Domestika - Creative Data Visualization for Narrative Designs

Embrace the expressiveness of shapes to turn important information into meaningful graphics that tell stories and resonate with an audience​

Information designer Federica Fragapane has collaborated with the United Nations, BBC Science Focus, Wired, and Scientific American. She feels a strong responsibility to share artworks that communicate information in a visually engaging way, to encourage the exploration of important topics and issues.
In this online course, discover how to create narrative data visualizations by exploring multiple visual languages. Learn to harness the expressiveness of shapes and use organic forms to convey the life behind the data, turning complex information into captivating visuals that engage an audience.
Meet your teacher, Federica Fragapane. She talks about her career so far and how she started designing data visualizations. She also shares her views on design and her approach.
Begin with a brief introduction to the process of visually translating contents, and learn to analyze the role of reader perception. Then, your teacher proposes a series of questions to help approach any new project, including the role of written and visual words, before showing you how to tell stories with data. Explore some case studies and the use of complex visual metaphors.
Now it’s time to start developing your narratives. Select the topic and the story you want to tell, create the dataset with Google Sheets, and sketch the macrostructure of the story.
Next, it’s time to work with RAWGraphs and Illustrator. Design the different parts of your piece, focusing on the details, texts, legends, and finishing touches. To bring the course to a close, take a look at the different devices you can use to share your work.

What is this course's project?​

Build a static, long-scrolling data visualization with different levels of information.

Who is this online course for?​

Anyone interested in learning to communicate complex data in an engaging way through design.

Requirements and materials​

A working knowledge of Adobe Illustrator is essential for this course.
For materials, all you need is a computer with access to the software.