By Caspar Lam and YuJune Park, Partners and Co-Founders at Synoptic Office and Professors at Parsons School of Design, New York
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Data Is Raw Material For Stories, Insights, Experiences
In the age of AI, data is everywhere … and everything. From the words we type and the images we post to our casual chats with colleagues, it’s all fodder for digital tools, training models, and decision-making. But is data itself inherently exciting or dull? That depends less on the numbers and more on how you frame them.
As a design studio working at the intersection of research, storytelling, and technology, we’ve often been asked: Is there such a thing as boring data? Our answer is always the same: no. Because data is just a means to an end. It’s the raw material for stories, insights, and experiences.
Whether you’re working with stats on civic engagement or customer drop-off rates on a website, the potential to make data resonate lies in how you curate, edit, and ultimately present it.
The Art of Curation
When people think of data, they often imagine spreadsheets, charts, or dashboards – useful, definitely, but rarely inspiring. What transforms that data into something compelling isn’t the numbers themselves but the process behind them: analysis, interpretation, and storytelling. There’s always a narrative waiting to be uncovered, even in the driest data sets.
Take, for instance, the kind of internal user behavior data that brands collect: think navigation habits, conversion paths, or page bounce rates. At first glance, this might seem uninspiring. But look deeper, and you’ll find insights into how people think, act, and engage. Data like this can shape not only strategy but also creative output, if you frame it correctly for your audience.
A standout example is Spotify’s super innovative work with FCB NY on its ‘Spreadbeats’ campaign targeting media planners. Spotify used a ‘Spreadbeats’ generator to code customized music videos based on media ad sales data. Then, they reached media planners in their natural habitat – within Excel spreadsheets – where the music videos came to life alongside traditional presentation of a media plan proposal.
Transparency vs. Clarity
We’ve worked extensively with both private companies and public institutions, and one thing we’ve learned is that transparency isn’t enough. Many organizations pride themselves on being open by releasing raw data sets to the public. But without context or design, this kind of transparency often fails to resonate.
This is particularly evident in government data. A civic agency might release thousands of pages of statistics online to make it “accessible,” but unless that data is structured, translated, and visualized in a way that makes sense to everyday people, it can fail to resonate. That’s where design comes in, not just to make things “look good” but to make them understandable.
The US House of Representatives Majority Leader took this approach with ‘Congress Now’, a mobile app making the reams of data introduced in Congress publicly available. The app provides up-to-date information for House staffers and the general public alike to stay on top of the day’s legislative data.
That’s because clear, well-structured data empowers people. It invites civic engagement, facilitates smarter decisions, and enables more informed discourse. And increasingly, that clarity comes not just from static design but from interaction, motion, and multimedia storytelling.
The Rise of Sensory Data
Our relationship with data has changed dramatically in recent years, particularly with the intertwining of social media and generative AI. What we used to consider “data” – spreadsheets, analytics, documents – is now just one part of the picture. Today, images, videos, sounds, and even motion have become forms of data that need to be thoughtfully considered and carefully shaped.
We see it in our classrooms and in our client work: there’s a new primacy to motion. A still image is no longer enough. Whether you’re creating a graphic for Instagram or a button on a website, the expectation is that it moves, responds, and interacts.
This change demands a new set of skills from designers – and a new mindset from brands. Cultivating an archive of owned video assets, for example, can be a valuable route to sensory engagement.
Designing for Attention
We’re also designing in an attention economy that’s more fragmented than ever. Consumer-facing brands need to balance interactivity with restraint, avoiding sensory overload while still making an impact. That means thinking strategically about color, motion, typography, and pacing. It’s about creating moments that stick, not just because they look good, but because they feel good to interact with.
And context is everything. Mobile-first design is no longer a buzzword; it’s a necessity. We’re designing for people on the move, people scrolling through feeds, people engaging in micro-moments. This means making information not only legible, but lovable, shaping data experiences that are tactile, responsive, and emotionally resonant.
Data Is Human
Ultimately, data isn’t just numbers; it’s human activity, translated. Every chart or graph is the shadow of someone’s decision, action, or behavior. And when you recognize that, you start to treat data less like an abstract artifact and more like a living, breathing entity.
Whether you’re working with governments or global brands, the challenge remains the same: how do you make the invisible visible?
So no, there is no boring data. There’s only data we haven’t learned how to read yet, or stories we haven’t figured out how to tell. And in a world increasingly shaped by algorithms and automation, those stories matter more than ever.
