Out of the Shadows The global index ranking how countries respond to child sexual exploitation.
- Client
- Out of the Shadows
- Sector
- Non-profit
- Services
- Plan, Design, Build, Grow, UX/UI design, Information Architecture, Craft CMS
- Website
- outoftheshadows.global
A global index with a global impact
The Out of the Shadows Index benchmarks how 60 countries are preventing and responding to childhood sexual violence, built with data partner Economist Impact. Before the redesign it lived mostly as a static, PDF style report. Over 100 indicators, no way to filter, compare, or drill into a single number.
Stakeholders were clear about the problems with the index stating that it was hard to connect the data to real advocacy and it was too generalised to feel locally relevant to the people meant to use it.
We identified early on that publishing the evidence was only part of the job, the real work was in how to effectively communicate what the evidence is telling us and how to get it seen by as many people as possible.
Turning a spreadsheet into a story
Every country in the Index carries an overall score, four pillar scores, and a longer list of indicators underneath each pillar, on top of regional and income-group comparisons. Shown flat, that's a spreadsheet.
So the map and table explorer was wireframed before any visual design or code, and tested against the real data early to ensure the meaning behind the underlying numbers was easy to understand and compare. Could one view give a policymaker a quick overview of their own country, and a researcher a way to compare dozens of indicators across regions, without either one feeling like an afterthought.
Andrew Fairlie
Getting the presentation of the data across each of the screens, maps and charts was the greatest challenge. By working in interactive wireframes early on, with the correct data rather than placeholders, allowed us to ensure we really got to know and understand what we were working with and how best to present it.
Clear answers for each country
Inside a country page, the same dataset drills from one overall score down to four pillar scores, then to the indicators underneath each. Each layer has its own bar and number, never more than a click from the summary above it.
It also turns rank into something people can feel, not just compare. For example, Australia's page states it ranks first in its region, then says what that means in real terms: 5.7 million children, 1.2% of the region's population under 18.
Subject sensitive design
The brand had the right instinct - an illustrated, hand drawn style that feels human, not clinical. But the positive imagery throughout and colour logic for the data meant that the impact of what it was communicating was getting lost. Higher scoring counties used a cheerful green colour with the connotation that this country is doing well. The reality however is more that the country is doing comaribly better, not necessarily well and on an index meaturing violence against children that reading is misleading.
So the brand warmth stayed, with the addition of new illustration style elements to replace some of the more misleadingly chearful originals, and every colour, label and default view was re-examined for what it would imply to a visitor.
Built to show what's working
A site this data-heavy is only useful if the team behind it can see what is and isn't working. So tracking was built down to the level of individual interactions - which pillar or indicator someone clicks into, whether they're using the map or the table, which toolkit resource they download, copy, or open.
By tracking every filter, indicator click, and map/table toggle, the team can see which parts of a 23- indicator, 4-pillar dataset people actually use.
