The objective here is to understand the sensitivity of the Indian stock market (SENSEX) and communicate the information in an easy and comprehensive flow.
Approach taken:
A narrative and interactive visualisation approach were adopted to explain this complex topic by telling stories through datasets that are difficult to comprehend. This adds better information hierarchy so that it reduces the cognitive load on the users.
Objective:
Bombay Stock Exchange Limited
Created:
October 2015 | 4 weeks duration
Tools:
Excel, R, Illustrator, Aftereffects
Reason:
Combining several open heavy data sets to look for trends and communicate stories.
Data:
While reading one of the books on poverty in the rural districts of India by P. Sainath, a leading journalist in this area, I came up with the idea that perhaps there was a relation between these same events and the economic index of our country. I had wanted to make a visualisation on Sensex for a while and this seemed like a good opportunity
I found all datasets, the Sensex values of past two decades, Sectorial indices, GDP annual growth, FDI inflow rate and non-economic events occurred in India till then. After mining and munging data, I created all line charts in R and Excel and then imported these graphs in Illustrator where I added all the colours, icons and annotations. For the events, I searched the news for that particular date to see if anything could be found relating to rise and fall of Sensex. Finally made a prototype of the visualisation in Aftereffects.
In the end, I do see the correlation between events occurred and the Sensex value how it impacts the value of Indian Rupee.
Project Description
Project Details
Process Followed
Guides:
Chakradhar Saswade, Dr. Aneesha Sharma
Data processed
After collecting the data from various sources, the main challenge was to find meaningful data from the large datasets, weave a story with a core narrative and communicate the information. It starts with a hypothesis to prove i.e. How sensitive is our Indian stock market?
Narrative structure
Following the classic narrative arc of storytelling here described on the left, the data from the above datasets was narrated to make it more engaging and memorable. The comparison style of narration was considered to tell an impactful story.
Visual narrative genre / Information Architecture
The Interactive Slideshow structure follows a typical slideshow format but incorporates interaction mid-narrative within the confines of each slide. This structure allows the user to further explore particular points of the presentation before moving ahead to the next stage of the story. This allows for interaction mid-narrative, a more balanced mix of author-driven and reader-driven approaches.
Information / Site flow:
Narrative flow:
Visual explorations
Taking the inspiration from the intensity of the topic, the graphics were chosen with the colour palette in the shades of grey. Line chart is chosen as the chart type as focus is on the comparison of data and how it changes over the time (trendlines).
Story-telling affordances
These are the features of a visualisation that provide a narrative structure and guide the reader through the story. It ties facts and events to create a cohesive structure. In the case of a slideshow, understanding these affordances will make it possible to create more effective stories that can be read effortlessly while providing a lot of information.
Final Outcome
This narrative visualisation starts by briefing about the Indian Stock Market and its economic index (Sensex). When the user clicks forward arrow, the narrative flow of information is introduced.
As the Sensex which marks the economic growth of the country has risen, there is a considerable rise in the GDP of the country. Thus, it indicates that Indians have benefitted from the reasons that brought about the growth in the stock market.
GDP Annual rate vs Sensex
" How is GDP affected by rise and fall of the Sensex? "
" What is the reason that brought this growth? "
FDI net Inflow rate vs Sensex
The economic growth is marked by the inflow and outflow of the capital in the share market. The major contributor to this boost is Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Hence, increase in capital inflows sees a rise in the stock market index.
* Sectoral indices of stock market started from the year 1999
" How did the capital inflow affect the stock value of various sectors? "
Sectoral indices vs Sensex
The capital inflow in the stock market is the accumulation of the capital flow in the individual sectors which are registered in the stock market. Selected sectors which have seen some surprising transitions over the years are: Construction, Consumer packaged goods, Healthcare, IT.
" What are the reasons that brought this capital inflow? "
Occurrences of events vs Sensex
Non-economic phenomena such as political changes, war, riots, deaths, natural calamities and some global events cause damage affecting industries, and the exuberance carries on in the stock market. The nature of the events occurred and the Sensex value is negatively correlated.
* Majority of the events which followed the pattern were considered.
" How is the Indian Rupee impacted due to this capital inflow? "
Indian Rupee value vs Sensex
Huge amounts of foreign fund inflow into the country due to the non-economic phenomena creates a lot of demand for the Rupee, and the RBI pumps the amount of Rupee in the market as a result of demand created. This situation leads to inflation where too much money chases too few goods.
With this explanatory visualization I attempted to make the story more impactful, memorable and thought provoking in the end. Ending the visualization with an open-ended question is for encouraging more people to participate, learn and make informed decision when required.
" Have Indians actually benefitted from the reasons that brought about the growth in the stock market? "
" Is Sensex an economic index or an opportunistic index? "
Video prototype
Challenges faced
Interactive visualisation stories interfere with the story arc. A balance between focus and interaction.was difficult to achieve.
The elements that can be added in the visualisation that makes it unique and memorable. Combining the qualitative and quantitative data.
The effectiveness of the story depends not only on the structure of the data but on the actual values that generate pattern.
Measuring the effectiveness of these visual stories through metrics like engagement and interest, ability to remember the key points, being able to make informed decision