The exercise was to conceive ways of elevating specific ‘behaviour change over time’ visualisations to be more informative and engaging.

After evaluating a range of sample data sets, we conceptualised our approach using several charting styles and variations that we refined with regular input from the Ezra Team.

The result is a suite of static and interactive charts that are impactful, accessible and versatile for use across multiple touchpoints.

EZRA, a revolutionary global virtual coaching and learning provider, engaged SOAK to provide a short-term data visualisation consultancy to evolve some elements of their brilliant customer insights portal.

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Visualising behaviour change

Featuring an illustrative future landscape, the tool uses a series of interactive pathways to show the interconnected nature of industry and day-to-day life.

Within the landscape, users will be able to access a wealth of targeted content and media to learn more about the importance of decarbonisation and its positive impact on our planet, economy and everyday lives.

IDRIC was launched in 2021 to accelerate solutions in industrial decarbonisation. It collaborates with 200 partners, including academic institutions, industry, community representatives and policymakers, to address urgent innovation needs - realising goals with impact and integrating knowledge across disciplines and sectors. 
IDRIC is hosted by Heriot-Watt University and initially funded by the government-backed UKRI Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge.

See more at:

<a href="https://idric.org/">idric.org</a>

<a href="https://www.hw.ac.uk/">hw.ac.uk</a>

<a href="https://www.ukri.org/what-we-do/browse-our-areas-of-investment-and-support/industrial-decarbonisation/">ukri.org</a>

We are delighted to be working with IDRIC (the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre) on the design and development of an immersive visualisation that will allow users to explore what a green industrial future would look like.

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Visualising a Green Industrial Future with IDRIC

The trepidation swirls around your stomach, a whole kaleidoscope of butterflies, fluttering around. But as soon as I entered the office, I knew I was in the right place (for me, not just that I got the location correct!)

Warm welcomes, smiles and introductions, cups of coffee and biscuits, presentations and training. I was shown my desk; my own space within SOAK, my seat for creativity and fun. Opening the cover of my new notebook, the fresh untouched pages rang synonymous with the fresh opportunities that awaited me.

There were personal touches, a warm welcome message on my Slack from our co-founder Jake, and a personalised mug with my coffee order (oat milk, strong, 2 sugars if you’re wondering). 

The first part of my day detailed the history of SOAK. From humble beginnings to being now a hallmark, award-winning digital design agency. 

I learned the ethos, visions and values, which are displayed every day by the SOAK team.

My brain buzzing with new information, my mind taking it all in. 

By my second day, I’d been invited for a pub lunch and natter with two colleagues. From Jacob and Russell, I learned the inner workings of SOAK, the types of music everyone likes (more on that later), the SOAK socials, and the bright future. 

Music is a very important tool for the SOAK world. Each day the speakers are warmed up, slowly with some throwback Britpop and by the afternoon, the caffeine buzz hits and so does the input of Nush with some drum and bass. 

I’m still trying to get Vengaboys in the mix somehow. 

The rest of the week allowed me to fill page upon page of scribble in my notebook, taking in as much information as I could retain. 

I was able to sit down with members of different departments; Technical, Creative, Client Services and Operations. 

I went on a journey through the creative process, seeing the magic happen. Learning about project kick-offs to project launches. Looking through the catalogue of amazing work SOAK has produced, even the colourways excited me.

I began to see how the inside of the SOAK machine worked. How everyone represents a different chord, but together, a harmonious tune is played. 

Throughout the week, I was introduced to different clients and added to a multitude of Slack channels, seeing live updates coming in. One Slack channel in particular caught my eye…I bore witness to the beauty of the SOAK-Pets thread. Obviously adding in a picture of my British short-haired cat named Socks.

By the time Friday had rolled around, I was fully immersed, fully stuck in and a fully-fledged member of the SOAK team, and I cannot wait for the opportunities ahead.

Buzzed into the building, armed with a takeaway coffee and excitement, I made my way up the stairs to the second floor. (I would later learn the lift was a far better option).

It’s always nerve-wracking, isn’t it? Starting a new job. Am I going to like it? Will I fit in? Will I be good at the job?!

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My first week at SOAK: Soaked in opportunities

Royal Society

World Wide Fund for Nature

Totaljobs

The World Bank

The London School of Economics and Political Science

The Economist

The Adecco Group

Swiss Re

Queen Mary University of London

HSBC

Harvard University

GoStudent

Games Workshop

AmDocs

Selected work

The interactive tool was seamlessly integrated into GoStudent&#39;s existing website infrastructure and needed to consider several crucial requirements from a UX and technology perspective, including the approach for multiple languages.

The tool carries a considerable volume of data that powers all the indices, country profiles, survey results and analysis. A wide variety of data views meant developing a data structure that ensured optimal speed and accessibility for the end-user. An innovative client-side rendering mechanism was used to achieve a fast and efficient experience.

GoStudent, the #1 rated global tutoring school, conducted a survey spanning seven countries that gained deep insight into education trends from both parent and student perspectives.

Our brief was to work with the static survey data, indices data, and a written report to create an engaging, intuitive, informative, and easy-to-understand interactive experience delivered in an ambitious timescale.

Selected Work - GoStudent

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European education survey

Central to our design is an interactive landscape that familiarises users with the interconnected facets of industrial decarbonization. This includes areas like green energy generation, manufacturing industries, the national grid, ports, transportation, and the environment.

The tool features three interactive pathways tailored to different audience needs. These include a public engagement tool to build understanding of the net zero pathways and the impact of decarbonisation, a learning tool to guide school leavers toward potential training routes for a career in decarbonisation and for policy-makers to view relevant research findings.

IDRIC

In collaboration with IDRIC (the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre), we designed and developed an immersive visualisation tool that allows users to explore what a green industrial future looks like.

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Visualising industrial decarbonisation

The data index and campaign featured in several global publications, including the New York Times and underpins a key report that kicks off Swiss Re&#39;s Climate Resilience Campaign for 2021, leading to the COP26 UN climate change conference later this year.

Shortly after being appointed Swiss Re&#39;s global data design partner, the team asked us to design and develop a new, data-driven experience and a suite of campaign assets that helped raise awareness of the global economic impact of climate change.

Selected Work - Swiss Re

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The economics of climate change

The fluid, scrolly-telling experience guides users through a series of visually-driven narratives that surface key findings using data visualisation underpinned by case studies focussing on practical, real-world situations.

We’ve been working closely with TotalJobs to bring their latest Social Mobility research study to life. Partnering with The Social Mobility Foundation, the research delves deep into the challenges and hurdles faced by people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds when applying for jobs in the UK.

The campaign’s primary goal was to help raise awareness and provide practical, data-driven advice to employers and recruiters.

Selected Work - Totaljobs

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Data-driven scrollytelling

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We help businesses and organisations unlock the true value of digital and data.

Digital Agency

Latest Project - Swiss Re - Background

Latest Project - Swiss Re - Foreground

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The world bank

Human capital animation

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Closing the protection gap

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Insurance Information Institute

Dynamic economics dashboard

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Digital toolkit

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Queen mary university london

Research highways

<ol><li>Data strategy</li><li>Data analysis</li><li>Infographics</li><li>Data storytelling</li><li>Dashboards</li><li>Corporate reports</li><li>Interactive Indices / indexes</li><li>Dynamic data tools</li></ol>

<a href="https://soak.co.uk/what-we-do">Find out more about our data vis services</a>

Data visualisation 

<ol><li>Digital strategy</li><li>Discovery &amp; planning</li><li>UX &amp; prototyping</li><li>Conceptualisation &amp; design</li><li>Branding</li><li>Development &amp; build</li><li>Integration</li><li>Content Management</li></ol>

<a href="https://soak.co.uk/what-we-do">Find out more about our UX and design services</a>

UX, design & development

<ol><li>Strategy &amp; planning</li><li>Ideation &amp; conceptualisation</li><li>Custom illustration</li><li>Copywriting</li><li>Asset production</li><li>Internal comms</li></ol>

<a href="https://soak.co.uk/what-we-do">Find out more about our campaign services</a>

Campaign & communications

<ol><li>Conceptualisation</li><li>Illustration</li><li>Storyboarding</li><li>Narrative development</li><li>Animation</li><li>Post-production</li></ol>

<a href="https://soak.co.uk/what-we-do">Find out more about our animation services</a>

Animation & video

Our award-winning digital solutions span the simple to the complex. We&#39;re Creative, UX and Data specialists, always user-focused and not restricted by any one single platform or technology.

What we do

The summit was in response to close engagements with governments across Sub-Saharan Africa on the need to highlight the vital role of human capital in economic growth. It was also the first Human Capital Summit at a Heads of States level in Africa. 

Sub-Saharan Africa entered the last decade with significant deficits in human capital (the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lives). The region’s average Human Capital Index (HCI) was the lowest across all the world’s regions, with a significant proportion of African countries at the bottom of the HCI.

The animation, ahead of the keynote speaker, was played at the start of the final day and uses a narrative centred around three core themes: Economic Growth, Resilient Systems and Social Cohesion. 

Data visualisation and storytelling are used throughout the sequence to emphasise and clarify important facts and figures that would resonate with the audience of Heads of State, Leaders, and Policymakers. In a first of its kind data-based and policy integrated storytelling, the innovative approach was very well received by online and in-person viewers.

The World Bank asked us to produce a data-driven animation for The Africa Human Capital Heads of State Summit held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on the 25th - 26th of July 2023.

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The financial burden of such events is enormous, but despite this threat, many people and businesses remain uninsured, leaving them vulnerable when a natural catastrophe strikes.

Swiss RE asked us to develop an interactive data tool illustrating the protection gap and losses from various natural disasters across five continents and twelve countries.

The interface centres around a stylised (mapbox) 3D globe. Clicking on regions and countries reveals the protection gap and total economic losses over the last ten years with the option to deep-dive into more in-depth analysis.

The fully integrated tool is a perfect example of how information can be more accessible, understandable and interesting using interactive data visualisation and information design.

Catastrophes such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and winter storms have become more intense and frequent, threatening people and economies worldwide.

Digital Agency

Selected work

European education survey

The economics of climate change

Visualising industrial decarbonisation

Data-driven scrollytelling

European education survey

Visualising industrial decarbonisation

The economics of climate change

Data-driven scrollytelling

/ Our Clients

/ News and insights

Visualising behaviour change

Visualising a Green Industrial Future with IDRIC

My first week at SOAK: Soaked in opportunities

Human capital animation

Closing the protection gap

Dynamic economics dashboard

Digital toolkit

Research highways