5. Make data feel tangible.

CrisisMapSensemaking In our studies on crisis maps, viewers often related the maps to their own lives. They assessed local risks, reflected on personal responsibility, and shared experiences, such as recalling past crisis occurrences, such as heatwaves, or expressing concern for affected areas. Some responded with motivation, others with empathy, showing how personal connection is tied to engagement.

ClimateVisInterviews Lay participants repeatedly expressed the need for climate visualizations to show what the data means for their own lives. Charts lacking this connection were described as detached or uninteresting. Infographics with relatable references or solution framing were viewed as more motivating and engaging.

SciAmMessageAnalysis Coders’ field notes captured emotional reactions when visuals touched on familiar topics or timeframes. References to local events or political figures often prompted personal reflection or motivated search for further information.

ClimateVisInterviews In our interviews, both experts and lay viewers criticized visualizations that lacked actionable guidance. Lay viewers preferred climate-related scenarios with tangible outcomes or region-specific impacts, like local temperature rise. Infographics were seen as more motivating when they visualized solutions, while experts emphasized formats that illustrate where action could influence the future.

SciAmMessageAnalysis Staff from the popular science magazine Scientific American used captions, especially titles, to shift chart interpretations toward solutions. Visualizations perceived as negative were often reinterpreted as hopeful when captions highlighted avoidable outcomes through policy action.

SciAmInterviews Editors described choosing and framing visual stories to resonate emotionally and stimulate change, especially around climate change and COVID-19. They often judged audience relevance based on their own emotional reaction to the topic and aimed to balance urgency with avoidance of fatigue.

SemanticContextExperiment When viewers compared charts with semantic context to ones without it, they preferred charts with visual anchors, such as bodies, maps, or object outlines, because they offered intuitive context. These cues made it easier to interpret data without heavy reliance on text, unlike more abstract formats like bar charts.

ClimateVisInterviews Lay participants stated that they found charts with icons more understandable and engaging, even when the underlying data was the same. Further, visualizations using icons were not viewed as less trustworthy.

VisProducerInterviews Practitioners described how humanizing elements, like showing where people died or embedding stories, helped counteract detachment and made charts feel more emotionally grounded. They cautioned against relying solely on icons and instead emphasized localized data, photos, and coherent narratives.

CrisisMapSensemaking In our studies, viewers were notably more engaged with crisis maps when content related to familiar places and they expressed frustration with unfamiliar regions, suggesting that localized or personally relevant content is able to improve engagement. However, strong personal identification sometimes distracted viewers from the data, indicating that while personalization may enhance relevance, especially for digitally native audiences, it can also divert focus and therefore might not be suitable for every audience group.