How do you use interactivity to enhance user engagement and feedback?

1 Choose the right type of interactivity

When creating a data presentation, there are several types of interactivity you can choose from, depending on your goal, data, and audience. Filtering allows users to select or deselect certain categories, variables, or values from your data and see how the visualization changes. Zooming allows people to zoom in or out of your visualization and see more or less detail. Highlighting lets people hover over or click on a specific element of your visualization and see more information or context about it. Annotation allows users to add notes, comments, or questions to your visualization and share them with others. Each of these options can help users focus on what matters to them, discover patterns or outliers, learn more about the data, and communicate their insights.

2 Design for clarity and usability

Interactivity can enhance your data presentation, but it can also lead to confusion or frustration if not designed well. To avoid this, it is important to provide clear instructions or cues on how to use the interactivity and what to expect from it, such as using icons, labels, tooltips, or legends to guide your users. Additionally, the interactivity should be kept simple and intuitive, avoiding unnecessary or complex features that might distract or overwhelm your users. Furthermore, it is essential to test the interactivity for functionality and performance, ensuring that it works smoothly and reliably across different devices and browsers. This can be done by using tools or frameworks that support responsive design and optimizing your data and code for speed and efficiency.

3 Evaluate the impact of interactivity

Interactivity can have different effects on your data presentation and your audience, so it's important to evaluate them to measure the success of your interactivity. Collect feedback from users to get qualitative and quantitative data on how they interacted with your presentation, and compare the results with your initial goal. Use metrics or indicators to assess if your interactivity increased engagement, comprehension, or action from users. Learn from your findings and use them to improve interactivity or try new ideas. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of your interactivity and make adjustments or enhancements based on them.

4 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?