Cuéntalo

Overview

Proyecto Cuéntalo is a web-based data visualization designed to represent and communicate the scale, nature, and emotional weight of testimonies shared on social media during the #Cuéntalo movement. The visualization aims to make large volumes of data understandable while preserving the human dimension behind each message.

Project context: Proyecto Cuéntalo / Institution: Barcelona Supercomputing Center 

Type: Visualization 

My role: Storyteller

Duration: 2 months

Challenge 

This project was developed in a social and journalistic context, combining data analysis and visual storytelling to raise public awareness about gender-based violence. The visualization was created to reach a broad, non-expert audience, prioritizing emotional impact, clarity, and ethical representation over analytical exploration.

Unlike other projects, the main challenge here was not usability or task efficiency, but narrative impact. The visualization needed to:

• Explain very large numbers (over one hundred thousand messages) without abstraction or loss of meaning. 

• Generate empathy and emotional engagement, avoiding sensationalism or re-victimization.

• Balance data-driven structure with respectful storytelling, ensuring that each data point still represented a real person and experience.
  
  

Without traditional UX research, the risk was creating a visualization that was either emotionally overwhelming or too abstract to connect with the audience.

Methodology

A storytelling-driven design approach was applied, focusing on narrative clarity and emotional resonance:

Narrative Framing

1. The visualization was structured as a 24-hour clock, organizing tweets by time of publication to introduce a familiar and intuitive temporal metaphor.

2. This framing helped users understand volume and rhythm without relying on traditional charts.

Visual Encoding for Meaning

1. Radial distance was used to represent message classification, communicating confidence levels in the categorization process.

2. Color was carefully chosen to distinguish between messages describing physical or sexual violence and other types of testimonies, reinforcing meaning without explicit textual overload.

Empathy Through Density

1. Each dot represents an individual testimony, allowing the audience to perceive scale while maintaining the idea that every point corresponds to a real story.

2. The gradual accumulation of points conveys magnitude without reducing messages to mere statistics.

Explanatory Narrative

1. Clear, contextual text accompanies the visualization to guide interpretation and ensure users understand how to read the graphic, reinforcing trust and comprehension.

Narrative-driven visual design translated large-scale social data into an empathetic and impactful story, balancing statistical scale with human meaning.

Final outcome

The final visualization succeeded in making large-scale social data emotionally legible. It allowed audiences to grasp the magnitude of the movement while maintaining empathy for individual experiences. By prioritizing narrative structure and visual meaning, the project transformed abstract numbers into a powerful collective story that supported awareness, reflection, and public conversation.

Link: Cuéntalo - La visualización