How to Pose like a True Idol - A Data Visualisation Project

This project showcases multiple infographics that meticulously dissect trends within Photocards. These visual representations delve into several critical factors: the comparative popularity of specific cards, the correlation between a card's monetary value and its visual appeal, and the evolving preferences of band members over time.

The data, manually compiled from ten studio and mini albums by the band'Stray Kids' released between 2018 and 2021, comprises 450 Photocards. By analysing these cards, I was able to create three infographics and datasets. 

Photocards, a cornerstone of fan culture, hold huge value within the collector's market. Some individual cards can command prices of up to $500 USD across various social media platforms, with some rare cards even being put up for auctions.

The popularity of these trading cards depend on multiple factors: the type of finish (matte, glossy, holographic), the band member's popularity, print quantity, album versions, and above all, the card's aesthetic appeal. Unique poses, meticulously curated outfits, or innovative concepts instantly elevate certain cards to high demand and popularity.

Unlike professionally shot photobooks, these cards capture band members in candid moments. Often, they depict idols posing for phone selfies or showcase exclusive images taken during music video shoots, press events, or album cover sessions.

Users from diverse groups passionately engage in conversations about Photocards. These discussions encompass a wide array of topics, including card poses, desired future card features, the monotony of certain cards, and the frequency of specific poses. Fans anticipate and look forward to the release of new Photocards, often speculating about the poses their favorite band members might adopt in upcoming albums.

My project not only taps into the existing discourse but also seeks to analyze and visualize these conversations. By examining user-generated content and discussions, I aim to provide insights into fan expectations, preferences, and trends within the Photocard domain.

The first infographic I developed serves as an introduction to Photocards, unveiling the array of poses adopted by band members and delving into the frequency and recurrence of these poses across the 450 Photocards.

The bar graph represents the relative popularity of various poses adopted by the band members. Within this analysis, the top five most prevalent poses, alongside the five least frequent poses, are unveiled based on their occurrence percentages across all 450 Photocards.

For instance, the widely recognized "Victory" pose or the "Peace Sign" emerges as the most prevalent, a staggering 150 times, taking up 34.8% of all poses captured.

The second infographic views the data from the point of view of albums, starting from the band's first album Mixtape (2018) to the latest NOEASY (2021 ). It introduces the element of time.

It shows us how the members' preference in poses changes throughout their career, as well as which pose dominates each album. The "Plain Jane" pose, or the one where the idol just stares at the camera, is the most popular pose from the albums: "I Am Not", "I Am Who", I Am You"

The Member Wise breakdown shows the individual preferences of all 8 band members over time, and we can follow the trends of what poses they choose to do most often, with the highs and lows of the graph.

The third infographic views the data from the point of view of pricing, and the cost of photocards. It visualizes the data of the Top 3 most expensive cards from every album, priced upto 200 USD, and through the graph, we can see how the most expensive price changes over time, as the group gained more popularity.

There is a visualization of the highest priced cards, with the album name, member name, the price and the pose of that photocard. It forms a correlation between value of a photocard, with the pose on that photocard, to see if the former has any effect on the latter.