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Client
Dezernat Zukunft
Topic
Fiscal Policy
Scrollytelling
Editorial
UI/UX Design
Dezernat Zukunft
The Debt Brake as Scrollytelling
The debt brake, explained for experts — but in plain language. For Dezernat Zukunft, a finance think tank, we developed exactly that: a scrollytelling piece about Germany’s constitutional debt rule — clear, interactive, and informative on two levels of text. The microsite gives journalists and economists well-founded knowledge across three chapters: the history of the debt brake, how it works, and a reform proposal for more sustainable public finances. A highly topical, complex subject that we get to the bottom of visually with animations and collages.
Task
Make the topic of the debt brake understandable for a specialist audience.
Solution
An interactive microsite built as scrollytelling, supported by animations, illustrations, and data visualizations.
Skills
Editorial, concept, animation, UI/UX design, illustration, data visualization, programming
Getting to the Bottom of It
Target audience, design proposals, content structure: in a two-day workshop, we laid the groundwork for the debt-brake microsite together. Then came the research: not only did we need to get to grips with the complex topic, but also make it narratable and easy to follow. The sheer volume of information eventually led us to an innovative solution: two levels of text. The first level tells the story coherently and conveys the complex topic comprehensively yet understandably. A second level of text provides further and background information without disrupting the reading flow or overwhelming readers with information. Carefully structured, not-too-long text sections and a fold-out mechanism — letting readers pull up content like opening a drawer, only if they want to — make this possible.
The Look of the Debt Brake
How do you visualize a rather abstract instrument like the debt brake, one that’s described in Germany’s Basic Law, regulations, and compendiums? Illustrations felt too playful and too far removed from reality. Instead, we developed a collage style and created a distinctive visual world that combines photorealistic elements with fact-based data visualizations. Animations bring the various aspects of the debt brake to life. The color and typography take their cues from Dezernat Zukunft’s existing corporate design, creating a fresh visual experience while staying recognizable. More than 20 visualizations guide readers through the chapters, with more than 10,000 readers and an average dwell time of around five minutes.
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