For my data sketch, I chose to focus on global COVID-19 vaccine disparity. Living in a Western country, having the privilege to be vaccinated I feel that often I, and so many of my peers living in the US, often forget that poorer countries are greatly suffering with vaccine rollout and COVID-19 overall. Being an Indian-American, my family in India continues to struggle and I wanted to depict this disparity in my data sketch between the United Kingdom and India specifically.
India, despite being the major vaccine producer in the world, is struggling with both vaccine rollout and availability. Richer Western countries continue to mass-order vaccines, leaving India with little to nothing for it’s own people. In my sketch, I depicted the number of COVID-19 vaccines administered per 100 people. Both of the dark blue circles represent 100 people. The light blue circles represent the the number of vaccines administered per 100 people. On the right we have India, India has been able to administer 44.48 vaccines per 100 people. While on the left we have the UK, the UK has been able to administer 132.64 vaccines per 100 people. 132.64 vaccines per 100 people, that’s a whopping amount considered India and other poorer countries haven’t been able to even give a single dose to more than half of their population. The lines connecting both the country’s vaccine administrations represent the UK “leeching” India’s vaccine production. I added some space between the two circle sets to kind of illustrate the disconnect between the Western world’s population and poorer countries, as Western populations continue to be ignorant to this disparity that will only elongate the existence of COVID-19 globally.
I was wondering if I got across the feeling of disconnect between the two populations, did the spacing give the idea or should I add another component to emphasize it?
Source: https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=USA~GBR~IND
This piece is very easy to follow visually! I like it. The feeling of disconnect was shown very well as the large space between gives a visual sense of distance from the bodies. The connecting lines point out that although the two countries are divided by such a large margin vaccine-wise, they are still connected, which really pushed your point of how India continues to be used, widening the gap in progress compared to western countries.
If you would like to emphasize the disconnect, even more, you could always space the two bodies further away.
I think that the spacing does give a good impression that the countries are disconnected from each other! That being said, it is slightly reduced from the connecting lines between the circles. I still really like the lines — perhaps something to indicate directionality would show that Western countries are TAKING the vaccines from poorer countries (as opposed to helping them or providing them with vaccines).
I like the visualization of the data ratio. I feel that you could use animation to showcase the disconnect better. For example, you could have the lines be forcefully pulled from the India circle and towards the UK circle.
I think the piece shows distance and how the two populations are distanced. The colors work well too, but maybe you should add something symbolic between the two to display a disconnect between the two.
I really like the abstractness of your shapes- the lines are a really interesting way to remind us that although the data is from separate countries, we are all in this together and are still connected no matter what we do. This is not an isolated issue, but a global one, so when one country suffers we all do. It captures the duality of disconnect and connectedness really well.
The concept communicates itself very well, and I believe that animating the two groups separating further as the circles fill/empty would communicate it even more effectively.
I think that the use of the space between the two circles is strong, but in my own opinion maybe the lines are a bit distracting from the point? I think it could be nice to see them either a bit thinner or with an animated photo/video that has a motion towards the UK circle to express the point. (Though I believe it is a beautiful data depiction as is as well 🙂 )
The populations actual seem rather connected in my opinion, due to the lines connecting them. I think that might be another advantage of the idea you mentioned in class, where instead of lines you have little circles moving from one to the other.
The composition and the shape all feels very effective to me. The color scheme does give me a feeling of the vaccine and medecine, but at the same time it also feels a bit too peaceful. Changing the color scheme on the right side might be a better way to convey the anger behind.
The visual representation that there is a disconnect and that one circle (or sphere) is taking more than the other one is very clear, but the bright colors don’t really convey the frustration I felt was implied in the description.
the lines are strong in showing the discontent portion but maybe the lines could be arrows or could vary in thickness to show how the vaccine flows to one country and does not go back.
I think the lines could be thinner to highlight the large space between the circles more, and you could use pulsating / scale animation to kind of simulate that idea of sucking resources from something else to strengthen oneself. That, or you could animate colors over the lines that indicate direction and that something is being taken away.
I think this is a very well done and thought-out piece. I think you did a very good job showing the differences and the disconnect between the two countries. I agree with others that you should try to use directionality to your advantage. This may not be relevant to your original intent, but I am curious what a visual representation of how the stealing of vaccines has affected COVID infections in these populations as well (but that would be extraneous information for this piece, it is really effective as-is).
I think the spacing and shapes does the concept justice! The lines connecting the two also make it look as if one is taking away from the other. Possibly exaggerating that might be helpful.