Breaking Bread

Breaking Bread is a self-exploration of data storytelling and the ways in which I choose to represent different types of information. Starting with a research question of how sharing food connects people, I gathered data surrounding the topic of sharing food. Through a survey of 20 individuals, data was collected from each person to create a snapshot of the last meal they had with another person or persons. These “snapshots” are presented in a collection of menus, creating a portrait for each person’s meal.

An accompanying digital experience simplifies these portraits into a plate to represent each meal. The data is then grouped in different ways through the lens of the relationships people had with their meal guests. Specifically, each of these meals is represented by a circle, color-coded by the relationship between the respondent and their meal guest. These 20 circles are then grouped or manipulated in different ways to illustrate the different attributes of each respondent's meal.

The resulting data visualizations are presented in sequence, with interactivity incorporated to highlight interesting or significant findings in the data, to bring another level of engagement for viewers. Through these different methods of visualizing data, I aim to stretch my understanding of what data visualization and information design can be.