De Amicis

Build your products with Energy, Structure, and Empathy

How to add a call to action, even for tiny graphics

Episode #21 of the Tiny Graphics Advent Calendar, published by Marius Popescu for De Amicis.

What is your Christmas tree’s call to action?

Is it the star on top of the tree, the most visible and eye-catching, or the space in front of the tree, prepared to receive the gifts?

Sometimes you work so hard to show all the data in a way that enables readers to understand all the aspects of it, that you may forget you also need to call for a specific action.

If you take the example of the sparkline charts, this call can be done by highlighting a point or a part of the line, usually towards the end, using a unique colour (e.g. red).

Children height sparkline chart
Evolution of measurements such as children height visualized as z-scores on a sparkline chart 0-18 years and focused on the last visit (using GrowthXP)

For before/after comparison charts the call can be represented by a histogram bar coloured in red to show the reader where they need to focus next.

After an office location change, focus on people having more than 60 minutes daily commutes.

For timelines, the call can be embedded as a visual element representing a predicted trend for the next year, a new version arriving soon, or a parallel event requiring adjustments for your customers.

Comparison of our electricity costs in 2020 with previous years, focused on the current month and calling for action before costs go even more in the winter.

Your turn now

What is the Call-To-Action you would embed in a tiny graphic?

Send your questions and ideas via the Tiny Graphics mailing list.

PS

For me, the Christmas tree is a giant call to action in itself, as it calls for us to be generous and happy as children can be.