The Housing Games

European cities are facing a deepening housing crisis, but the data behind it is often fragmented, abstract, and difficult to interpret.

The key challenges included:

• Making complex, multi-city data understandable and comparable
• Highlighting inequalities between professions, not just averages
• Translating statistical insights into relatable human stories
• Engaging users emotionally while maintaining journalistic credibility

Additionally, the project needed to communicate an urgent societal issue: essential workers are increasingly priced out of urban areas, often spending well above the 30% affordability threshold on rent.

The final product is an interactive storytelling platform that turns complex housing data into an accessible and compelling user experience.

Key UX/UI outcomes:

• Interactive data visualizations that allow users to explore affordability by city and profession
• Narrative-driven design connecting data with personal stories of workers across Europe
• Comparative insights that highlight systemic inequalities between cities
• Engagement tools like quizzes that make the experience participatory

By merging data journalism with intuitive UX design, The Housing Games makes an invisible crisis visible — helping users understand not just what is happening, but who it affects and why it matters.