Visualization of a pandemic: Covid-19

At first glance, statistical data are nothing more than that: numbers and units in tables that are primarily used by experts in the respective field of study. In the face of the global Corona pandemic, Svea Hansohn, a student of the study program B.A. Graphic Design and Visual Communication at Media University Cologne, asked herself: What can designers do to help communicate information and data in a comprehensible way? More concretely, how can a pandemic be visualized? For her thesis, she also chose another focus of inquiry: What does human resilience have to do with all of this? Because whether consciously or unconsciously, everyone has been forced to deal with the issue of resilience in the face of new challenges within the last 18 months.
To illustrate the issue of the pandemic, information design and visualization can help create an overview and bring content together in a compact way. Data can be contextualized and thus interpreted. This foundation forms the understanding for further insights and perspectives on the given situation.
To stand out from the sober infographics we encounter every day in the media, Svea Hansohn has designed seven infographics, each covering a topic area, including global infection figures and vaccination coverage. Using an international comparison between six countries, one of the infographics also shows the results of a survey she conducted herself on how resilient society is in times of crisis and during the current pandemic.
The infographics are based on data from January 2020 to March 2021. A matching atlas maps the infographics with its own articles and information so that the graphics can be put into additional context.