Arcadia —
Interactive maps to visualize partisanship

I collaborated with front-end developer Rekha Tenjarla to create three interactive map visualizations that allow readers to look up how politically partisan their home county is.

Overview

For an Atlantic piece on political intolerance, we were given data for how politically partisan each county in the U.S. ranked. In some places, Americans are quicker to dislike or stereotype those who hold different political views, while other places are more accepting of others despite disagreements. Using this data, we created interactive d3.js maps to accompany the article. The final maps looked like this:

UI Exploration

Legend: numerical scores didn't convey much information to the reader, so simpler language and a horizontal legend (optimized for mobile/desktop) were used.

UX Considerations

• Disable tapping on maps for mobile because of small screen size
  • Use search bar instead!
• Tooltip should be auto-positioned in mobile
  • Won't get cut out of the small screen
  • Won't overlap with the county
• Simplify tooltip text so it feels personal, friendly, and informative

Final Maps

Explore the maps here! Look up your home county to see how politically prejudiced it's ranked and read about the data findings in the article.

But wait

...there were map cupcakes (mapcakes!) to celebrate the launch, courtesy of our lovely product manager, Anika.