Background:
It is a case study assignment from Deloitte Visual Analytics & Information Design, Omnia AI.
Duration:
1 week
Tools:
Canva
Context:
The background information outlined here is fictional for the purpose of building a story for this case study.
Heather’s, a women’s shelter located in Toronto, actively supports the rights of women and children to build lives
free of violence by providing a non-judgemental and safe space; advocacy, and a range of programs and services
including 24-hour crisis support.
The number of women experiencing homelessness has been steadily increasing over the past decade. Many
societal factors contribute to these increasing rates of homelessness within the female population. These factors
include lack of affordable housing, decrease in availability of rent subsidies, reduction in public welfare programs,
migration from locales of low paying jobs to centres of economic growth, deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill,
lack of education and training and unemployment.1 Personal and family level factors include separation and divorce
of couples; domestic and family violence; substance abuse, physical and mental disease.
The Problem:
Recently, Heather’s has experienced large spikes of women and children requiring access to their facility and
resources, leading to the realization that they need to be better equipped with enough space to be able to
accommodate this increase of needs. To address this challenge, the Managing Director, Sofi Rahmani, is going to
discuss a strategic plan at the upcoming Board of Directors meeting which captures key data insights in order to
gain support from the board. She believes presenting the data will drive influencing investors to help support
Heather’s funding programs.
Challenges:
• The number of women and children seeking out shelter and support has been steadily increasing, with not
enough resources to meet the recent rapid increase in demand
• The current government grants funding program has been declining and the shelter needs alternative
ways to raise money
• Increased limitations due to negative impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic and its implication on
economy, employment, safety, and well-being
• The 3,000 square footage of the shelter can only accommodate up to 30 women and children at one time
and the shelter is over capacitated
• With COVID-19 restrictions, the occupancy total and staff capacity have been reduced
Goals:
• Plan for urgent alternative measures as the impacts of COVID-19 greatly intensifies the problems of
women’s homelessness and domestic violence crises
• Communicate needs for more fundraising initiatives and campaigns to aid in expansion of the shelter to
increase accommodation and transitions
• Help increase the occupancy for women and children
My Task:
I am a designer working at Heather’s and Sofi has asked me to design an introductory key facts section called
“Why Act Now” to set a stage to introduce her ambitious strategic plan.
Using available data sources (refer to Selected Data / Information Sources below), I have to create a 1-2 page “infographic”
data fact sheet to highlight key insights /data supported by an informative visual narrative / story demonstrating the
following capabilities:
• Clear, enticing narrative structure suited to the target audience
• Distilling information, curating, and editing data/content to support narrative
• Understanding of progressive disclosure, choice of appropriate visualization methods for specific content
• Effective application of information design principles to bring clarity, simplicity and functionality to the key
insights
• Strong visual and graphic design skills such as the application of typography, colour, contrast and
composition. Please refer to this link for Heather’s brand identity / look and feel.
Information Sources:
Toronto’s Dashboard Database
• https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2019/05/14/tories-slash-17m-from-services-for-victims-of- violence.html?rf
• https://womenshomelessness.ca/wp-content/uploads/Key-Findings-State-of-Womens-Homelessness.pdf
• https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/domestic-intimate-partner-violence-up-in-pandemic-1.5914344
• https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/womens-shelters-turned-away-domestic-violence-1.5483186
• https://www.cp24.com/news/domestic-violence-reports-continue-to-rise-due-to-covid-19-pandemic-1.5309133?cache=yes%3FclipId%3D375756%3FclipId%3D89619
• https://toronto.citynews.ca/2020/01/22/domestic-violence-numbers-rising-across-the-gta/
• https://toronto.citynews.ca/2020/10/26/domestic-violence-groups-call-for-national-action-plan-as-cases-rise-during-pandemic/
• https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/11-631-x/2020004/pdf/s10-eng.pdf?st=Y6AdsxRM
• Toronto Housing Market Analysis
• https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/data-research-maps/research-reports/housing-and-homelessness-research-and-reports/shelter-system-flow-data/
• https://canadianwomen.org/the-facts/
• https://www.homelesshub.ca/about-homelessness/legal-justice-issues/domestic-violence
• https://womenshomelessness.ca/women-girls-homelessness-in-canada/
Infographic:
Date: 2022