A Six-Foot Tall Cubical Dataviz Exhibit For Google News Summit by Revisual Labs

When the media platform Yuvaa approached us to create a data visualisation installation for the Google News Summit, we were excited about making our first physical exhibit! The project was a collaboration with Google News Initiative and Kantar, and we were tasked with transforming complex research into three mini-data stories about news consumption in India.

Our journey began with a mountain of raw data - qualitative and quantitative insights about free news users, subscriber preferences, and reader loyalty. Unlike typical data projects, this was going to be a physical, 6x6 ft installation that had to engage with event attendees.

The process was highly collaborative. With one lead designer and three supporting designers, we started with team-wide brainstorming sessions, also looping in everyone at our agency into the ideation process. We broke down the research, identified the most thought-provoking insights, and began sketching out how we could bring these to life.

We ended up designing three sides of a cube, each with its own thematic and storytelling approach. The first section about free users became a multilingual exploration of news preferences, with stylized language-based character dots designed by our intern. For the subscriber section, we introduced a participatory element - inviting summit attendees to guess survey responses and then reveal the actual data, creating a moment of surprise and engagement.

Our dataviz developer built custom code to generate charts that incorporated our design guidelines, which helped us move quickly through iterations and ensure accuracy. We worked closely with the client, presenting layouts on a rolling basis and refining our approach continuously.

The final installation was a careful balance of data and thoughtful design. We spent significant time in Adobe Illustrator, setting up a typography system that would work at such a large scale, ensuring every detail was perfect.