How to grab attention with data – my checklist for interactive storytelling
What 3000 charts taught me about creating engaging visualizations
David Foster Data Visualization Expert,
prev. Yahoo Finance
I spent years creating graphics without any real sense of how readers were responding. That changed at Yahoo Finance when I started publishing Flourish interactive charts in real time.
Suddenly, we could see how people engaged; people spent longer with the stories, scrolled through the content, and the visualizations sparked more conversation in the comments.
The scrollytelling story I published this past June (“The $11 Trillion Gap…”) is a good example. It drew more than 5,500 comments. That kind of response showed me how a thoughtful visual treatment can anchor a complex story and pull readers into a deeper discussion.
See the interactive version on Yahoo Finance
Why interactive formats work
As a reader, great scrollytelling work can be genuinely jaw-dropping. Seeing a complex story visually untangle itself, through zoom, reveal, and sequencing, makes the stakes far more visceral than text alone.
Using the Flourish scrolly is especially powerful for a story that unfolds through competing claims or shifting frames. In those cases, a single chart can’t capture the back-and-forth. A scrolly lets you map out different visual states and guide the reader through them step-by-step: like a slide deck where the reader controls the pace.
Here is a creative example of using a Flourish scrolly to showcase where not to buy pizza in New York city. It follows a simple four-step flow:
- Set the scene
- Give a quick interest point
- Help the reader see patterns
- Build to a tension point
How to get started
The need for interactivity usually reveals itself when the data becomes too dense or complex for a static chart to do the job.
Do use interactivity if:
- The data is multi-tiered, has multiple metrics, long time spans, or large geographies
- Interaction will help guide the reader through layers
- It concludes with a learning moment, insight or tension point
Don’t use interactivity if:
- Your dataset is simple – these often work best as charts with clear annotation
- Interactivity feels cumbersome, like a detour from the point
- You don’t have a platform to host responsive graphics
Even standalone charts often benefit from small, purposeful interactive elements – such as filters, popups and panels, or filterable legends. These give readers the freedom to explore the data at their own pace, focus on what’s most relevant to them, and uncover patterns on their own.
A good interactivte data visualization will feel deliberate, elegant, and functional. The interaction should help the idea click, not call attention to itself.
Why I use Flourish for interactive visualizations
Quite simply, Flourish is the data visualization tool I always wished existed. The interface is intuitive, the templates are versatile, and the preview within the data workflow makes it feel natural to experiment. I rely heavily on the story and scrolly templates. As I have already shared, being able to zoom a map, reveal annotations, or guide a reader step-by-step without writing code is huge.
Seeing a complex story visually untangle itself, through zoom, reveal, and sequencing, makes the stakes far more visceral than text alone.
While I share what I absolutely love about Flourish, let me introduce you to some hidden gems that often go unnoticed:
- How easy it is to duplicate a project and swap in new data
- Making a whole series consistent with almost no effort the fine-tuning controls for animation pacing
- The ability to override colors and selectively mute pop ups
- Export everything as clean vector graphics
All of these make Flourish a powerful tool for both quick turnarounds, high-polish projects and why I am still using it 3000 charts later.
About David
David Foster is a data visualization expert and former graphics lead at Yahoo Finance, where he built the newsroom’s visualization practice and produced thousands of charts, maps, and interactive stories. With more than 30 years of experience across PC Magazine, BusinessWeek, Fortune, and major PR and marketing agencies such as Edelman, he blends editorial judgment with thoughtful design to make complex financial and economic data accessible. He specializes in scrollytelling, financial visualization, and creating scalable visual systems for newsrooms and brands.
