Quartz covers happiness as a business and economic topic

Business news site Quartz unveiled a series of stories Tuesday that examines happiness from the perspective of economics, finance, philosophy, and psychology.

The Happiness Experiment is sponsored by Prudential.

Quartz reporters go beyond the platitudes and quick fixes to understand humans’ unique preoccupation. Stories include an in-depth study of what 6,000 Wikipedia edits teach us about happiness, that happiness was an evolutionary advantage, and that Socratic philosophers are helping Silicon Valley execs follow their bliss.

The Happiness Experiment is the latest example of Quartz’s Special Projects. Quartz’s Special Projects allow the reader to dive deeply in a specific area of interest, gain context, and a sense of perspective.

The Happiness Experiment, like all Quartz Special Projects, features a design that connects all 10 stories into a cohesive and fun experience for the reader.

Artist Ariel Costa created the animations featured throughout The Happiness Experiment. The design of the Quartz Special Project results from a drive to create another level of interaction that could be added to a GIF.

Since the main interaction for the user is scrolling, the project ties the two together by chopping up a looping animation into frames while the user can slow down, speed up, or reverse the playback of the frames through scrolling.

That way the reader is placed into the driver’s seat of how the animation is presented to them.