Inspiration
I started this project by exploring Plotly Studio’s default dataset to test its capabilities, and I was blown away by the prompting accuracy and interactivity. While exploring the data, I began thinking about what makes countries good to live in and how people born in certain countries enjoy advantages while others may face disadvantages — both mental and physical. In today’s context of anti-immigration sentiments, I wanted to highlight how people work hard to overcome these disadvantages, often moving to countries with higher wellbeing scores, contributing to their communities, and benefiting from better opportunities. I also wanted to make the experience fun and imaginative, inspired by games like Animal Farm, to encourage people to explore wellbeing data in a playful, reflective way.
What it does
Mood Map: Nations Ranked is an interactive, multi-chart dashboard that allows users to explore OECD wellbeing data across countries, domains, measures, years, and demographics. Users can:
Explore aggregated wellbeing scores on a choropleth map.
Examine domain-level contributions using a radar chart.
Compare countries globally with a distribution plot (violin/density).
Track wellbeing trends over time with a trend line chart.
Analyze demographics (Age group and Sex) using a packed bubble chart.
The dashboard is fully linked, so selecting a country or measure in one chart updates all related charts, letting users explore different countries and imagine what life there might be like.
How I built it
We used Plotly Studio to build the dashboard with:
Interactive charts including choropleth, radar, violin/density, trend line, and packed bubble plots.
Dropdowns and sliders for selecting measures, countries, years, and demographic groups.
Pixel/monospace fonts, lemon yellow + green palette, and subtle arcade/HUD accents to create a fun, calming, fantasy-game inspired theme.
The charts are designed to encourage exploration, not just quick glances, so users pause and reflect on each country’s wellbeing story.
Challenges I ran into
Ensuring charts remained readable with many countries and demographic categories; this led to replacing heatmaps with packed bubble charts and violin/density plots.
Linking interactions between multiple charts so selections propagate smoothly.
Designing a cohesive retro/fantasy theme that is playful yet does not compromise clarity.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Created a multi-layered, story-driven dashboard that is visually immersive and thematically cohesive.
Successfully linked multiple chart types for interactive exploration.
Designed a retro-inspired, playful aesthetic that communicates happiness factors and encourages users to imagine alternative realities of life in different countries.
What I learned
The importance of data storytelling: each chart tells a unique story while linking to the others.
User experience matters: subtle theme choices and artistic plot design can make exploration engaging and reflective.
How to handle multi-dimensional datasets (countries, measures, domains, demographics) while keeping visuals readable and interactive.
What's next for Mood Map: Nations Ranked
Add more demographic filters and allow comparisons across multiple measures simultaneously.
Incorporate additional wellbeing indicators such as environmental or economic factors.
Explore more immersive visualizations and animations to enhance the fantasy-game aesthetic.
Use this tool to encourage users, governments, and researchers to reflect on global wellbeing patterns and think creatively about policy, opportunity, and equity.
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