Welcome to the first episode of the fifth season of Explore Explain, a long-form video and podcast series about data visualisation design. In this episode it was a pleasure to welcome Rebecca Conroy, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, and Duncan Swain, Co-Founder and Creative Partner, from Beyond Words, a design studio based in London, UK. We explore Rebecca and Duncan’s career backgrounds, the origin story behind the founding of their studio, and how their subsequent creative and commercial journey over the past decade has been built upon a culture shaped by strong values ..read more

I’m very happy to announce details of a new public training course. A two-day classroom-based ‘Masterclass in Data Visualisation‘ will take place in London, on 10-11 July 2024. It is now open for registration and relevant to anyone and everyone. You can read more information about my training courses in general or more about this course in this post and also on the Eventbrite listing. More public training events, virtual and classroom, will be arranged in due course in respond to demand and schedule availability. If your organisation would be interested in exploring options to arrange a trai ..read more

I’m very happy to announce details of a new public training course. A two-day classroom-based ‘Masterclass in Data Visualisation‘ will take place in London, on 23-24 April 2024. It is now open for registration and relevant to anyone and everyone. You can read more information about my training courses in general or more about this course in this post and also on the Eventbrite listing. More public training events, virtual and classroom, will be arranged in due course in respond to demand and schedule availability. If your organisation would be interested in exploring options to arrange a tra ..read more

As many will testify, for years Twitter was the social media platform for following and participating in the data visualisation field. Despite its dark corners, the data viz bubble was lit up by the sharing of new works, new articles, interesting discussions, the discovering of new people, and sourcing new trends. It was also a place for people outside of the data visualisation field to find the people in the data visualisation field. As I have posted elsewhere, the sinking of Twitter’s functional and moral appeal has disrupted and fragmented the community and killed it as the essential plat ..read more

Welcome to the ninth and final episode of the fourth season of Explore Explain, a long-form video and podcast series about data visualisation design. I am delighted to welcome Chloe Whiteaker, Data Visualization Team Leader, and Marie Patino, Graphics Reporter, from Bloomberg News in New York. We explore the story behind their unique data visualisation project analysing the staggering wealth of a pop-music phenomenon: “Taylor Swift Vaults Into Billionaire Ranks with Blockbuster Eras Tour“. Here are links to some of the key references or resources mentioned during this episode: Altern ..read more

Welcome to the eighth episode of the fourth season of Explore Explain, a long-form video and podcast series about data visualisation design. I am delighted to welcome Denise Lu, Graphics reporter at Bloomberg News, based in New York City. We explore the story behind her side project visualising her analysis of the tracks played during the reunion shows of her favourite band, Pavement. The day before this episode was launched, it was announced that this project had won ‘The Pudding Cup’ 2023 gold prize – congratulations to Denise! Here are links to some of the key references or resources me ..read more

2023 has seen an explosion in the buzz of new developments and discourse surrounding all things to do with Artificial Intelligence. After the recent hype surrounding the Metaverse and NFTs it can be tempting to dismiss all the talk around AI as just the latest passing gimmick, but when you cut through the distracting noise – and centre in on the specific products of AI – its clear we are facing a significant new era of technological progress. In this series of posts I’m attempting to take stock of what I know, what I don’t know, what I think, and what I can only speculate about in relation ..read more

Welcome to the seventh episode of the fourth season of Explore Explain, a long-form video and podcast series about data visualisation design. I am delighted to welcome Amanda Shendruk, Opinion Graphics Reporter at the Washington Post, based in Edinburgh, UK. We explore the story behind Amanda’s visual article for Opinions titled ‘Audiences want a different climate change message. Hollywood should deliver.‘ looking at the portrayal of climate change in movies and TV shows. Here are links to some of the key references or resources mentioned during this episode: Amanda’s Washington Post prof ..read more

I’m happy to share news that I’m working on the next edition of my book ‘Data Visualisation: A Handbook for Data Driven Design’. Originally published in 2016, I worked on a second edition that was published by Sage in 2019 and they’ve now invited me to revisit that text with the aim of publishing a third edition around late 2024 or early 2025. This third edition will aim to refresh many of the included examples to showcase the contemporary practice and diverse field that exists today. I will be refining some of the content to reflect my latest thinking and applying a general fresh coat of pa ..read more

Welcome to the sixth episode of the fourth season of Explore Explain, a long-form video and podcast series about data visualisation design. I am delighted to welcome Chimdi Nwosu, a Data Visualization Manager based in British Columbia, Canada. We explore the story behind not one but two of his wonderful Tableau-based data visualisation projects: ‘Incarcerated in America‘ (published August 2021) and ‘Press Freedom Index‘ (published May 2023). Here are links to some of the key references or resources mentioned during this episode: Chimdi’s Tableau Public portfolio Guardian article ..read more