Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a pioneering global consulting firm with over 25,000 employees across 100 offices. Rare Volume created a data visualization system for BCG’s use across all print, video, and interactive media for the firm.

Client: BCG

From discovery to strategy to production, we led the design of a versatile data visualization system that enables an international collective of writers, editors, designers, and developers to create quality content consistently.

Within the system,three categories accommodate a wide range of data narratives, platforms, and marketing and communications objectives.

Category 1

Data stories told through a single data point, visualized via text and representative graphics.

Data Point:​​​​
1​​

Types of Visuals:​​
Increase​, Decrease​, Rebound, Percentage​, Big number​​

Platforms​​:​​
BCG Social (LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter)

Category 2

Exhibits with 2-4 data points. Best used to show comparison or change.

Data Points:​​​​
2​​-4

Types of Visuals:​​
Bar Chart, Stacked Bar Chart, Line Chart, Bubble Map, Donut, Pie

Platforms​​:​​
CG.com, BCG Social (LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter)

Category 3

Data-rich visuals allow readers to contemplate a range of information that usually points to multiple insights and takeaways.

Data Points:​​​​
5-10​​

Types of Visuals:​​
Bar Chart, Stacked Bar Chart, Line Chart, Bubble Map, Area Chart, Stacked Area Chart, Scatter Plot, Treemap

Platform​​:​​
BCG.com

The system includes in-depth rules and best practices or revealing narratives through interactive design, i.e. hover, click, states, and more.

Interactive Overlay

Overlays provide context by presenting data sequentially and/or show related content for comparison​.

Interactive Tooltip

Hover/scrub allow users to dig deeper into datapoints​.

Interactive Subsets

Data subsets highlight change in data beyond the initial graphic.