Living on the edge of Extinction
Year
2025
Project Type
Data Visualization
Primary Audience
General Audience
Publication Venue
Poster
Client
Shay Saharan
Medium
Adobe Illustrator, Tableau Desktop, Tableau Prep & Procreate
Description
This project explored the change in assessment status of Canadian species in 12 taxonomic groups from 1978 to 2025. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) is an independent advisory panel to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada that meets twice a year to assess the status of wildlife species at risk of extinction. The data pulled referenced the COSEWIC assessment data from the Government of Canadas species search.
Research
I explored the Species search data set and referenced the COSEWIC list of definitions. Tableau Prep and Desktop were used to sort the dataset and visualize in in a variety of different ways to figure out which method was the clearest and could be translated to a data visualization.
Preproduction
Rough thumbnails and a comprehensive sketch were created; however, they were feeling less like data visualization and more like infographics. I wanted the data to be the hero of the story which was being portrayed in the current iteration.
I moved into Adobe Illustrator and was pulling the data together manually to compare the distribution of species classified in each status (Extinct, Extirpated, Endangered, Threatened, Special Concern & Data Deficient) over the years, but the visualization was feeling flat.
Near the deadline, I finally had an epiphany moment and decided to show the timeline as age rings on a tree. This propelled me forward to work on the final piece
Production
The final piece had artistic elements that were created separately in Procreate and data that was visualized in Tableau Desktop. This allowed me to manually move the data and the individual elements around in Adobe Illustrator to come up with the final product. This piece would live on a coffee table or on the wall and aims to make you sit down with data. Take time and energy to distinguish what is being shown while remain an aesthetic piece.
Government of Canada. Species at Risk Public Registry, Accessed on March 22, 2025. (Online). Available: Species search - Species at risk registry