Central Florida's leading news affiliate, WKMG News 6, is renowned for its in-depth reporting and commitment to keeping viewers informed. Recognizing that data visualization is key to understanding complex stories in today's world, WKMG leverages Infogram's powerful tools to bring news to life. This is particularly evident in their election coverage, where Infogram helps transform raw results into clear and compelling narratives. Consistent collaboration across channels, successfully engaged readers, and interactive content is what Infogram has brought to the news table.
Collaboration takes center stage
Seamless collaboration is crucial for large media companies to ensure consistent and efficient content creation across various platforms. As part of Graham Media, a company with seven stations, they needed a solution that fostered consistency across platforms. Infogram's enterprise-grade features proved to be the perfect fit, allowing easy data sharing and visualization options across all their channels, including WKMG. Not to mention, Infogram's interactive features empowered WKMG to tell data-driven stories in a more captivating way.
From static stories to dynamic narratives
Journalists at WKMG News 6 wear many hats – storytellers, analysts, and now, data visualization creators. While effectively visualizing data isn't an easy task, Infogram empowers them to create stunning data visuals without needing extensive design skills. From pre-designed themes and templates to visually appealing chart designs, Infogram allows anyone to create stunning data visualizations with ease.
When it comes to data visualization creations, WKMG uses Infogram for various platforms: web, smartphones, news packages, and even their news wall. Donovan Myrie, WKMG's executive producer of digital enterprise, confidently states: “Infogram helps in creating stand-alone data visualization (Web and Smartphone) as well as being a helpful aid for our staff to showcase election results in a more impactful way, whether live (News Wall) or taped (Pkg).”
Ultimately, the key lies in Infogram's versatility. For web and mobile presentations, WKMG News 6 leverages Infogram's ability to craft standalone visualizations that grab viewers' attention. In live broadcasts, reporters can use Infogram to present data seamlessly, keeping the narrative dynamic and engaging viewers.
The power of animation in election reporting
When it comes to creating engaging data stories, animation and interactive features are everything. This is especially true for reporting on elections, where data visualizations can be complex and audiences may have varying levels of political knowledge. WKMG News 6 specifically highlights Infogram's animation features as a game-changer. “I think the biggest thing I like the most is the animation techniques,” Donovan states, “I find animation very effective in being able to move a story forward; as I animate, the viewer reads along with the animations as it catches their eye.” Ultimately, animations allow them to reveal data progressively, keeping viewers engaged and invested in the story.
Also, there's a seamless integration with Google Sheets, which ensures data accuracy and eliminates the hassle of reworking visuals with every update. “When utilizing this feature,” Donovan explains, “I’m able to update the core numbers without having to re-arrange the data viz. This is key in keeping consistency and not accidentally compromising your layout.”
“Finally,” Donovan points out, “the simplicity and user-friendly feeling of Infogram make it an invaluable tool for not only political coverage, but a variety of general news uses as well.”
Exploring interactive political visualizations
To recognize the power of effective data visualization, let's take a look at how WKMG uses Infogram to illuminate critical political stories. Below, we'll explore specific examples, from interactive election maps to insightful breakdowns of campaign results.
Informative infographics that engage
The WKMG's infographic on the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump offers a concise yet comprehensive overview of Florida's House of Representatives members' votes. Through engaging animations, the infographic dynamically illustrates the political dynamics at play. Also, additional information, such as key arguments and timelines, enriches the reader's understanding of the process, transforming the visualization into an educational tool.
Another example of an effectively visualized infographic illustrates 2018 midterm election statistics. The engaging combination of visuals, data, and text makes the data easily digestible for readers, allowing them to delve deeper into the insights. The interactive map further enhances the experience by letting users explore the data themselves.
Interactive maps take center stage
The interactive map displaying U.S. presidential election votes highlights the significance of always presenting the most current information. With tools like Infogram, updating data in real-time is easy, ensuring viewers are provided with the latest developments. The interactive map also offers a captivating experience for viewers, allowing them to hover over each state and discover more information. This feature not only improves engagement but also provides users with a deeper understanding of the electoral landscape as the election progresses.
Interactive maps are also great for showcasing qualitative data! In this interactive visualization, the viewer can discover which states allow voting by mail. By hovering over each state, users can unveil valuable information about its vote by mail policies, encouraging exploration and deeper understanding. This interactive functionality motivates viewers to spend time navigating the map, providing an immersive experience and knowledge about vote by mail options nationwide.
Animated visualizations that holds viewer attention
The impeachment breakdown visualization grabs viewers' attention with an animation that slowly reveals key data, one by one. Additionally, the interactive map offers noteworthy information that viewers can easily discover by hovering over the data points. The combination of animation, interactive features, and a visually appealing color scheme makes this visualization a captivating one.
If you're looking to effectively visualize voter registration data overtime, this grouped column chart is a perfect fit as illustrated by WKMG. The chart's grouping allows for easy comparison between registration numbers for different years. Also, as users can hover each column to see more information, it creates a more engaging data-discovery process.
Another simple yet data-dense and visually appealing visualization by WKMG showcases WEB Central Florida early voting data in 2020. This banner-format visualization is a perfect addition to a data-informed article – it's visually engaging, includes an interactive map, and offers valuable information in an easily digestible format.
Explore more informative and captivating visualizations in our best examples gallery.
Infogram: The benchmark for data visualization
For WKMG News 6, Infogram has become the standard for data visualization. They measure other tools against Infogram's capabilities, opting for Infogram's intuitive interface and robust features over competitors. “Some data visualization tools I won’t even bother to experiment with as they have not demonstrated capabilities better than Infogram,” Donovan confidently states.
Also, WKMG News 6 reports a vital internal benefit – increased reporter engagement. Infogram empowers reporters to transform static data into captivating stories, keeping their content fresh and audiences hooked.
Going the extra mile
Donovan Myrie also highlights Infogram's customer support. For him, a particular instance stands out: “My favorite customer experience was when Reinis was able to get the engineering team at Infogram to create a dissolve transition between pages. This was an absolute game-changer with the look we were trying to achieve with some of our Infogram project,” Donovan points out.
The Infogram advantage: In a nutshell
- Seamless collaboration: Ensures consistency across all Graham Media stations.
- Platform versatility: Creates stunning visuals for web, mobile, news packages, and news walls.
- Animation powerhouse: Keeps viewers engaged with dynamic data reveals.
- Live broadcast ready: Integrates flawlessly into live programming for impactful presentations.
- Dedicated customer support: Dedicated team goes the extra mile to deliver solutions.
- The benchmark for success: Sets the standard for data visualization within the company.
The data-driven future of elections
WKMG News 6's experience with visualizing election results, polling data, and other political stories is a testament to the transformative power of data visualizations and Infogram. By empowering newsrooms to create impactful data visualizations, Infogram is elevating the way stories can be told, one chart at a time.
With the U.S. presidential elections looming around the corner, it's important to stay up-to-date with the latest information and bring key data to the public in an engaging and interactive way. After all, information is power and Infogram helps you use it effectively through engaging visualizations. Get started with Infogram today.
