Technology and Design Meet to Make Government Data Pretty

There’s a wealth of government data out there for us to access, but finding it easily – and not getting bored to tears in the process – is problematic. Enter former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who teamed up with Seattle design studio Artefact on a $10 million effort to, as Wired put it, “present government data in a way that’s open, non-partisan, and stupidly easy to understand.” The result is USAFacts, which organizes 30 years of data from more than 70 local, state and federal government agencies into a sleek, savvy home for people to get a better understanding of how our government makes and spends money. Information is power, and thanks to smart graphic design, we now have more power.