Arlene Birt Email & Phone Number

Arlene Birt is a visual storyteller, speaker, educator, and public artist. An expert in in-formation visualization and narrative visuals, Arlene puts data into context and helps individuals emotionally connect to environmental concepts, through several roles:Arlene is founder and creative director at Background Stories, an infodesign consul-tancy that translates complex ideas, systems, and metrics into clear visuals to help people (especially non-experts) understand social and environmental topics.As Professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), Arlene teaches courses on infographics, data visualization, arts entrepreneurship, and sustainability.As graphics officer for the 2023 UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Synthesis Report, Arlene collaboratively designed visuals to explain climate science together with 60+ climate scientists and 195 governments.Her work has been featured in the Washington Post, Financial Times, Le Monde, Creative Review (UK), U.S. News and World Report, numerous other global media, and at the Barcelona Design Museum.Arlene is a Fulbright fellow and has published chapters in several books, including New Challenges for Data Design. She creates participatory, datavis-focused public artwork and holds a master’s degree from Design Academy Eindhoven (NL). Arlene also runs workshops and speaks internationally.

Listed skills include Interaction Design, Visual Communication, Graphics, Graphic Design, and 25 others.