Visualizing student retention and graduation data

A community college wanted to figure out how to adequately support the large percentage of students who quietly stop attending school, so in the future more students can successfully complete their degrees. The college was struggling to convey to faculty and staff the magnitude and importance of the problem, and asked me to help create several data visualizations to communicate the data in a more intuitive and impactful way. The goal was to inspire faculty and staff to embrace new initiatives aimed at supporting students, which required meaningful faculty buy-in and effort to sustain.

First, in close collaboration with the director of institutional research, we identified the key data points to communicate and brainstormed several potential ways to visually portray the data. Thinking about the progress of students as a physical road or “path” was one strong possibility; however, after mocking up several options, we landed on a leaky pipe that loses students as it goes as a more emotionally-impactful and clear visual metaphor.

Finally, using Adobe Illustrator I fleshed out the “leaky pipe” idea, carefully ensuring the size and spacing of each leak accurately corresponded to the underlying data. A couple iterations, in collaboration with my client contact, resulted in a simple and clear final design, with colors and visual style that were consistent with the intended presentation context. The visualization and larger presentation were highly praised for their clarity and emotional impact, and ended up being used and referenced on an ongoing basis despite initially being intended as a one-time effort.