For our final project in CS 171: Visualization, two peers and I explored how climate change has impacted polar bears through data — specifically how climate change has led to decreases in ice extent and thus, changes in population size, migration patterns, diet, and health.

This project began with gathering and cleaning data on polar bears, followed by an initial exploration using Tableau to uncover patterns and trends. This exploration guided our ideation process, where we brainstormed and selected the most effective visualizations to tell our data story. Subsequently, we developed a website to showcase our findings, continually iterating based on feedback from course teaching assistants and insights from a 'think aloud' study with a peer group. This iterative process ensured our final product was not only engaging and user-friendly but effective in communicating the impact of climate change on polar bears through data-driven visualizations.