Part of journalism is about data and finding the most effective ways to use data to tell stories. This can include making animated videos and creating charts or graphs in a way that makes the information easier for audiences to absorb. To test out my data journalism skills, I analyzed data from our 2021 Megapoll survey. I brought the information to life by creating a graph and animated video using the Adobe Creative Cloud. From the data, I found that this year students at Ryerson feel less like their tuition is worth the money. Check out my video below for the whole story.

The first step in using data in journalism is to analyze the data in order to find the story you want to tell. It can be confusing at first to look at all the data you have and pinpoint what information is important. The most effective way to do this is to create pivot tables from the dataset to compare different aspects of the information to determine if there is a story within the data. I created pivot tables using the Megapoll data set to compare the responses to questions. I thought that analyzing how students feel about the worth of their tuition would make an interesting story so I created pivot tables for this question from the datasets of the Megapoll from 2019, 2020, and 2021. I then created a final table combining the information in one table. This is the basis of the graph that you will create.

After analyzing the data and pinpointing the information you want to use in your story, the next step is to create a graph or chart using your pivot tables. Graphs and charts are an effective way to make information more appealing and easier to understand. A great tool for creating understandable graphs is Adobe Illustrator. In Adobe Illustrator, you can choose an artboard (I used 1920 by 1080 pixels), which is where you will create the graph. You can then choose the Graph tool to create a graph by copying and pasting the data from your table into the one provided. Choosing what type of graph to use is very important. You want to make sure it’s accessible and easy to read. The best type of graph to use is a bar or column graph because each data set can be easily distinguished. In journalism, you want to avoid pie charts in most situations because having to distinguish each colour is not accessible. The bar graph comes with a legend that in most cases you want to delete, although I used the legend to distinguish each bar. I used different colours, shades, and patterns to make the bars accessible. Next, it’s all about customizing your graph using your branding colours, background and fonts. Below are the chart and table I created from the data using Illustrator.

This graph compares the number of students with to what extent they agree with the statement “I am getting my money’s worth for my tuition” in the years 2019, 2020, and 2021. (RSJ/Julia Tramontin)

One of the best ways to bring animation to life is through animation and a tool that I used is Premiere Pro, which can be tricky to use at first. Using Premiere Pro, you can import your graph and include any graphics, effects, and a voiceover to your video. To create my video, I first used a template to up my Premiere Pro workspace. Using what I created in Illustrated, I imported my media into Premiere Pro and arranged this on the timeline based on my time limit. I then wrote my script and recorded this using the app Voice Record Pro, which I imported into my timeline. I then used different video transitions and effects to animate my video. Check out the finished video below.

Data journalism can be difficult to navigate but tools like Adobe Illustrator and Premiere Pro make it easier. By using pivot tables, you can analyze the data to find a story and you can then use Illustrator to make an effective graph to display the information. Premiere Pro is then an effective tool to create animated videos that bring the data to life. Hopefully, this post helps you in your future endeavours in data journalism.