Epi 112 : What 1000 people said about their dating struggles

Charlene Chua, a data and graphics journalist at The Straits Times, talks about her team’s “Modern Dating” visual story and why dating can feel harder despite apps and technology. They discuss Singapore-specific pressures like the BTO housing scheme and family expectations, and how the team anonymous interviews, expert perspectives, and illustrations to humanize the data. Charlene shares how they storyboarded in Figma, evaluated different visual story structures (inverted pyramid, martini glass, diamond), and iterated on key design ideas like the HDB window metaphor, a starry-night palette, and a hopeful “soulmate” ending. She also highlights challenges of compressing a complex, human topic into a concise story under a tight three-to-four-week deadline.https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2026/04/modern-dating-singapore/index.html00:00 - Why Love Feels Unlearned00:23 - Meet Charlene And The Viz01:14 - Dating Apps Spark The Idea02:13 - Singapore Pressures BTO Family03:29 - Survey Data And Human Stories05:45 - App Archetypes And Communication07:48 - Media Expectations And Reality08:47 - Visual Metaphors And Storyboarding10:06 - Story Structures For Visuals12:55 - Pillars And Interactive Concepts15:25 - From Inspirations To Final Build17:15 - Colors Windows And Soulmates20:10 - Biggest Challenges And Wrap Up----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ℹ️ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭?Welcome to "Secrets of the Viz", where I dive deep into the amazing vizzes in #TableauPublic and other #DataVisualization tools. Have you ever wondered how these stunning visualizations come to life? I'll be peeling back the layers with the authors themselves as they share their inspirations, design processes and unique techniques. Join me as we explore, learn, and get inspired together.Don't forget to subscribe, follow for more tips and check out the full playlisthttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVkjBKxQASMmwlAE89dt97IMSFqTpGldh----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlenechuaxinzi/▶ https://www.straitstimes.com/#datavisualization #analytics #design #infographic #journalism #newspaper #digitalstories