Earth Insights is an innovative collaboration between HP and Conservation International that applies big-data-processing technology to monitor biodiversity loss across the world’s tropical forests. Using millions of animal photos captured by camera traps, scientists are able to track how land use, human activity and climate change affect species. Our mission was to design an interactive touch-screen feature for HP Discover Barcelona, an industry conference focused on HP technology applications. We aimed to demonstrate the power of big data for social and environmental initiatives and to highlight HP’s involvement in the project.

Since we received the data at the same time that CI’s scientific team did, there were no pre-analyzed findings to highlight. We therefore started by prototyping visualizations in order to identify interesting leads in the data and inspire the concept’s narrative. Using slideshow, timeline, animated map and data-visualization elements, the presentation told stories about threatened animals around the world, the conservationists who are working to protect them and the biodiversity trends they are discovering with the help of data-analysis solutions. It also integrated photographs from fieldwork sites and biodiversity statistics into a seamless, intuitive layout that captivated visitors and made complex scientific data easy to grasp.

Read the full case study with juror comments here: [http://www.aiga.org/case-study-hp-earth-insights/]

“This is a great example of how designers can be the most effective communicators when it comes to visualizing and synthesizing robust data. The UI also demonstrated how the designer blended photography, type, graphic elements and sourced content to produce an exceptional user experience.” —Dana Arnett