Empowering Readers with Visual Data

Here's a tough task: Take a list of tax exemption numbers and clearly explain how it affects every aspect of a local community.

Journalist Dan Catchpole of the Yakima Herald has tried to do just that, with this viz about tax exemptions throughout Washington state's Yakima County. It's one of several vizzes as part of a series on tax exemptions and how they affect everything from schools to infrastructure.

"Being able to make the data visible and interactive for readers is critical to this project having a meaningful effect. It is such a esoteric topic, but the interactive graphics allow people to get their heads around the issue."

Here is just one of the vizzes he made. You can see the rest of the project here: