Data visualizations play a critical role in both communicating scientific evidence about climate change and in stimulating engagement and action. To investigate how visualizations can be better utilized to communicate the complexities of climate change to different audiences, we conducted interviews with 17 experts in the fields of climate change, data visualization, and science communication, as well as with 12 laypersons. Besides questions about climate change communication and various aspects of data visualizations, we also asked participants to share what they think is the main takeaway message for two exemplary climate change data visualizations. Through a thematic analysis, we observe differences regarding the included contents, the length and abstraction of messages, and the sensemaking process between and among the participant groups. On average, experts formulated shorter and more abstract messages, often referring to higher-level conclusions rather than specific details. We use our findings to reflect on design decisions for creating more effective visualizations, particularly in news media sources geared toward lay audiences. We hereby discuss the adaption of contents according to the needs of the audience, the trade-off between simplification and accuracy, as well as techniques to make a visualization attractive.

翻译：数据可视化在传递气候变化的科学证据以及激发公众参与和行动方面发挥着关键作用。为探究如何更好地利用可视化向不同受众传达气候变化的复杂性，我们对17位气候变化、数据可视化和科学传播领域的专家，以及12位非专业人士进行了访谈。除涉及气候变化传播与数据可视化各维度的问题外，我们还要求参与者分享他们对两个示例性气候变化数据可视化作品核心要点的理解。通过主题分析，我们观察到不同参与者群体之间及群体内部在内容涵盖、信息长度与抽象程度，以及意义建构过程方面存在差异。平均而言，专家倾向于提炼更简短、更抽象的信息，常指向高层次结论而非具体细节。我们基于研究发现反思了如何优化设计决策以创建更有效的可视化，尤其针对面向大众的新闻媒体渠道。由此，我们探讨了根据受众需求调整内容、在简化与准确性之间权衡，以及增强可视化吸引力的技巧。