A project visualizing the development of an idea; from the references that inspired “Star Wars – a new hope” to the media avalanche it inspired.
Figma Prototype🡽
We decided to go with The star wars franchise as our case study. Other then its status as a staple of popular culture, the required information for the project was highly available online – the hunt for references and Easter eggs is already a popular sport among fans, and after combing through a few forum threads, online listicles and wikis we had a more than sufficient list of titles to work with.
Collecting and analyzing the data
I plotted the data using Microsoft power BI – each point is a piece of media, with its location on the X axis related to year of release and the Y axis indicating popularity, using the amount of google search results for the title as a measurement.
I then converted the cluster to vectors and charted the grid and connecting lines using illustrator. We finalized the design and prototyping in Figma.
Visualizing a the franchise as a network of connections
The design decisions were inspired by the iconic images associated with the original franchise without referencing them directly. Clean, geometric lines allow for quickly scanning the large amount of information displayed, and a gradient fill reduces cognitive load around the source point while adding depth to the overall image.
We used color to distinguish between mediums, and different head shapes to indicate the connection to the source material: square for titles that are officially part of the franchise, and round for a reference or gesture to the source material.
🧡 This project was part of a data visualization course at Bezalel Academy, guided by Roni Levit and in collaboration with Joe Ben Harosh.
