Diana Thompson | AiS 2012

“The price of Christmas”Advanced Data Visualization

Diana Thompson | November 2012

Diana Thompson | AiS 2012

Project Statement

1. Background

O, The Online Oprah Magazine, sometimes simply abbreviated to O, is a monthly magazine founded by Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Corporation. The magazine aims to inspire readers to live their best life by presenting information, advice, and tools focused on self-empowerment. Dedicated to helping readers embrace more of who they really are, O seeks to encourage growth and discovery through charged stories and lessons.

Merry Christmas! December 25 is the observed date of the birth of Jesus Christ. Over the two thousand year period since then, Christmas has acquired numerous traditions. Christmas has become a time of eggnog and pine trees, snowmen and Santa, celebration and gathering, when gifts are given to friends and family.

2. Target Audience

Women and Men 21–60 (with the median age of 33.5), fam-ily oriented audience. People who are curious about holiday statistics, lifestyle and finances. O magazine readers.

3. Objectives

To educate the audience (via illustration) about the Christmas statistics and facts.

4. Obstacles

One of the biggest obstacles is to organize and present the information in a clear yet creative way.

5. Key Benefit

The audience will learn about the USA’s biggest Holiday facts/stats.

6. Support Statement

The U.S. Census Bureau collects data from other federal agen-cies concerning facets of Christmas – the biggest and most popular Holiday in the US.

7. Tone

Informative but minimalistic. Modern, colorful.

8. Media

Web. Online Oprah magazine.

Diana Thompson | AiS 2012

Research

The U.S. Census Bureau collects data from other federal agen-cies concerning facets of Christmas. Here are some of their most up to date Christmas related statistics:

The holiday season is prime time for retailers. December 2010 saw a total of $27.2 billion in sales. This was a 44 percent increase in sales over November 2010.

To put the above numbers in perspective, department stores saw 14 percent of their total sales in December 2010. Were sales uniform throughout the year, each month would show about 8% of sales.

Jewelry stores indicate that 20 percent of their yearly sales are in the month of December.

For options of where to do your Christmas shopping consider the following. In 2009 in the U.S. there were:• 150,205 clothing and clothing accessories stores• 27,738 gift, novelty and souvenir shops• 24,973 jewelry stores• 21,628 sporting goods stores• 9,390 book stores• 8,663 department stores• 8,424 hobby, toy and game shops

When looking at imports to the U.S., the leading country for Christmas tree ornaments is China. Ornaments imported from China between January 2011 and September 2011 are valued at $983 million.

Artificial Christmas trees imported to the U.S. from China be-tween January 2011 and September 2011 are valued at $79.7 million.

Toys such as dolls imported to the U.S. from China between January 2011 and September 2011 are valued at $2.5 billion.

The top three suppliers to the U.S. of ice skates are China at $17.7 million, Thailand with $9.8 million and Canada at $4.2 million.

In 2009 there were 88 establishments in the U.S. making stuffed toys and dolls. Over 17 percent of these companies were located in the state of California.

In 2009 there were 579 establishments in the U.S. making games and toys. This was a source of employment for 7,858 workers. Nearly 17 percent of these companies were located in the state of California.

Diana Thompson | AiS 2012

Inspiration

Diana Thompson | AiS 2012

Inspiration

Diana Thompson | AiS 2012

Competitors

Diana Thompson | AiS 2012

Process

Diana Thompson | AiS 2012

Process