Data Viz Today

We're exploring creativity in information design from the perspective of amazingly creative people in the field! Let's hear how Manuel Canales, the graphics assignment editor at the Washington Post and previously the senior graphics editor at National Geographic , gets the most out of his creativity. How he approaches the pressure of a new project has changed the way I work! Let's go… Show notes

We're exploring creativity in information design from the perspective of amazingly creative people in the field! Let's hear how Marcelo Duhalde, the Associate Creative Director at the South China Morning Post, approaches creativity. We dive into how he defines creativity, what his process is like, what kills his creativity, and more! Show notes

We're exploring creativity in information design from the perspective of amazingly creative people in the field! Let's hear how Duncan Geere approaches creativity. We dive into how he defines creativity, how he gets the most out of his creativity, and more! Duncan Geere is an information designer living in Sweden who works with graphics, words, and sound. He's one-half of the loud numbers, data so...

We're exploring creativity in information design from the perspective of amazingly creative people in the field! If it's not a magical process, then what is it? Let's hear how Mesa Schumacher approaches creativity. Mesa Schumacher is a science artist currently living in Fiji who specializes in communicating complex ideas through illustration, infographics, and animation. Mesa's work can be found i...

We're exploring creativity in information design from the perspective of amazingly creative people in the field! If it's not a magical process, then what is it? Let's hear how Andy Kirk approaches creativity. We dive into how he defines creativity, what his routines are, what kills his creativity, how he presents creative ideas to clients, where he finds inspiration…and more! Shownotes  Volunteer...

Today, I'm launching a mini-series all about creativity in information design. If you're like me and came from a data background, communicating information in creative ways can feel a bit like a magical process, so over this series, I'll invite creative information designers and dive into their process: What are their routines, what kills their creativity, how do they present creative ideas to oth...

Today, we have Danielle Alberti on the show to share a behind-the-scenes look at how to become and be a data journalist! She's the editor of the data visualization team at Axios and shares: What's a typical day as a data journalist Which skills are important What she looks for in a resume and portfolio when hiring for a data journalist position What she would do differently if she were starting he...

Today, we have Zan Armstrong with us to share 3 simple alternatives to aggregating time series data in the usual ways so you don't lose important nuance. It's so easy to get pushed into aggregating data a certain way by our software so being aware of some alternatives is really helpful when you're analyzing and visualizing data. Show notes: https://dataviztoday.com/shownotes/73

I walk you through my process for creating a data viz brief and how to use it! If you're interested in a short training and getting a copy of the data viz brief template that I use with my clients, shoot me an email with the subject line "INTERESTED!" and if there's enough interest, I'll host a live training! hello@allitorban.com

When you're kicking off a data viz project, do you have a series of questions that you ask to uncover the goals, audience, and data? Want to know how to kick it up a notch? I know I do! Recently, I had the pleasure of working with Liz Hatherley, whose whole expertise is wrapped up in pulling this kind of information out of her clients, which has led to incredibly smooth dataviz projects! In this e...

Join the Elevate Membership Program! I invited a few of the best dataviz designers and freelancers I know on the show today ( Duncan Geere , Gabrielle Merite , and Will Chase ) and we absolutely stuffed the hour with as many dataviz freelancing tips as we possibly could! In this episode, we demystify the whole process: starting from when someone emails you that they're interested in your work, wha...

Today I'm calling out the biggest things I learned in the past year. There's just something about naming it that helps me remember to keep doing it in the new year and even how I can take it up a notch in the next year. In this episode, I'll highlight the three biggest lessons I learned this year, and they all stem from better communication with clients, ourselves, and with our colleagues. Let's g...

Have you ever reimagined your tabular data set as a network and discovered new insights? Networks are an obvious choice if you're visualizing someone's social network, for example, but there are so many more possibilities! In this episode, Dr. Keita Broadwater will explain what a network is, share a couple of examples of tabular data reimagined as a network, and give us a few tips on when a data s...

How do we future-proof our data viz careers? What skills are important now and 10 years from now as software companies come and go and $5 dashboards pop up on Fiverr? In this episode, Dr. Jonathan Schwabish and I talk about what our consultant work looks like right now and how we're working to future-proof our careers. This is a joint podcast between Data Viz Today and PolicyViz so we'll both be a...

Have you written off 3D as a big no-no? Not yet! In this episode, Dr. Tyler Morgan-Wall shares his latest innovations and impactful use cases of his Rayshader package in R. Take a listen and be amazed at the samples in the show notes! (you can use Rayshader and R for free!) https://dataviztoday.com/shownotes/67

Have you heard of data sonification? It's the process of turning data into sound, and there's a novel podcast out now called Loud Numbers where Duncan Geere and Miriam Quick i ntroduce a data story, explain how they sonified it, and then play the sonification they've created. In this episode, we discover how they created their podcast, what's the benefit of turning data into sound, and how we can...

It's easy to think you have to be the master at D3 and also have the design eye of an artist in order to have a fulfilling data viz career, but that has not been my experience, nor the experience of my guest today Amanda Makulec who is the Data Visualization Society's Executive Director. She's heard her fair share of data viz origin stories, frustrations, and career pro tips, so I asked her to com...

How can you take a dense, technical report and turn it into something people will actually read? In this episode, Ann K. Emery shares the top tips that she recommends to her clients that have been bringing reports to life for years! Show notes: https://dataviztoday.com/shownotes/64

What can we do to make our data visualizations more accessible to more people, especially those with disabilities? In this episode, Frank Elavsky shares how we can integrate accessibility into our current data visualization workflow. It's a skill just like anything else, so let's get practicing! Show notes: https://dataviztoday.com/shownotes/63

Ah, money. The topic everyone wants to hear about but no one wants to talk about! It's a complicated and nuanced subject because there are so many variables that factor into someone's compensation, but... In this episode, I'll share some highlights from the responses in the Data Visualization Society community survey to give you a sense of what data viz professionals are pulling in. Don't forget t...

What are the ingredients of a successful personal project? How do you even know what topic to make your personal project about? What constraints make for a successful personal project? In this episode, data visualization designers Nadieh Bremer and Shirley Wu share insights they learned from completing a year-long collaboration that ended with a new book called Data Sketches!

Do you feel lost when you're creating a chart? Are you feeling around in the dark with every new project? Confidence comes with practice, but you can also take a few smart steps, in the beginning, to create an effective chart. I've interviewed top designers for years on my podcast while creating and experimenting on my own, and I've found that these steps reap great rewards. Try them out, and you'...

The last episode of the year! In this episode, I have a little data viz tennis match with fellow podcaster Lea Pica. We found the most inspiring visualizations in four categories: climate change, COVID-19, racial injustice, and the US presidential election. Lea and I bounce back and forth describing our favorite in each category and the mastery on display for each. What was your favorite data viz...

Have you ever created a successful graphic that really hit the mark and you felt like you were just spot on? Do you know how you can consistently replicate that feeling? If not, I have an idea of what you might be missing... Art direction! In this episode, we'll learn when you need art direction and when you don't, and how to use art direction to make sure you and your client work efficiently toge...

Have you ever felt frustrated when you're trying to express important data to someone? Do the bars and pies just seem to fall flat? Try turning the data into an experience! In this episode, I try to bottle up Miriam Quick and Stefanie Posavec's creative genius that they poured into their new book so that we can create data experiences in our work, too.   Show notes: https://dataviztoday.com/showno...