Comments on: How climate change is impacting Millenial winos

By: joshuafeldman

joshuafeldman — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 14:38:33 +0000

This is awesome! I really like that you borrowed some the effective data storytelling techniques developed by Now This. I especially liked how you used short annotations with key words highlighted to get your message across really quickly. Something I think could have made this even better would be to make the figures simpler. In my opinion, since the viewer only has a few seconds to read the image, the visual has to be simple to the point of being a bit ridiculous.

By: rahulb

rahulb — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 13:04:08 +0000

You’ve got a strong simple story explained effectively in the medium you choose.

Centrality of maps:
The introductory map shows up in a good spot in the narrative, but the three sites could have used labels. The chart showing decreasing wine dates is a candidate for smoothing so the visual isn’t so jarring. The sliding yellow highlight area showing the region of growth moving north is well used on top of the map – this is definitely a geographic story (though a citation on the slide would have helped).

Rationale for design choices:
The Instagram choice makes sense for the audience. A missing piece I see is that you don’t justify why you picked those three sites; a quick note saying “let’s look at three wineries” or something would have helped there.

Layers of reading:
You start off with the main story, and then dig in effectively to details. I would have liked to see a few more layers here, but I understand that the project timeline was awkward with the closure in the middle of it.

Appropriate data use:
The grape data is central to this story. My quick reading doesn’t show any mis-use of the data.

Suitability for audience:
You’ve justified your choice of medium well based on the audience – that was a good simplifying decision. This narrative makes sense for this audience to me.

Narrative:
Your text is well edited and clear. It summarizes the key points of the story quite well. You’ve connected the data to the audience’s context nicely. One missing piece would be something about what the wineries are doing about it.

By: cjc1

cjc1 — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 01:20:22 +0000

I really loved the medium you chose to tell your story in. I definitely see this as a targeted ad I would receive on my Instagram! You did a really good job following the format that these videos traditionally had, which made watching it really enjoyable.
One suggestion I have is to include some sort of call to action at the end. It could be something as simple as highlighting sustainable wine brands to encouraging people to recycle their wine bottles- some wine-related call to action could help make the message stronger.

By: samihns

samihns — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 01:19:30 +0000

Great project! The video did a great job showing the data and pushing your narrative. With the overwhelming amount of things on social media vying for a user’s attention, forty five seconds is a very solid length and you do a good time stating your case quickly and in an interesting manner. I especially like the Ken Burns-style pan over some of the images, something I feel like I see in every NowThis video and is also a really easy way to make a video feel more alive.

A lot of the things that could make this more impactful are simply related to spending more time on the video editing (which like I get you probably know, and it’s not in the scope of the project). Things like the moving, floating region over the map being made less blocky and some of the static images being turned to video would make the entire video flow much better.

All in all, great job.

By: ifeoluwa

ifeoluwa — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 22:34:36 +0000

I like how this group accurately portrayed the chosen form. I could very much see this appearing on my Instagram feed and paying attention as the first frame has a simple heading.
Telling the viewer what to look for in the graph before the graph is viewed is also very effective as when the chart appears it is clear to look for a downward trend. Unfortunately, you cannot see the y-axis which means it is very difficult to tell what the graph is trying to show. Also, it might be more effective to use a scatter plot with a line of best fit given that there isn’t a “smooth” connection between neighboring data points. On the final map maybe highlighting some of the specific locations of new and old vineyards would give more tangible detail as to where the wine production is happening.

By: dearaujo

dearaujo — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 22:23:11 +0000

I really enjoy the idea of having this presented as a sort of click-baity Instagram/Twitter video, since it’s a way to deliver a snappy message. And the choice of thumbnail image is spot on – that’s exactly the type of filter NowThisNews would use on this image.

Because I like the concept so much, I wish the group had really leaned into the concept, by adding music and including references from pop-culture, especially those that are relevant to the millennials you’re targeting (such as, a clip from Sideways). There’s also some pieces of information that I think would be helpful to add (e.g., the name of the regions in the first map with the dot and something about the usual harvest time before discussing how much that has changed with climate change) since these would be a way to add context for the viewer.

By: sarahmousa

sarahmousa — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 20:52:43 +0000

I think this concept is great for communicating why a target audience that may be apathetic should care about climate change by focusing on something that may be important to them. I also like the visuals, they are easy to follow and the ‘instagram’ post looks realistic.

My main constructive feedback is that I am not sure that all data points are at service of the main message; for example, why is it a problem (for a Millenial wine consumer) that the location or timing of seasons change? I think, if you had more time on this, I would just make sure that every data point somehow serves your main message – the takeaway I got from here is more around how climate change may be contributing to changes in when and where wine is made but not that it is significantly harmful.