accessible data storytelling
death penalty information 2024
the death penalty information center (dpi) seeks to inform the general public about inequities in the criminal justice system. our design strategy makes the data more accessible to help users learn and engage with the topic.
Timeline
Jan 2024 - Aug 2024
Team
2 Designers
1 PM
1 Researcher
1 Engineer
2 Data Scientists
2 Program Specialists
CONTEXT
dpi's main users are legal and academic experts in the field.
DPI is a nonprofit that compiles all death penalty related data, and presents it on their website in the form of articles, data visualizations, and long-form reports.
Most experts in the legal and academic sectors specialized in the death penalty rely on DPI as a reliable source. While this is an important user base to serve, DPI feels that their mission of informing the general public is not being met.
PROBLEM
on average, people spend less than 2 minutes on the site. most new users get overwhelmed and drop off.
Every month, DPI receives 450,000+ visitors on their website, often triggered by events in the news cycle. However, once they land on the site, they are faced with an experience that is unapproachable, overwhelming, and inaccessible.
Death penalty is a complex and emotionally taxing subject. Currently, people can only interact with the data if they are able to first decipher big walls of jargon-y text, interpret complex data, and navigate through convoluted concepts.
SOLUTION
create design patterns that make the content and navigation more accessible and engaging.
WHICH LED TO…
83%
of tested users wanted to learn more after reading one page
85%
of tested users were able to navigate to the page needed to find what they were interested in.
63%
of tested users felt a greater sense of personal connection after one page visit.
FEATURE 1
simplifying content on the go
DPI pages tend to be text heavy and jargon-y. However, removing jargon and simplifying details altogether can be risky since legal professionals need that level of specificity to conduct their work. Thus, rather than rewriting content, I designed a on-the-go simplification tool.
“It’s just a lot.. I feel like it would take me a lifetime to learn about it so I’ll just leave it to the experts.”
At any page on the DPI site, people can click on the tool icon to open an overlay with pre-suggested prompts that help transform the content for non-expert users. The tool can rewrite the page in simple language, provide a short summary, or create bite size pieces of shareable information such as social media posts or TLDR bullet points.
People can also ask follow up questions and customize their prompts.
FEATURE 2
developing a personal connection
Because of it’s heavy nature, people have a hard time relating to the issue of the death penalty and feel very far removed from it. I sought out to design an interactive experience that would help people draw those personal connections to this issue through curated information.
“I know it sounds bad but it’s just not something that draws me in since it doesn’t even affect me.”
Intended to live within DPI’s learning center, and embedded within relevant article pages, this interactive experience asks users to input personal demographic data like race, age, gender, location, etc. The experience will then curate a set of facts about the death penalty, directly relating them to people’s personal experiences.
FEATURE 3
parsing through an intentional hierarchy
Most DPI pages are jam packed with information. However, most of it is in the form of visually monotonous long paragraphs. At about 600-1,500 words per page, it’s nearly impossible for people to extract valuable information at first glance. To address this, I designed a set of 7 content models made up of modularized components to improve visual hierarchy, consistency, and page readability.
“You get to the page and its just SO. MUCH. TEXT. I bet there’s good info somewhere in there but I don’t even know where to start looking.”
The content models are made of a system of modular components that are reused in different patterns depending on the purpose of the page. I created content models for pages like news articles, learning modules, case studies, policy overview pages, etc. These models focus on providing a clearer text and visual hierarchy, increasing engagement through interactivity, and improving reading comprehension.
FEATURE 4
analyzing data without a technical background
DPI collects and reports all information related to the death penalty in America. However, their current methods of display, like the death penalty census, are not useful for people with little data analysis background to identify patterns and draw conclusions. I designed an interaction pattern for users to manipulate the data themselves and make their own discoveries.
“When I look at the data, it’s just a huge table of names and numbers. It’s overwhelming because I don’t know how to interpret all that.”
This is an interactive data visualizer that can live embedded within any page. It pulls from DPI’s main database but puts it through a layer of processing so that people with low data experience can still play around with it. People can toggle through different factors such as time range, state, race, etc. and see how the visualization and stats at the top change.
FEATURE 5
navigating an intuitive information architecture
With over 40 different main pages distributed across 2 nav bars and 11 sub-categories, the old navigation was difficult to use. I used a card sorting activity with 36 participants to eliminate redundancies and make the navigation more intuitive. Through the results, I redesigned the information architecture with just 1 main nav bar and 7 sub-categories.
“Sometimes I’m looking for specific info but it’s hard to know where to find what I need. I end up just clicking around until I find it.”
see ya next time :)
last updated august 2025