iWill Study by Studio NAND

Studio NAND worked with researchers from one of the largest university hospitals in Europe, Charité, and the Max PIanck Institute to tackle misinformation and misunderstanding of COVID-19 vaccination risks through interactive data visualization. Our brief was to built a series of interactive visualizations to be used in a large scientific study.

We have designed data visualizations that allow non-experts to understand how the virus spreads and how vaccination protects agains infection. We have created two simulations that compare how vaccinated and unvaccinated people fare against an exposition to the SARS‑CoV‑2 virus. These simulations use scrollytelling as a core mechanism to convey their stories.

In a playful way, users build up ‘stacks’ of COVID infection cases for either vaccinated or non-vaccinated people. The more they scroll, the more expositions they trigger. At the end of each session, the visualizations explain the vast difference between both groups to emphasize the benefits of a vaccination. These explanations use data visualizations as their core visual element.

To minimize the cognitive load on participants, and besides the simulations for the actual study, we also designed an animated step-by-step onboarding that introduces visual elements, possible interactions, and each simulation scenario.