Interactive Map Design and Development for the BBC
- Map design and data visualisation for the world's oldest national broadcasting organisation.
- Designed to engage a target audience of 1 million students between the ages of 9 and 11.
- Used in over 30,000 schools.
The Ambition
At the time the project was commissioned, fewer than 15% of 10-14 -year-olds aspired to pursue a career as a scientist. The BBC partnered with leading universities to create a series of child-friendly scentific investigations for a campaign titled 'Terrific Scientific'.
What We Did
Operated by BBC Learning, the Terrific Scientific project was a captivating nationwide initiative designed to engage Key Stage 2 pupils in science. It was meticulously aligned with the curriculum to foster enthusiasm for science through participation in a collective journey of discovery. The project revolves around a series of large-scale investigations collaboratively developed by the BBC in partnership with leading UK universities.
A pivotal objective of the project was to cultivate a dynamic and interactive science community that promotes collaboration and the exchange of information. In pursuit of this goal, the BBC commissioned the creation of an interactive map. This map not only appeals visually to the target audience but also effectively presents vast amounts of user-generated data in an accessible manner.
Given the unprecedented scale of school experiments and data collection involved, the visualisation of data needed to span from local schools to a national scale.
This project was a great challenge for the Enigma team as we had never attempted such comprehensive visualisation before.
Engaging and user-friendly map design
The map was designed to cater to its youthful target audience with a vibrant and welcoming outlook. It incorporates a series of illustrated iconic landmarks to aid pupils in identifying different regions of the UK.
The campaign consists of five primary investigations, each exploring distinct elements of the science curriculum relevant to the themes of taste, water, time, trees, and forces. Collaborating with their teachers, students systematically record data for each experiment over several weeks.
Every participating school featured on the interactive map. The user interface includes a convenient search bar that allows teachers, students, and visitors to input their postcode or school name to find nearby schools and access their results.
Data Visualisation
The map dynamically adjusted to showcase varying information corresponding to each experiment and the associated results that require visualisation. This functionality enabled pupils to directly observe the influence of their contributions on a nationwide science community.
Testing the UX before go-live
Thorough testing was essential due to the high number of anticipated users. We organised several user acceptance testing workshops with schools and other groups of young people who fell within the target age range. These sessions were aimed at assessing the design and user experience (UX) and making any necessary improvements before launching the product.
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