Asia Research Institute
Interactive data visualization
Please view the web version at http://decks.vslashr.com/ARI/ for a better user experience of this proposal.
Objectives
Design and develop a digital interactive piece for the Asia Research Institute.
The aim is to draw people in - the public, academia, journalists, government folks - and showcase the breadth and depth of the work that ARI has done.
Highlights include showing the interconnectiveness, collaboration and rigor of their work across Asia.
Design philosophy: Explorables
We are a studio who believes in explorables, or learning through interaction and play.
Our work are web-based pieces that often work on multiple form factors, including mobiles, tablets and desktops.
This way of doing content is often loved by our clients, as they can easily repurpose the content as websites, videos, etc.
Ideas
Concept: Interactive 3D globe
Because the work of the Asia Research Institute is regional, it makes sense to show the breadth of the work over a spatial region.
One interaction idea is to project a 3D Earth globe and mark interactive locations (or arcs if you are showing relationships)
Have a timeline (by year) that will allow users to "play" the visualization and show change over time. Great for showcasing the history of the organization, and how things have changed.
Concept: Interactive 2D spatial viz
You could also focus on a more specific area if it is just Asia, and project it on a 2D / 2.5D map. Here's an example of that kind of treatment.
Concept: Interactive directory
Another interactive visualization idea is a directory of sorts, where you can group events and projects into some kind of visualization.
Here is an example. Here are some others.
This interactive piece designed for Temasek was run on a large banquet sized hall screen. The visualization data was live and updated over the course of the 3-day event via a 3rd party app.
Concept: Interactive storytelling deck
All of the above visualization types probably need some kind of storyline, or narrative hook to guide the end users.
If you want an interactive format that is more storybook or interactive slide style, this is also something that can be done. Other examples.
This interactive piece designed for BASF was meant to run on self-serving big touch screens at events, but can also be run on mobiles / tablets / websites.
Data / storytelling
Explorables need data and a story hook in order to work.
Depending on what the end result is, we will work with the Asia Research Institute to figure out a concept that will make sense.
If it is a visualization, I think it would likely be a spatial viz or directory of some sort.
If it is telling a guided story, I would pick a more slide-like or narrative kind of presentation.
Technical specifications
One of the roadblocks in visualization projects is integrating with existing infrastructure or making sure it runs on old browsers.
We support modern browsers in the last 2 years. Chrome, Firefox, Edge, iOS Safari, Chrome Android, Safari MacOS are the 6 we support.
Older browsers (esp. Internet Explorer before Edge) will be charged at an additional cost. We highly recommend not supporting old defunct browsers.
Technical specifications 2
This piece of ours will be designed and developed for a standalone full page site (will be responsive) that we will package and send to your hosting provider.
Your hosting provider will then host it on their systems, and run it as a full page (recomended) or as an embedded iFrame.
I will cost some amount of budget for integration but we reserve the right to charge more if the problem (typically integration) does not come from our end.
Technical support costs not due to V/R (i.e. other vendors) will be billed at our discretion.
If your hosting vendors are decent, this should not be an issue.
Custom art / sound
We do provide custom designed art / video (via outsourced freelancers), but this is charged as an additional cost if we manage. Default is stock images, or images from ARI.
Similarly sound / music (if needed) is an additional cost. Even if it is stock music / sound, there is often some sound mixing and interaction work required for the piece.
Budget
Costing
Cost expenses will be broken down into itemized timesheets during the project schedule so costing is transparent.
Our interactive content work can often be reused for different purposes (e.g. installation piece, desktop/mobile piece, etc.) with a little tweaking as they are all web-based.
Costing
| Item | Description | Budget |
Scripting, storyboarding, content |
Gathering user requirements and data. Designing simple storyboard and layout. Content flow and some light copy editing. |
$1,500 |
Data, data structure design, schema |
Design of backend data and how to feed into the visualization. |
$1,000 |
Visualization code prototyping / work |
Developing the web-based visualization. Tweaking for responsiveness (different form factor size) and browsers. |
$8,000 |
UAT, integration, deployment |
Testing, integration with other vendors. |
$1,500 |
| Total | $12,000 |
Optional Costs
| Item | Description | Budget |
Artwork, video shoots, video animation |
If you require any kind of custom work done. Cost depends on requirements. This portion is outsourced to external freelancers that we trust, but managed by us. You can also manage your own sources if you prefer. |
$1,200 to $5,000 |
Sound design, music |
Sound mixing and integration with the piece. |
$1,200 |
Sample timeframe
We expect that this work is split approximately over 8 to 10 weeks of work from the V/R team from award of contract.
| Item | Week |
Initial meeting, milestones and delivery planning |
1 |
Scripting, storyboarding |
2 |
Visualization Coding |
3 - 8 |
UAT / Deployment |
9 - 10 |
Our work process
- We tend to prototype in code (best way to show off animation) so initial storyboading is simpler.
- Prototypes will be shown on V/R's staging test servers (links sent across email) weekly / fortnightly. This is a good way to cut down on meetings!
- Here's an example of our reporting for our client Attilatech.
- Good communication will ensure that both sides expectations are managed.
Want more?
In the eight years that we've been around, we've literally done dozens of visualization and storytelling projects for clients across government, corporate, start-up, SMB, non-profits.
If there is a need to wow and present ideas better to an audience, I'm certain we can be of help.
Please check out our website at V/R for more.
Team
V/R founder bios
Chi-Loong
Ex-journalist / PR / marketing / technology hybrid. Past lives in tech, in-house, agency, and media, like Straits Times, British Telecoms, and GollinHarris.
Teaches UX web dev and data visualization at code schools and universities like SIT and SUTD.
Kok Keong
Web and computing guru with a Master’s degree in networking. Past lives in academia and high-tech start-ups like Converscient and Antlabs.
Both founders each have about two decades of experience in their respective fields of work.
Why V/R?
In a nutshell, quality.
We design and build beautiful quality interactive work for clients because we're passionate about the work.
An entirely local Singaporean outfit, we build serious games, data visualizations, animations and product dashboards.
We believe our work speaks for itself - a blend of good UX storytelling and technical excellence.
Questions?
+65 94355224