Founder & Creative Director

Arlene Birt is a visual storyteller, speaker, educator, and public artist.

As founder and creative director at Background Stories, Birt aims to put data into context and help individuals emotionally connect to seemingly distant environmental concepts. An expert in information visualization and narrative visuals to communicate sustainability, Birt incorporates principles of behavioral psychology into visual communication.

Striving to spread visual science communication globally, Birt is also Graphics Officer and Information Designer with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), where she co-creates scientific figures with 100+ climate scientists. This includes several figures that landed on the front page of global news media. 

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 the Barcelona Design Museum.

Birt has published chapters in several books, including New Challenges for Data Design and Strategic Sustainability Communication, and holds a master’s degree from Design Academy Eindhoven (NL).

As a professor for 11 years, Birt taught courses on data visualization and visual communication. Birt was visiting fellow at Seoul National University, adjunct faculty of Wuhan University of Technology (China), a Fulbright fellow in the Netherlands. Birt continues to lead workshops on infographics, visual storytelling, and science communication. She also speaks internationally and enjoys exploring the wilderness—and especially rocks—with her family.