Congressional Budget Office June 24, 2016 Communicating Budgetary and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Congressional Budget Office June 24, 2016 Communicating Budgetary and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Congressional Budget Office June 24, 2016 Communicating Budgetary and Economic Information, With Style, at the Congressional Budget Office VisCom 2016 Conference Snowbird, Utah Maureen Costantino Visual Information and Publications Specialist What

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Congressional Budget Office Communicating Budgetary and Economic Information, With Style, at the Congressional Budget Office

VisCom 2016 Conference Snowbird, Utah

June 24, 2016

Maureen Costantino Visual Information and Publications Specialist

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CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE

What We Are

■ CBO is a United States government agency that was created by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act

  • f 1974.

■ It provides analysis of budgetary and economic issues that is

  • bjective and impartial to the U.S. Congress. The agency is

strictly nonpartisan.

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CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE

Report Production at CBO

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CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE

Publishing Reports at CBO

■ Publishing high‐quality content is a demanding job, particularly so because the agency is small. ■ Reports entering production are often on a tight schedule. ■ Accuracy and speed are essential. ■ Products range from stand‐alone graphics to full reports.

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Bird’s Eye View of the Report Process

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Production Process: The Tools of Our Trade

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Components of Reports Are Often Repurposed

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Graphics at CBO

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Graphics

■ Graphics are created for reports. Many are repurposed to be used in other publications related to the same topic; some stand alone. ■ Possible formats:

– Website home page announcement

  • f report release; the report

landing page – Blog post – Slide deck – Presentation – Infographic – Snapshot – Conference poster

Sample Snapshot

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CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE

An Evolution of Style: Graphs

2003 2010 1998

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An Evolution of Style: Graphs (Continued)

2012 2016

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Less Is More

2010 2016

■ Gray color for numbers and supporting text ■ Lighter gray for recession bars ■ Smaller point sizes for titles ■ No parentheses around units of measure ■ All notes (including Source) flush left; the word “Notes” gone ■ Introduction of captions where useful

What changed?

■ Color used meaningfully ■ Data plotted annually instead of quarterly when possible ■ Upper and right border lines gone ■ No minor tick marks; shorter, less prominent tick marks ■ Smaller point sizes for type ■ Gray color for axis lines and Actual/Projected line

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CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE

Fewer Fonts

Helvetica Black Garamond Book Condensed (Bold) Bell Centennial Subcaption Bell Centennial NameandNumber Proxima Nova family used for all graphics and tables, including titles

Old Style New Style

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Color Is Key

■ Use of color must have meaning within a report ■ Colors must map to shades of gray that make elements of a graphic in close proximity easily distinguishable when printed in black and white Blue = spending Green = revenues Purple = debt Orange = anything else Informal CBO Conventions

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Slide Deck: The Budget and Economic Outlook

www.cbo.gov/publication/51182

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Telling the Story With Graphics: Social Security Options

www.cbo.gov/publication/51011

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Judicious Use of Captions: Forecasts of Interest Rates

www.cbo.gov/publication/51129

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Visualizing Complex Topics

www.cbo.gov/publication/51182

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Chartbook: Trends in Joblessness and the Incarceration of Young Men

www.cbo.gov/publication/51495

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Stand‐Alone Infographic: The Federal Budget

www.cbo.gov/publication/51114

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Do Judge a Book by Its Cover

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Who for What?

■ Content specialists ■ Editors ■ Graphic artists ■ Internal and independent reviewers ■ Production specialists ■ Proofreaders ■ Web specialists

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What’s in CBO’s Publishing Future?

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Interactive Graphics?

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Bibliography

The list below provides links to a few of the people and

  • rganizations that have in some way influenced the direction and

growth of our graphics initiative:

■ The Economist, http://economist.com ■ The Dallas Morning News Graphics Stylebook, https://knightcenter.utexas.edu/mooc/file/tdmn_graphics.pdf ■ PolicyViz, http://policyviz.com/ ■ The Knight Center, knightcenter.utexas.edu/ ■ Stephen Few, www.perceptualedge.com/ ■ The New York Times, flowingdata.com/tag/new‐york‐times/ ■ Mark Simonson, www.marksimonson.com/fonts/view/proxima‐nova ■ Edward Tufte, www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/ Congressional Budget Office, www.cbo.gov