Cool the Earth! is a project aimed at integrating data visualization into a children’s educational game about the effects of greenhouse gasses.
Solo
4 Weeks
The goal of this project was to design and publish an interactive data visualization that adds value to a speculative product or service. I decided to blend topics I had interest in: sustainability, children’s education, and game development.
I designed a mockup of a game for an educational children’s gaming app that would feature a collection of mini-games. Cool the Earth, teaches kids how different countries contribute to greenhouse gas emissions by amount and sector. Through hands-on, interactive play, children can learn how greenhouse gases impact global warming.
To start designing my speculative product, I first defined my target audience. Doing this gave me a starting point for future design decisions based on user needs determined by factors like their cognitive level and visual preferences.
A persona and user journey map was also created to ground my design decisions.
I chose to use green house gas emissions data from Our World in Data for my data source. The first thing I needed to do was narrow down and clean the massive dataset. With the data prepared for each country’s emissions to be visualized, I was ready to start designing.
I did a Competitor Analysis gained an understanding of existing experiences and design patterns which helped me later on when I was developing my own assets. I noted down their user flow, how each taught through gamification, as well as their visual branding.
Elements that I found to be important to children’s games include:
I based the mini-game on a Brick Breaker–style mechanic to visually and interactively represent how greenhouse gases trap heat in Earth’s atmosphere. Inspired by educational videos that used reflection and deflection metaphors, the ball represents heat attempting to escape, while the number of bricks scales with a country’s greenhouse gas emissions. This mechanic allows children to physically feel how increased emissions make it harder for heat to escape, reinforcing the concept through play.
To the left is a video of a basic prototype I made using Godot engine that captures the functionality of Brick Breaker. However, this game concept was later scrapped after a feedback session where it was brought to my attention that the way I was presenting my data was potentially misleading.
The chosen iteration was inspired by the flash game Wingoball which focuses on navigating a ball through obstacles to reach a safe zone. In this concept, the ball represents heat escaping Earth’s atmosphere, while the size of the obstacles is equal to a country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Instead of emphasizing quantity, this approach communicates impact through scale, allowing children to experience how higher emissions make it more difficult for heat to escape.
Inspired by a Futurama episode that personified greenhouse gases and children's books, I explored personaification to make abstract concepts more understandable for children.
I took the observations I had while exploring each children’s app, used it as inspiration, and translated that into my own app’s design.
My first iteration was very flat and simple. Inspiration was drawn from Khan Academy Kids’ UI that does a great job at looking playful and inviting which appeals to children
In order to accurately represent the data, bubble charts were created in Tableau. This allowed me to get a meaningful scale of the data. The green house gas graphics were then resized to match their respective bubble.
For the purpose of creating a mockup, the game was entirely animated using Adobe After Effects. Everything was later put together in Figma along with the lesson portion of the product.
My goal was to integrate a data visualization into a product while designing for children. This required meant
that I had to simplify complex data without misrepresenting its meaning. Throughout the project, I constantly
asked myself, "Could a child understand this?" Balancing accuracy with accessibility became a central design
challenge and ultimately shaped many of my decisions.
If I were to continue building out this project, I
would conduct usability testing with real users to evaluate understanding, engagement, and potential pain
points, then iterate based on those findings.