works

Designing for Impact: Data Visualization & MaCher’s Impact Report

For this project, I began designing infographics based on seven data sets given by MaCher, and by using their brand guidelines, presented them as potential/mockup slides for their yearly Impact Report. I was responsible for creating new and updated infographics for certain pages, as well as creating new layouts to accommodate them in the report’s final draft.

Client •

MaCher

Category •

Interaction Design

Date •

2024

Project Overview:

A data visualization and graphic design project in which I turned notable metrics from design agency, and proud B Corp, MaCher, into infographics for their yearly Impact Report.

Click here to try out our prototype

My Role

Data Visualization & Graphic Design

Duration

16 Weeks

Collaborators

Ben Denzinger, Genevieve Lawrence, Tal Stevens

Our Client

GameStop is a large retail brand best known for video games, consoles, and collectibles, with locations across the U.S. In addition to retail, some stores host community experiences such as Trading Card Game meetups and beginner-friendly play sessions. These events rely on staff facilitation and physical setup, which makes internal training and consistency a meaningful part of the customer experience.

Stakeholders

Devin connected the work to GameStop’s customer experience and brand standards, and provided ongoing guidance and feedback. As an SMC IxD alum, he also served as a helpful bridge between the academic context and real-world expectations.

Nick advised on how the concept could align with existing digital products and associate workflows.

MaCher was in need of a new direction for their yearly Impact Report, and one of the core parts of that was to improve how they displayed infographics and data visualization. As such, they were looking for unique representations of data that were representative of the interesting metrics that they monitor, while also being aesthetically on-brand and pleasing to the eye.

Along with using the brand guidelines provided, there was one other important design constraint to note - No pictures. The former year’s report was heavily image-based, and made the file size too large . However, vector based graphics was a direction they were open to because they keep the file size small. This is important to note, as I wanted to present data in ways that weren’t just charts or graphs (and no tables!).

Created a report that: preserved the minimalist layout and muted palette that aligned with the team’s style, was rooted in research from previous Impact Reports, wasn’t afraid to take risks with some graphical representations, and balanced between overemphasizing success and downplaying shortcomings.

Research

My three biggest sources of research were datavizproject.com, the r/DataIsBeautiful subreddit, and the MaCher impact report from the year before. The first resource was absolutely critical to understanding how data is displayed for particular purposes, and I revisited it almost daily to try and understand how I could do so for the data that MaCher gave us. For inspiration, the r/DataIsBeautiful subreddit was invaluable forgetting inspiration for the more unique infographics. And lastly, the previous impact report helped root the project in precedence and gave me a visual language to work off of.

‍

‍

Parsing the Data: The data for this report was broken up into seven sections, and for each, I had to create a system for creating each infographic that accurately represents them. By breaking it down this way, it really helped me make more cohesive choices with the designs. It also took some of the guess-work out of the discovery phase, without making it so technical that I sacrificed creative presentation.

Referential chart for understanding how to parse MaCher data.

Netnography

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Netnography revealed a consistent tension: stores often optimize for fast transactions, while players need spaces that invite staying, learning, and returning. TCG communities grow through visibility, repetition, and shared ritual, so the environment has to make those behaviors feel natural. In hobby shops and pop-up formats, especially in Japan, that sense of “permission to stay” is often built into the space, while traditional retail layouts can unintentionally interrupt it.

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To better understand that difference, we studied how physical environments shape behavior, emotion, and participation in retail and community settings. We focused on how layout, sound, lighting, and visibility influence whether people feel welcomed to linger or subtly pushed to move on. This work drew from servicescape theory, retail design research, and online observation of spaces where play, commerce, and community overlap.

Field Research

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Field research showed that events often depended on employee initiative rather than a consistent system. Store space was frequently improvised, with single tables tucked into corners, shifting layouts, and unclear flow for spectators or newcomers. The atmosphere varied widely from store to store. In some locations, the event felt lively and obvious. In others, it was nearly invisible unless you already knew it was happening.

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We also noticed that participation hinged less on the table setup itself and more on facilitation. Customers showed strong affinity for staff, but expressed limited attachment to the GameStop brand. Tables and materials helped, but customers only committed when a staff member clearly signaled that play was active, guided what to do next, and welcomed newcomers into the space.

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The Big Idea

We sought out to standardize employee education for event procedures & setups so that associates of any level can run consistently great events without needing to rely solely on improvisation.

Key Insights

Discovery

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Through our research we discovered a cascading effect that ultimately taints GameStop’s brand identity.

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To prevent this, we will focus on the needs of the employee to provide a systematic approach to upskilling.

Subject Matter Experts

Hannah & Stephanie

Hannah grounded our work in the realities of store space. She highlighted how much layouts vary and what can’t be moved, including ADA requirements, shelving, and signage. Her input mattered because it pushed us to design space planning that adapts to each store instead of assuming an “ideal” setup.

Stephanie gave us the operational view of how associates actually receive and use training. With 10+ years at GameStop, she walked us through a sample module in the employee dashboard and explained how information is passed down across stores. Her insight reinforced a key constraint for our prototype: guidance has to be easy to find, quick to absorb, and usable mid-shift.

Quotes

“Our stores are One in a million...
They're all different snowflakes.” - Hannah

(on event consistency across stores)
“It depends on the manager” - Stephanie

Matt Goodfriend

Matt helped us frame the prototype as a learning experience, not just a set of instructions. He guided how we structured the module so associates could move from understanding to action, using clear objectives, examples, and practice moments. His input mattered because it kept the training focused on real performance on shift, not just information delivery.

Quote

“Training should reflect who we are,
not just information.” - Matt

Insight Journey

What's the big idea?

Standardizing instruction for event procedures & setups so that GS employees can run consistently great events without needing to rely solely on improvisation

Click the image to cycle through drafts

Drafting

We began by drafting the training experience in Figma. That early prototype helped us quickly test the structure, tone, and flow before committing to a full build. During review, we were told the draft was strong enough that GameStop planned to include most of it in their internal education testing. That feedback shifted the stakes for us. It also made it clear that if we wanted the work to be usable inside their ecosystem, we needed to build it in the format their teams actually prefer.

That is what pushed us to move from a Figma draft into Articulate360. We treated the transition as part of the design work, not just a handoff. We adapted our screens into a real module build, tightened pacing, and leaned into interaction patterns that Articulate supports well. Learning a new tool mid-project was a challenge, but it made the prototype feel more realistic and closer to how training could live within Main Menu.

Final Product

The adjustments made for the final version of the Impact Report saw some infographics and their topics split across multiple pages to give more breathing room to the information, and even some overhauls of infographics to call more attention to some facts and make them more accessible.

Click here to try out our prototype

Feedback

Testing occurred over the span of three days at a 40% completion rate (the norm for GS is 45% in two weeks), in three regions. A total of 47 associates participated in the test.

The results showed clear confidence growth after associates explored the Employee Playbook module, with sentiment shifting more positive overall. A meaningful portion (~45%) still stayed neutral, which signaled the need for more personalized and hands-on support in future iterations of the module.

Reflections

Being a part of the MaCher team creating the 2023 Impact Report was a highlight in my design journey. Not only was this the first formal design agency that I’ve worked with, itwas also my first time working with extensive data visualization. If I’m being completely honest, I don’t think that I would change a thing in my project, as the result was 100% the one that I had hoped for. However, if I were to do this project all over again, I think that I would experiment even more with the graphical representations of data. There was a lot of exploration that happened over three weeks, so I’m confident that having another week or two would have yielded some interesting results. Regardless, this is the kind of immersion therapy that I tend to thrive in when designing, and I loved every second of it!

‍

works

Designing for Impact: Data Visualization & MaCher’s Impact Report

For this project, I began designing infographics based on seven data sets given by MaCher, and by using their brand guidelines, presented them as potential/mockup slides for their yearly Impact Report. I was responsible for creating new and updated infographics for certain pages, as well as creating new layouts to accommodate them in the report’s final draft.

Client •

MaCher

Category •

Interaction Design

Date •

2024

Project Overview:

A data visualization and graphic design project in which I turned notable metrics from design agency, and proud B Corp, MaCher, into infographics for their yearly Impact Report.

Experience the digital product on Figma

My Role

Data Visualization & Graphic Design

Duration

16 Weeks

Collaborators

Lie Burgess, Alexander Johnson, Princess Rivia, Sammy Schreier

How might We...

design a game that tests players abilities to navigate cross-cultural communication through different scenarios?

Research Methods

To further solidify our understanding of intercultural communication and how games could possibly be used as a medium for addressing the friction that it caused in a more focused product, we underwent using research methods such as: mind mapping, insight sorting, and from-to exploration. ‍

With the team also performing competitive analyses on games (the most informative of which will be mentioned below), we were also able to develop a matrix that compared how games created decision-experiences to more clearly understand how we wanted to represent Bridge to Kultur (as well as discover how it would play).

My three biggest sources of research were datavizproject.com, the r/DataIsBeautiful subreddit, and the MaCher impact report from the year before. The first resource was absolutely critical to understanding how data is displayed for particular purposes, and I revisited it almost daily to try and understand how I could do so for the data that MaCher gave us. For inspiration, the r/DataIsBeautiful subreddit was invaluable forgetting inspiration for the more unique infographics. And lastly, the previous impact report helped root the project in precedence and gave me a visual language to work off of.

‍

Parsing the Data: The data for this report was broken up into seven sections, and for each, I had to create a system for creating each infographic that accurately represents them. By breaking it down this way, it really helped me make more cohesive choices with the designs. It also took some of the guess-work out of the discovery phase, without making it so technical that I sacrificed creative presentation.

Making the game

Game Narrative

At the heart of Bridge to Kultur is a world fractured by history, scarcity, and cultural divergence. Rather than casting players as conquerors or traders, the narrative invites them to step into the roles of diplomats. Individuals tasked with navigating trust, survival, and identity in a land on the brink of collapse.

Each of the four nations—Fire, Water, Earth, and Air—possesses its own worldview, aesthetic, and moral compass. Through branching scenarios, faction-based dilemmas, and evolving trust dynamics, the narrative challenges players not only to survive a looming Calamity, but to wrestle with the social and political costs of doing so. This isn't just a story players observe, but one that they co-author with every scenario they encounter, every alliance they build, and every bridge they dare—or refuse—to cross.

System Design

Creating the mechanics for Bridge to Kultur meant balancing narrative depth with strategic clarity. From the start, our goal was to design a system that encouraged meaningful choices, personal agency, and diplomatic tension—while staying intuitive enough to support both analog and digital components. The mechanics evolved through multiple iterations, each one bringing us closer to a structure that supports individual storytelling within a shared world. As someone who has been playing games for as long as they can remember, having the opportunity to design the mechanics and flow of the game was an exciting and complex challenge for me.

MaCher was in need of a new direction for their yearly Impact Report, and one of the core parts of that was to improve how they displayed infographics and data visualization. As such, they were looking for unique representations of data that were representative of the interesting metrics that they monitor, while also being aesthetically on-brand and pleasing to the eye.

Along with using the brand guidelines provided, there was one other important design constraint to note - No pictures. The former year’s report was heavily image-based, and made the file size too large . However, vector based graphics was a direction they were open to because they keep the file size small. This is important to note, as I wanted to present data in ways that weren’t just charts or graphs (and no tables!).

Created a report that: preserved the minimalist layout and muted palette that aligned with the team’s style, was rooted in research from previous Impact Reports, wasn’t afraid to take risks with some graphical representations, and balanced between overemphasizing success and downplaying shortcomings.

Product Concept Sketching

Originally, I had interpreted the report as a single poster. This helped me get abetter understanding of how to make the infographics flow together, therefore telling a wider story.

Prototyping

Physical Components

The adjustments made for the final version of the Impact Report saw some infographics and their topics split across multiple pages to give more breathing room to the information, and even some overhauls of infographics to call more attention to some facts and make them more accessible.

Digital Component

Originally, I had interpreted the report as a single poster. This helped me get a better understanding of how to make the infographics flow together, therefore telling a wider story. We start with sourcing, determine the sustainability practices used to make a product, compare its packaging and shipping methods, note the carbon credits bought with the order, and then lastly, check the materials performance and how sustainable those materials are.

‍

User Testing

Final Product

On top of the alterations made to my infographics, the final report had included four new pages that I happily took on. They needed unique graphics and a few new infographics for their Ambitions 2030 representation, the 2023 review summary of that, JEDI (Justice, Equity,Diversity & Inclusion), and their Milestones.

‍

For the first two, concentric circles split into thirds represented the three areas designated by MaCher as where they can create the most impact- Waste Reduction, Decarbonization, and JEDI, formed the main graphic summarizing their goals. This was wrapped in another circle, labeled Partnerships and Collective Action, which emphasized how they could further meet those goals.

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For the third new page, infographics were created to represent the demographic information within the organization.

‍

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And lastly, theMaCher Milestones page was an evolution of a graphic that worked really well in their last report. Reviews for the report were widely praised by the B Corp community, with multiple others referencing MaCher’s reports as the template for success in the years since!

‍

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No items found.

Digital Demo Experience

Game On

Experience the digital product on Figma

Reflections

Being a part of the MaCher team creating the 2023 Impact Report was a highlight in my design journey. Not only was this the first formal design agency that I’ve worked with, itwas also my first time working with extensive data visualization. If I’m being completely honest, I don’t think that I would change a thing in my project, as the result was 100% the one that I had hoped for. However, if I were to do this project all over again, I think that I would experiment even more with the graphical representations of data. There was a lot of exploration that happened over three weeks, so I’m confident that having another week or two would have yielded some interesting results. Regardless, this is the kind of immersion therapy that I tend to thrive in when designing, and I loved every second of it!

‍

works

Designing for Impact: Data Visualization & MaCher’s Impact Report

For this project, I began designing infographics based on seven data sets given by MaCher, and by using their brand guidelines, presented them as potential/mockup slides for their yearly Impact Report. I was responsible for creating new and updated infographics for certain pages, as well as creating new layouts to accommodate them in the report’s final draft.

Client •

MaCher

Category •

Interaction Design

Date •

2024

Project Overview:

A data visualization and graphic design project in which I turned notable metrics from design agency, and proud B Corp, MaCher, into infographics for their yearly Impact Report.

Experience the digital product on Figma

My Role

Data Visualization & Graphic Design

Duration

16 Weeks

Collaborators

Lie Burgess, Alexander Johnson, Princess Rivia, Sammy Schreier

How might We...

design a game that tests players abilities to navigate cross-cultural communication through different scenarios?

Research Methods

To further solidify our understanding of intercultural communication and how games could possibly be used as a medium for addressing the friction that it caused in a more focused product, we underwent using research methods such as: mind mapping, insight sorting, and from-to exploration. ‍

With the team also performing competitive analyses on games (the most informative of which will be mentioned below), we were also able to develop a matrix that compared how games created decision-experiences to more clearly understand how we wanted to represent Bridge to Kultur (as well as discover how it would play).

My three biggest sources of research were datavizproject.com, the r/DataIsBeautiful subreddit, and the MaCher impact report from the year before. The first resource was absolutely critical to understanding how data is displayed for particular purposes, and I revisited it almost daily to try and understand how I could do so for the data that MaCher gave us. For inspiration, the r/DataIsBeautiful subreddit was invaluable forgetting inspiration for the more unique infographics. And lastly, the previous impact report helped root the project in precedence and gave me a visual language to work off of.

‍

Parsing the Data: The data for this report was broken up into seven sections, and for each, I had to create a system for creating each infographic that accurately represents them. By breaking it down this way, it really helped me make more cohesive choices with the designs. It also took some of the guess-work out of the discovery phase, without making it so technical that I sacrificed creative presentation.

Making the game

Game Narrative

At the heart of Bridge to Kultur is a world fractured by history, scarcity, and cultural divergence. Rather than casting players as conquerors or traders, the narrative invites them to step into the roles of diplomats. Individuals tasked with navigating trust, survival, and identity in a land on the brink of collapse.

Each of the four nations—Fire, Water, Earth, and Air—possesses its own worldview, aesthetic, and moral compass. Through branching scenarios, faction-based dilemmas, and evolving trust dynamics, the narrative challenges players not only to survive a looming Calamity, but to wrestle with the social and political costs of doing so. This isn't just a story players observe, but one that they co-author with every scenario they encounter, every alliance they build, and every bridge they dare—or refuse—to cross.

System Design

Creating the mechanics for Bridge to Kultur meant balancing narrative depth with strategic clarity. From the start, our goal was to design a system that encouraged meaningful choices, personal agency, and diplomatic tension—while staying intuitive enough to support both analog and digital components. The mechanics evolved through multiple iterations, each one bringing us closer to a structure that supports individual storytelling within a shared world. As someone who has been playing games for as long as they can remember, having the opportunity to design the mechanics and flow of the game was an exciting and complex challenge for me.

MaCher was in need of a new direction for their yearly Impact Report, and one of the core parts of that was to improve how they displayed infographics and data visualization. As such, they were looking for unique representations of data that were representative of the interesting metrics that they monitor, while also being aesthetically on-brand and pleasing to the eye.

Along with using the brand guidelines provided, there was one other important design constraint to note - No pictures. The former year’s report was heavily image-based, and made the file size too large . However, vector based graphics was a direction they were open to because they keep the file size small. This is important to note, as I wanted to present data in ways that weren’t just charts or graphs (and no tables!).

Created a report that: preserved the minimalist layout and muted palette that aligned with the team’s style, was rooted in research from previous Impact Reports, wasn’t afraid to take risks with some graphical representations, and balanced between overemphasizing success and downplaying shortcomings.

Product Concept Sketching

Originally, I had interpreted the report as a single poster. This helped me get abetter understanding of how to make the infographics flow together, therefore telling a wider story.

Prototyping

Physical Components

The adjustments made for the final version of the Impact Report saw some infographics and their topics split across multiple pages to give more breathing room to the information, and even some overhauls of infographics to call more attention to some facts and make them more accessible.

Digital Component

Originally, I had interpreted the report as a single poster. This helped me get a better understanding of how to make the infographics flow together, therefore telling a wider story. We start with sourcing, determine the sustainability practices used to make a product, compare its packaging and shipping methods, note the carbon credits bought with the order, and then lastly, check the materials performance and how sustainable those materials are.

‍

User Testing

Final Product

On top of the alterations made to my infographics, the final report had included four new pages that I happily took on. They needed unique graphics and a few new infographics for their Ambitions 2030 representation, the 2023 review summary of that, JEDI (Justice, Equity,Diversity & Inclusion), and their Milestones.

‍

For the first two, concentric circles split into thirds represented the three areas designated by MaCher as where they can create the most impact- Waste Reduction, Decarbonization, and JEDI, formed the main graphic summarizing their goals. This was wrapped in another circle, labeled Partnerships and Collective Action, which emphasized how they could further meet those goals.

‍

‍

‍

For the third new page, infographics were created to represent the demographic information within the organization.

‍

‍

And lastly, theMaCher Milestones page was an evolution of a graphic that worked really well in their last report. Reviews for the report were widely praised by the B Corp community, with multiple others referencing MaCher’s reports as the template for success in the years since!

‍

‍

No items found.

Digital Demo Experience

Game On

Experience the digital product on Figma

Reflections

Being a part of the MaCher team creating the 2023 Impact Report was a highlight in my design journey. Not only was this the first formal design agency that I’ve worked with, itwas also my first time working with extensive data visualization. If I’m being completely honest, I don’t think that I would change a thing in my project, as the result was 100% the one that I had hoped for. However, if I were to do this project all over again, I think that I would experiment even more with the graphical representations of data. There was a lot of exploration that happened over three weeks, so I’m confident that having another week or two would have yielded some interesting results. Regardless, this is the kind of immersion therapy that I tend to thrive in when designing, and I loved every second of it!

‍