Immigration Policy Is Innovation Policy by Graphicacy

Immigration remains a hot-button issue in American politics—and it needs clarity. Enter the Economic Innovation Group (EIG), a bipartisan public policy organization. EIG is committed to creating a more dynamic American economy – a key ingredient of which is high-skilled immigration. With their “Immigration Policy Is Innovation Policy” initiative, EIG highlights the impact of immigration using economic data and statistics. And the numbers don’t lie: Immigrants develop innovative technologies and scientific discoveries, create American jobs, and revitalize communities.

While EIG’s statistics were simple enough to understand, they wanted to broaden awareness and excite a diverse audience of users. A more compelling narrative could also help local thought leaders make the case for welcoming more skilled immigrants within their communities.

To achieve their goals, EIG turned to Graphicacy to produce engaging visual storytelling that brings the numbers to life and underscores how skilled immigration contributes to dynamism in the American economy. Visitors are presented key takeaways through a lively mix of scroll-triggered charts, maps, interwoven photographs, and illustrative elements that humanize, and bring historical context to, the scrollytelling experience. A full site menu, accessible at key junctures, allows users to jump to topical chapters in the narrative thus facilitating a self-directed journey through the content.

The data-driven narrative that Graphicacy designed and built was ultimately paired with a series of EIG-produced video case studies based on individual immigrant stories. This combination allows users to zoom out, and in a visually engaging and accessible way, capture the big picture of why skilled immigrants are so essential before diving into the grounding reality of inspiring and emotional personal stories.