A Day in the Life

As the project gathered pace, we worked in a 24-hour development cycle between London, San Francisco and Sydney (home to our excellent animation partner Patrick Clair).

In 2014, Visa processed around 150 million transactions, so there was plenty of data to dig into.

We ran various scripts in SQL and AppleScript to sift through the data and create early schematics to find answers to our questions. Like, where do the most generous people live? Or who spends the most on train travel?

The visualization also needed to show off a ‘normal’ day of spending. We ruled out more ‘unusual’ global days like Black Friday and Mexico’s Day of the Dead, settling on a Thursday in July.

Weaving data into narrative via a detailed storyboard, the animation moved between maps of countries and continents, steadily revealing the patterns within the transactions.

If you happen to be in San Francisco, you can see the project displayed in Visa’s visitor centre and HQ reception areas. Or just watch it right now.