Are you looking for ways to make your work stand out in a crowded industry, like sports? Or maybe looking for a topic with pretty clean data to create a portfolio project? In today’s episode, we’re chatting with Shri Khalpada, a D.C. area creative coder and Principal Software Engineer at Cleaning the Glass, which is an NBA analytics website founded by Ben Faulk that’s available to the public and also has more robust tools for NBA teams. Shri shares how he increased his chances of landing a coveted sports analytics job, and a few lessons he’s learned working with sports data that can be applied ..read more

Are you ready to write a book? Or maybe see it in your future down the road? Well, I spent hours and hours researching the book publishing process, spoke with tons of authors about their experience, and then lived through it myself. I want to save you some time and share what I learned. Recently I shared all about the process with the Elevate Dataviz Learning Community that I co-founded and I’m sharing that conversation here today… In this episode, I share what's included in a book proposal, how advances and royalties work, what was harder and easier than expected, and much more!! Grab my new ..read more

In this episode, I answer some common questions I’ve received lately about creativity, freelancing, dataviz process, and more. Let’s go! What platforms would you join when on the look out for a network, freelance projects etc? I want to transition into a dataviz job but not sure where to start? What exactly do you mean by 'creativity' in the context of data and analytics? How can data people be creative? How do you respond to negative feedback of your creative idea? What do you do when you feel unmotivated? How do you handle the feeling of not living up to a client's expectations ..read more

In this episode, I’ll share a concept and prompt from my NEW book CHART SPARK, and how I applied it to the library check-out receipt to develop a creative idea that uses dataviz to encourage people to go to the library more. Use this prompt in your work to come up with creative ideas! Let’s go! Now available: Chart Spark Join my newsletter Show notes ..read more

In this episode, Alberto Cairo shares some common threads he’s noticed among his dataviz students who go on to excel in this field and common traits he noticed while interviewing accomplished visualization designers for his new book The Art of Insight. Show notes: https://dataviztoday.com/shownotes/89 ..read more

Hey dataviz friend, my book is launching in early December (CHART SPARK), and after giving a workshop this morning that used the prompts from the book, I realized....chatting and brainstorming with other people is my happy place! So, do you wanna chat? Anything on your mind about dataviz careers, creativity, or brainstorming on a real project? I'm opening my calendar on Thursdays until the year-end for fun coffee chats. Snag a time on my calendly below. No cost or commitment required – just good vibes and chart sparks! ?⚡ https://calendly.com/allitorban/chart-spark-virtual-coffee-chat-with-all ..read more

In this episode, we explore Dr. Barbara Wixom's insights on the three main ways companies (or even freelancers) can monetize data and dataviz, drawing from her extensive research and the insights of her book, Data is Everybody’s Business. She shares the patterns of successful data monetization gathered over 29 years and we brainstorm ways it applies to dataviz work. Also, since Barb was a client of mine, we get a sneak peek into clients' top concerns when beginning a dataviz project so we can improve our processes. Let’s go! Show notes: https://dataviztoday.com/shownotes/88 ..read more

As data people, we tend to be more logical and analytical, which makes navigating creativity’s ambiguity a little tricky. So I called on Andy J. Pizza to help us out. To me, he is creativity personified — illustrator, author, podcaster, and more! He’s worked with big clients like The New York Times and Nickelodeon, and has a new book coming out where he illustrates “invisible things.” In this episode, Andy shares how his ADHD has become his superpower in his creative work, the little tricks he’s found that help him create, how he sees critique in a new way, and he shares his three phases of in ..read more

In this episode, I share the framework that helps me decide when to stick with “best practices” or try a new approach in my visualizations. We explore four key variables: the reader's time and patience, the need to capture attention, past struggles conveying a concept, and the designer’s available time and resources. Let’s go! Show notes: https://dataviztoday.com/shownotes/86 ..read more

In this episode, we dive into the world of scientific visuals with Jen Christiansen, Senior Graphics Editor at Scientific American and author of the new book Building Science Graphics. Jen shares when to consider including visuals in your work, the power of “welcoming gestures”, and the effectiveness of comics in explaining complex concepts. We also discuss collaboration, the strategic use of arrows, and how to keep your projects organized. Let's go! Show notes: https://dataviztoday.com/shownotes/85 ..read more