the message trying to be communicated was some factors cause more food insecurity.
Another issue that was brought up was the effectiveness of the call-out statistics narrowing it down to college students although some participants think more could be done visually to present that information.
Participants liked the use of color and the theme of the presentation but found it a little difficult to draw information in a few seconds from the plots and instead found themselves asking questions like why the a dip in 2020 in the amount of food wasted by colleges.
Ultimately, people were confused by the story flow that I presented starting with the cover page and then immediately going to food waste. A better flow of information is needed to explain the story without me being there.
Changes
Based on the interview findings the following changes need to be made:
- Including citations to the statistics and write-ups: To enhance the credibility and allow users to verify and explore the data further.
- Finding a better way to explain or represent the disparities between race and gender in food insecurity: This involves using clearer visualizations or narratives that make it easier for users to understand the significance and impact of these disparities.
- Adding labels to the pie charts or completely finding a way to point out the difference between the two groups of people: Improving the clarity of pie charts by labeling or redesigning them to clearly differentiate and explain the data segments.
- Include more graphics to understand how large the numbers are and on the call-out statics page: Utilizing visual aids like infographics to make statistics more digestible and impactful, helping users grasp the scale of the issues presented.
- Having a better flow between the food colleges’ waste and the call to action: Streamlining the narrative and visual journey from presenting the problem (food waste by colleges) to urging the viewer towards a specific action, ensuring a logical and persuasive progression.
- Rearranging the flow of the presentation: The story arc is a little too confusing to follow so rearranging some slides to group US and Student specific information together would be ideal
- Other Editing Tips: Other suggestions on changing the color of oversupply from red and sticking to food insecurity through the presentation was called out as well as alignment of the website information.