Driving change by showing the true impact of type 1 diabetes
Statistics
- Client
- Breakthrough T1D
- Deliverables
- Microsite
- Interactive data visualizations
- Interactive dashboard
The challenge
The global rise of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) brings urgent challenges as this lifelong, genetic condition requires constant insulin management and specialized care. Understanding T1D’s complexities and the best practices for managing it remains inaccessible to most people outside the scientific community, and the fragmented access to data and resources often limits effective advocacy.
Breakthrough T1D is the leading global organization funding T1D research, and their aim is to empower researchers, activists and other organizations to take action and help save innumerable lives. They asked CLEVER°FRANKE to create a centralized, data-driven advocacy platform that would not only present their insights but also bring together researchers, advocates, and policymakers to promote community-building, shared learning, and practical support for those impacted by T1D.
Value delivered
We developed a unique data visualization platform that combines storytelling with an interactive data simulator. This extensive approach provides users with an intuitive introduction to the T1D landscape, enabling them to explore T1D’s impact through both individual stories and comprehensive global data. The platform reveals T1D's true impact, facilitates greater understanding and advocacy, and strengthens community connections, empowering individuals and groups to make informed, data-driven decisions.
Background
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects more than 9 million people in the world. Diagnoses of T1D are growing rapidly, yet many people affected do not have access to advanced care.
Most of the research and information available on this disease have so far been only accessible within the scientific community.
Breakthrough T1D sought to change this by creating a one-stop-shop where individuals and advocates can gather relevant data and build a community of scientists and non-scientists alike.
Themodel
Breakthrough T1D developed a high-accuracy simulation model published in The Lancet in 2022, with transformative potential for T1D advocacy. The model aims to predict outcomes such as lives saved through increased diagnosis rates and added healthy years from improved T1D care.
Clientgoalsandobjectives
Together with the client we identified user groups and made our goal to design a platform that highlights T1D's impact, balancing accessibility for non-experts with depth for experts. Our aim was to enable all audiences to access and understand information, empowering advocacy and change.
Userchallenges
In our discovery phase, client platform demo and user research revealed navigation challenges tied to specialized knowledge. Key issues included a clunky interface and overly complex data, making the platform unappealing and difficult to use, even for advanced users.
Datainsights
Breakthrough T1D’s 35,000-record dataset reveals regional, yearly, and age-based insights into T1D's demographic impact. We helped prioritize key indicators, structuring the data into visualized indicators, simulator inputs, and drill-down settings, overcoming challenges in insight extraction.
Phases and toolkit items used
Theplatform
To provide access to the data we created a platform that supports storytelling while ensuring accessible, iconic, intuitive, and sensible principles for a cohesive user experience.
When structuring the platform, we focused on our audience’s needs. For non-experts, understanding T1D data was the first step, so we created pages to support learning. For experienced users, we added sections for advanced data analysis. Finally, we connected all these elements to the simulator, enabling users to apply their knowledge and insights in a practical, interactive way.
Learn
Each page structured in a way that break downs the complex data in sections as well as provide contextual information for advanced users.
These sections are set up as scrolling stories, guiding users through indicators and visualizations.
Analyze
The platform has rich interactions to filter the data and access specific datapoints.
Users can hover over the visualizations to get specific metrics explained in greater detail.
Simulate
The simulator is the heart of the T1D Index, using rich data and a high-accuracy model to predict outcomes.
Users can create scenarios, adjust parameters like diagnosis rates and care levels, and view projections for demographics up to 2040, with detailed outcome pages.
Simulatordetails
Our simulation overview helps users identify outliers and high-impact areas, guiding experts and simplifying insights for all.
Visual cues clearly distinguish projected from simulated data, helping users understand the impact of their settings. The pages highlight the positive or negative effects of interventions, showcasing how different scenarios impact specific population groups.
Intuitivevisuallanguage
We set out to design accessible, memorable data visualizations that simplify complex insights for non-experts. While tailored for T1D researchers, the platform also helps communicate findings to broader audiences through intuitive symbols and concepts. The final design ensures clarity and impact, visually matching the groundbreaking science it represents.
Theconcept
Our concept draws inspiration from the universal symbol for T1D and the logo for the T1D Index. The faded portion reflects the client’s mission to uncover hidden data, symbolizing their expertise in providing access to less visible information. From this idea, we created icons to represent data in a purposefully and cohesively.
The dataset highlights two dimensions of T1D’s impact: global prevalence, and its effect on life expectancy in terms of the contrast between healthy and lost years. We designed visualizations to accurately depict this data while ensuring a cohesive visual connection.
Uniquedatavisualizations
The visual language uses circles to show granularities within the data, and lets users get a sense of proportions in an accessible way.
We use a rounded shape to represent people’s life expectancy when they’re diagnosed with T1D. This data is unique and extremely important as it shows the effect of T1D on an individual’s life.
Changethroughcommunity
Building on our goals of learning, analysis, and simulation, we expanded global reach and engagement with key features: map views for geographic insights, a community view connecting T1D organizations, personal stories for demographic impact, and tools to export content into actionable data.
Powerfulstorytelling
We emphasized personal experiences to craft compelling stories, revealing the true impact of T1D worldwide. Users can explore targeted data insights and leverage these narratives for activism.
Exportablenarrativestohelptakeaction
Our platform was designed to support and inspire action, making it easier to share and to explain data narratives with local decision-makers to illustrate the potential impact of change.
To achieve this, we adapted the designs into exportable assets, ensuring users can present information in a clear, impactful, and inspiring way.
Technology
The simulator currently works with pre-calculated data for 1,008 interventions across 213 regions, four age groups, and a 40-year period (2000–2040), generating 30.18 million records for 21 indicators and their deltas.
This approach enables instant results for interventions, allowing users to identify high-impact regions without real-time computation, streamlining insights for decision-making.
Results
The T1D Index platform—shaped by two years of extensive modeling and cutting-edge data design from CLEVER°FRANKE—enables us to drive impactful change in type 1 diabetes interventions worldwide.
Priyanka Rai
Director of Policy at Breakthrough T1D, Global Access
The T1D Index is a vital advocacy tool that goes beyond simply presenting data. It offers a shared space for researchers, policymakers, and advocates to collaborate and learn, making the realities of T1D accessible and relatable for a wider audience. Through its combination of storytelling and interactive simulations, the platform empowers people with T1D and their supporters by providing actionable insights and fostering a sense of community. By shedding light on the impact of T1D worldwide and spotlighting effective management strategies, the platform delivers both knowledge and hope—showing that progress is possible and that a unified effort is underway to improve lives globally.
