Ihaka Lecture Series 2024 | Putting feelings into figures

Ever have data which shows something so important you wanted to hit people right in the "feels" with your visualisation? There will always be a need for simple charts, which just show the facts, but sometimes when the numbers are compelling there's a call to think beyond a bar chart and visualise data in a way which evokes emotion.
In this presentation, Farah will look at examples of this sort of data visualisation and walk through the process of the visualisation choices made in two very different projects published on RNZ.co.nz.
Initially trained as a designer, Farah Hancock worked for many years in the advertising industry in New Zealand and abroad, primarily working on digital campaigns. Experiencing a midlife career crisis she pivoted to journalism and as a visual thinker she inadvertently fell into data journalism when the Covid-19 pandemic started. Since then she’s visualised a range of topics from food exports to bus cancellations, fatal police shootings and political donations. She lives in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland and works at RNZ in its investigative In Depth team.