Was the cost of a mass Covid-19 test good value for Hong Kong? by Marcelo Duhalde

This story of Hong Kong mass Covid test results starts with a set of very simple yet extreme numbers: A city of 7.5 million population, one fourth of them took the test and only 42 cases were found.

The figure is so dramatic and it could be challenging to visualise the tremendous number difference in traditional ways using bar or line charts. And we decided to show the information in the most simple yet instinctual way.

Starting with showing the 42 positive cases, when the reader scrolls down, the camera zooms out, showing a bird eye view of every single Hong Kong people packed together, standing side by side, until the 7.5 million citizens become a pile of sand and the 42 people are almost impossible to spot. This introduction sums up the whole mass test at a glance, giving readers an overview of the situation.

Visualising a set of demographic numbers could be dry, so we make use of stylized illustration, drawing the 42 people, each of them with distinct clothes, body figure and hair style, which gives the story a sense of human touch. The figures are more than just numbers, each of them represents a real person. While applying the same look and feel to the rest of the story graphics, that creates a clean and direct reading experience to the readers.