Poppy Field
From Dataviz to Data Poetry
Client
Self-initiated
Services
Interactive visualisation Infographic Museum installation
Recognitions
Permanent collection, Weltmuseum Wien, Austria
Exhibited internationally
Featured in The Infographic History of the World
Multiple awards and global press coverage
Links
What has been the human cost of war?
Created to commemorate the Centenary of the Great War, Poppy Field visualises over a century of armed conflict. Each war since 1900 becomes a flower: stems mark duration, blooms show deaths, colours reflect regions. A landscape that appears beautiful — then haunting.
The Challenge
War data is often presented clinically, detached from its human weight. Our goal was to design for reflection, not shock. The poppy — a symbol of remembrance in the UK and of life, hope and fragility everywhere — became the metaphor to transform numbers into memory. Each war since 1900 is represented as a flower: the stem marks duration, the bloom shows scale of deaths, and colour encodes the regions involved.
The Solution
We mapped conflicts onto a timeline where each poppy grows and blossoms with the war it represents. Outliers stand out — the two oversized blooms of the World Wars, the long stem of Israel–Palestine, the growing density of smaller conflicts after 1950. Later, we built an interactive tool so audiences could explore by region, scale, or duration.
The Impact
Poppy Field showed that data can be more than information — it can be poetry. The piece turned cold numbers into a shared space for empathy and remembrance. Exhibited globally and now part of the Weltmuseum Wien collection, it continues to prove that data design can stir reflection as well as insight.
Want to tell a story people don’t just see, but feel?
Let’s design data stories that move people.
Credits
Design & Concept: Valentina D'Efilippo, Development: Nicolas Pigelet Data Source: The Polynational War Memorial
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