View resume

Inventing Analogies

What if a number could feel familiar?

Type
Visual communication
Format
Individual study
Covers
Sugar, alcohol and caffeine
A sugar jar, a bee swarm and a battery turn quantities into familiar objects.

Sugar, alcohol and caffeine are usually described in grams, percentages and milligrams. I explored how everyday objects could turn those quantities into something we can picture.

Illustrative values from the original study, not verified nutrition information.

01 / Sugar

A quantity becomes a pile.

The jar represents a 50 g daily sugar reference. Cubes pile up inside it; overflow shows when this drink alone exceeds that amount.

The sugar jar
Autoplay

Iced tea

55gAdded sugar
Iced tea
50 g daily reference · 5 g over
55 g

1 cube = 2 g of added sugarShown as rounded, whole symbols.

WHO recommends free sugars below 10% of daily energy: 50 g at 2,000 kcal. Added sugars count toward this total. WHO guidance ↗

02 / Buzz

A percentage becomes a buzz.

The shared idea of a 'buzz' connects alcohol to a swarm. A denser swarm represents a higher alcohol concentration.

The bee swarm
Autoplay

Light beer

3–4% ABVAlcohol by volume
3.5 % ABV

1 bee ≈ 3% ABVShown as rounded, whole symbols.

Swarm shown at the midpoint of study ranges. ABV describes concentration, not total alcohol consumed or how someone will feel.

03 / Caffeine

A number becomes a charge.

Caffeine fills the battery: red at low charge, amber in the middle, then green. Above 200 mg, the battery exceeds its visual capacity and throws an overcharged error.

The battery
Autoplay

Espresso shot

120mgCaffeine
200 mg visual ceiling
120 mg

1 bar ≈ 25 mg of caffeineShown as rounded, whole symbols.

200 mg is this study's visual cutoff, not a universal danger threshold. Colour represents battery charge, not health risk.

04 / Visual language

More than a different way to draw a chart.

The object needs a reason to be there. Each analogy connects a measurable quantity to an existing association: accumulation, buzz or energy. The jar, bees and battery borrow the forms of familiar things. Cubes, swarm density and charge increase with the underlying quantity. And overflow, a buzz and being charged add meaning beyond the number.

Original visual studies

Original sugar-jar studies for iced tea, masala chai, juice, Coke Zero, chocolate shake and cold coffee. Each drink is represented by a different quantity of sugar cubes.
The sugar jar
Original bee-swarm analogies, using increasing numbers of bees to represent the alcohol concentration of different drinks.
The bee swarm
Original caffeine battery study: red low-charge bars, amber middle-charge bars, green higher-charge bars, and a red error symbol for the 215 mg nitro coffee.
The battery

05 / Reflection

A metaphor opens the conversation. It does not replace the data.

A jar makes accumulation visible. A swarm adds an emotional association. A battery borrows a language of energy. But none predicts a person's response. Keeping the number and unit alongside the analogy lets familiarity support precision, rather than hide it.