GCC’s Changing Climate by Studio Kontinentalist

Heavy rainfall and freezing winters – how has the climate changed in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region over the last 40 years? This multi-page data tool was created by Aeon Collective, supported by data, design, and development from Kontinentalist Studio.

AEON Collective’s objectives were to encourage discussion, and propel climate action both in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in neighbouring regions and globally. It was first presented at COP26, and continues to be iterated for long-term analysis and use. These datasets and visualisations were shared publicly to encourage further discussions and investigations. After it was presented at COP26, these datasets were covered by Arab News, who also recreated the visualisations on front-page news (https://www.arabnews.com/node/1965691/saudi-arabia).

AEON Collective had compiled several datasets, namely temperature, hot days, heat index, and precipitation for each city. Within each of these were further variables covering mean, max, and min across both summer and winter periods. These datasets had to be visualised all together in a sophisticated, elegant, and meaningful way that invites engagement and discussion.

Kontinentalist created a multi-page data tool that allows users to play around, filtering and selecting multiple variables at once to compare across any number of GCC cities. The data visualisation allows multiple variables to be seen at a glance in a series of sleek, minimalistic concentric circles, with each layer representing something different. This allowed us to include the entire 40-year span in a responsive graphic, where overtime trends will be easily identified and understood. The page was also designed with accessibility concerns, including a switch that allows for a change in colours. We also implemented an Arabic language toggle to ensure readability to native audiences.