sibyl_project3

=__**Value Of The Dollar: Infographics**__= //Sibyl Chan//

For this project I decided to focus on the value of currencies within other countries //relative to the Canadian dollar//. This means I will be taking a look at the value of their dollar throughout a succession of years, and how much they are worth compared to the Canadian value. I will also be taking into considering the news, both political and social, of the given currency/country that have an affect on the worth of the dollar. By studying the trends, both from a big perspective (years) and smaller views (months and current news), the infographic created will provide a clear and expressive anaylsis of the past and present value of both the Canadian dollar as well as other regions of the world.

__**Inspiration:**__
This website provided a good basis and inspiration for the outcome of how I was going to arrange my data in a cohesive and clear structure. I also used the news stories provided within the website for my news area in my infographics.
 * [|http://finance.google.com/finance]**

A good website for information pertaining to the rise/drop of the Canadian and US dollar. It provided a good analysis of economic, social, and political reasoning. It gave me good ideas for a starting point in the plotting of the information.
 * [|http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/PRBpubs/prb0326-e.htm]**

The 'Bank of Canada' website provides all the necessary and even additional information on currency rates, exchange rates, and currency converters. This is where I got the majority of my statistics. It allowed me to pick the currencies of different countries to compare with. Giving me the option in choosing the years I wanted to focus on for the currency value - it also broke down the values in smaller portions, in years and months.
 * [|http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/rates/exchange-avg.html]**

=__**US, UK, EURO, AUS, HK $**__= I decided to go with the currencies of the United States, United Kingdom, Euro, Australia, and Hong Kong. Simply because each currency is most popularly used around the world. I read in my research that the Australian dollar has been on the rise for the past five years, so I thought it would be interesting to include that. Also, it wanted to include both the Euro and Pound currency because it both pertains to Europe, but both are still different in value in comparison to the Canadian dollar. Below are statistics I found on the Bank of Canada website, I decided to look into the past 5 years, 2002-2007, bimonthly of the value of the dollar for each currency.
 * [|http://www.dailyfx.com/currency-rooms/euro-european-dollar.html]**

__//Above//__ are the statistics of the US/AUS/EURO/HK/UK currencies throughout 2002-2007. They are split up into months, and show the comparison to the Canadian dollar, vice versa. I calculated the mediums for each year, as well as the medium throughout the 6 years. This was, I was able to gain insight to the value of the dollar in a larger/smaller scope.

__//Above//__ is some brief information collected. It provided me a general insight as how the economy of a country was affected by different factors. Very helpful in visualizing and coming up with ideas for the 'News' idea for my infographics. I also narrowed down which country/cities used the EURO and UK currencies, for it has been changing throughout the past years.

//__Above__// are some very rough visual ideas for how the infographics might look like. I was trying to split up the CDN/other countries currencies in a way the viewer would see it most clearly. But ran into problems because the information was all too flat, it did not have different levels of data, which is what I needed to work on next.

__**Finalized Statistics:**__
__ABOVE:__ An organized version of the currencies and yearly averages with the Canadian counter-part visible.

=__**Different Levels of Data:**__= Next, I shifted my focus on how I could separate my data into different levels that allowed the data to be presented in various ways. I decided upon the idea of using the shape of the region in which the currency was used, and instead of using the world map as a premise, would just use the countries/cities that it applied to.

__ABOVE:__ Research + more refined ideas for the visuals. The research includes a look at historical impacts on the society in which the value of the currency dropped or was raised. I also took into consideration the 3 types of data that were mentioned in the article handed out in class:

//quantitative data// - for me, this would be the numbers found in the value of the dollar in comparison to the CDN dollar. //geographical aspects, places, countries// - as mentioned above, I chose to focus on 5 different currencies which I thought were used around the world the most, and thus more popular and well known and recognized. I also used the space to my advantage, in that I used the actual forms of each region that the dollar/currency was used in. //dates, times sequences (years, months, etc)// - this would be the 6 years I chose to focus on (2002-2007). As mentioned above, I also chose to break down the data into years and months, to give more of a thorough perspective in terms of how the economic news would affect the value.
 * 1) Research Data:**
 * 2) Spatial Data:**
 * 3) Chronological Data:**


 * __ABOVE:__** More refined ideas of how I would plot out the data. Already aware of the different types of data proposed in the article, I tried to break down my levels of information according to that. First would be a larger overview of the value of the dollar throughout the 6 years, it would give a very general look. Second would be the yearly breakdown of the value pertaining to each country/region that used the currency. Thirdly would be the monthly view - it would be more specific and list the value of the dollar for each month of the year. This would also link to the news that affected the rise/fall of the value of the dollar during that particular month. I tried my best to remember different levels of data, first would be a very general over view, then it would gradually become more specific and show the smaller details in terms of time and economic, political, and social happenings that occurred during that particular time.


 * __ABOVE:__** These are my finalized concepts of how I wanted my infographics to look like. It follows much of my process before. As stated above, it would begin with a general overview, then become more specific in terms of times and dates. There would be 4 different levels of data: 6 year average, yearly average, monthly average, and a news box containing current events during that time. Also, the value for each year/month would be represented in the chart. The news I decided would be represented first as small dots, for that information is not as important as the actual value. Then the viewer would be able to click on the mass of small dots, which would lead to a news section that showed the most important stories during that month that affected the value of the dollar for that particular country.

=__**FIRST STATE: FORMS AND SHAPES TO PLACE INFORMATION**__= Below are vectored shapes of the regions that would be used to represent each currency. I used the forms of each of the continents. Seen below are: United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and Hong Kong. I had to also reduce the detail for most of the shapes because i found there were too many points and little curves. By reducing it down to a simpler shape, it is firstly easier to understand, and secondly is not as distracting to the viewer.



__**BELOW:**__ I then played around with the arrangement of the continents, including a legend. This would act as the general overview - providing the average for the 6 years (2002-2007) of the value of the dollar for each currency.

__**BELOW:**__ A make shift storyboard of how the size change would occur. The red dot indicates what year they are viewing, and as they click the size of the forms change in accordance. I also had the idea that when the viewer clicked on the year, the exact value of the dollar would show on the continent they wished to see. I left the option open because if they wanted a more detailed look at each year, they would have that option.



I then decided to focus primarily on one country: Australia.

=__**SECOND STATE: MORE DETAILED YEARLY OVERVIEW**__= This section would be the second state. I kept in mind that it would keep the basic look of the first state. I specifically did not want them to be different sections, but just a 'zoomed in', which would also represent a deeper looking to the detail. As mentioned above, I chose to use Australia as an example.

Below is the country of Australia enlarged. I played around with different compositions, but decided on one that left some white room so the viewer would still be able to understand that the only change from the first/second state was a simple zoom in. It also retained a 'familiar' quality, also to remind the viewer that they were just taken to another state.



=**GRAPHING RESEARCH:**= Below are graphs I created in Microsoft Excel to give me a stronger visual idea of how my graphs would look like. I plugged in all the statistics, then used it as a template in Illustrator to play around with the composition and data.



I then took this information, rearranged the visuals, and placed it one enlarged portion of Australia shown above. I also tried to make the entire design not look too flat, because the problem I encountered early on with my initial sketches. After placing the data on, I added other elements and decided to remove any unnecessary lines or extra elements. This allowed the statistics to be more expressive, and I found, represent the data more clearly.





=**THIRD STATE: DETAILED MONTHLY INFORMATION**= Next, I went to work on my 'final' state - the detailed monthly statistics on the value of the dollar for Australia. I used the information from the graphs I created above as a template/basis for my charts provided below. It still keeps the line graph feel, but is revised so that it does not seem so static and conventional looking. The large yellow dots symbolize the highest point the dollar had reached during that. The x-axis are the months in year, the y-axis the value of the dollar. All the statistics were taken from the graphs created above - just laid out and redesigned.





Similiarily, the third state follows how the first and second ones function. The basic information is provided, and the user is able gain a general view of the value of the dollar, if it fell/rose, and then by hovering over the yellow dots, they are given the exact value the dollar was at during that particular month. The timeline on the left also follows the first state (in keeping with similarities). The red dot can be moved to a specific year, and then the statistics are shown for the given months - first with the line graph represent by the circles, then delving more into detail with the pop up statistics of the dollar. The small white dots represent the number of important stories for each month that had affected the rise/fall of the dollar. I only chose to do one example, for the year of 2002 in January to give an example of how the entire infographic would work.

__**BELOW:**__ the constructed state for the news area that is linked by the small white circles. Since i was doing an example for Janurary 2002, there are only 8 small white balls for that month, thus, only 8 stories. All of the news provided are only concerned with the particular currency being represented, thus, in this case, the Australian dollar.



__**PROCESSING:**__ In terms of the Processing, I tried to focus on the main animations I would envision my infographics would have. That being said, I tried to play around with motions of scale and lines - because these are the two primal movements. The scale or size is seen throughout the shifting of the continents as the viewer clicks on the different years - they grow when the dollar is higher, and shrink when it is lower. Also, scale also applies to the transition from the different states. From the broader, more general state, it zooms into the medium (yearly overviews) and the smallest one (monthly overviews). It also can grow bigger, as the viewer goes from more specific data to more generalized data. The lines that I focused on represent the linear graphs used within the infographics. As the years change, the size of the graph will also follow in accordance. And so the examples of processing done show the movements I wanted to ensue when the years are shifting. I also tried to envision the small news balls I used to shift somewhat when clicked on, either vertically or horizontally. Most of all the examples I did are fluid movements, which is what I wanted my infographics to be like. = = =__**Conclusion:**__= I feel my infographic clearly communicates that statistics gathered for the value of the Australian dollar. It also shows an overview for the 4 other currencies I studied through the different sizes of the continents as the years and value of the dollar progressed/slowed down. I kept in mind simple shapes and lines to represent the graphs, and tried my hardest to adhere to the breakdown of states - growing from a more generalized set of data to a more specific set. I broke my infographic into 3 different states: large (6 year average, more generalized), medium (yearly averages, more detailed), and small (monthly averages, much more detailed, providing information and data on all the different months from 2002-2007).

//Additional statistics, charts I created for generate a stronger visualization for my finals://