Understanding the Impact of Spatial Immersion in Web Data Stories

TL;DR

This paper investigates how spatial immersion in web data stories influences user experience by identifying design patterns and comparing different immersive design variations through user studies.

Contribution

It identifies six key design patterns for spatial immersion and evaluates their impact on user engagement and perception in data storytelling.

Findings

Immersive design patterns increase interest and persuasiveness.

No single design variation was rated higher for understandability or trustworthiness.

Crowdsourced user study validated the effectiveness of specific spatial immersion features.

Abstract

An increasing number of web articles engage the reader with the feeling of being immersed in the data space. However, the exact characteristics of spatial immersion in the context of visual storytelling remain vague. For example, what are the common design patterns of data stories with spatial immersion? How do they affect the reader's experience? To gain a deeper understanding of the subject, we collected 23 distinct data stories with spatial immersion, and identified six design patterns, such as cinematic camera shots and transitions, intuitive data representations, realism, naturally moving elements, direct manipulation of camera or visualization, and dynamic dimension. Subsequently, we designed four data stories and conducted a crowdsourced user study comparing three design variations (static, animated, and immersive). Our results suggest that data stories with the design patterns for spatial immersion are more interesting and persuasive than static or animated ones, but no single condition was deemed more understandable or trustworthy.