Tag: Jon Schwabish

A Tale of Data Visualization: Inspiration, Imitation, and Tribute

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://jschwabish.substack.com/p/a-tale-of-data-visualization-inspiration

Graphic:

Excerpt:

Let’s look at another set of paired charts. These two graphs, one from the EC just last week and the other from Bloomberg in 2014, both use a series of tall and narrow slope charts to compare two values.

In this case, I wouldn’t argue that the EC should attribute Bloomberg’s—after all, they are just slope charts, the topics are different, and the overall design is different. As some other people pointed on out LinkedIn, a designer may begin creating with an echo of another design in their head but not be able pinpoint it (not to mention that some projects no longer live online).

The question remains: where do we draw the line between inspiration and recreation? Is 13 years long enough for a graphic to enter the “pantheon” of visualization techniques, thereby no longer requiring attribution? Or does the uniqueness of the Scarr piece mean that it should always be credited when reused or adapted?

It’s a tough question, and one without an easy answer. It’s clear from Sebastian’s response that he was inspired by Scarr’s original, so my preference would have been to include a citation or reference. But honestly, I’m not even sure where the attribution should go! Maybe under the Source line, or maybe in the Created by line that appears not in the graph but in the newsletter email itself? More questions without clear answers.

In the end, it’s about respecting the creative process. As creators, we all draw from what’s come before us—whether consciously or subconsciously. Acknowledging the work that inspires us not only gives credit where it’s due but also fosters a culture of openness and honesty. It shows respect for our peers and for the community as a whole.

I want to be very clear: this discussion in no way diminishes the fabulous work from The European Correspondent team. I have very much been enjoying their work and I love how they are taking chances with their design decisions, trying new designs and graph types, and being inspired by what people have created before! I’ve been impressed with their ability to distill complex data into short, engaging stories and the near-daily innovative and interesting graphs and charts. I find myself bookmarking two or three of their graphs each week, and adding them to my dataviz catalog. I highly recommend you subscribe to their newsletter. Even if you’re not keenly interested in European news, they are doing some great data visualization work on an almost daily basis, no small feat on its own.

Author(s): Jon Schwabish

Publication Date: 27 Aug 2024

Publication Site: PolicyViz newsletter at substack

Ending the “Thank You” Ending Slide

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://jschwabish.substack.com/p/ending-the-thank-you-ending-slide

Graphic:

Excerpt:

Let’s take a simple example and say you’re the author of this Brookings Institution report about how educating girls in developing countries is a great investment for families, communities, and countries. You go through your argument, presenting the data, facts, and statistics to drive home your message and call to action. You get to the end of your presentation with ample time for questions and answers when you show the slide above and say, “Thank you so much for having me. Are there any questions?”

At this point, let’s say you get some questions and there is some interesting discussion. All that time, the audience is left looking at this “Thank You. Any Questions?” slide. You’ve already said what’s on the slide—we don’t (well, shouldn’t) put everything we say on all of our slides anyways—so how does this slide help your audience? How does it reinforce your message and help them know what to do next?

Instead, what if you showed this slide and said, “Thank you so much for having me. What questions do you have?”

Author(s): Jon Schwabish

Publication Date: 1 Nov 2023

Publication Site: PolicyViz Newsletter at Substack

Free DataViz Tools & Resources

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://policyviz.com/2022/02/14/free-dataviz-tools-resources/

Excerpt:

One of the best, cheapest ways to get better at visualizing and communicating your data is blogs. The first five blogs I’ve listed here publish more regularly than some of the others I include at the end of the list. There are a few tools-specific blogs listed at the end as well (of which there are so many, it’s hard to know where to start). These are just the blogs that I regularly try to keep up with; there are many others that you might find useful as well.

  • Depict Data Studio. Ann Emery’s stuff is great, especially if you want to learn how to create better, more effective reports.
  • Datawrapper. Lisa Charlotte Muth is the primary blogger here and the content is always amazing. The content is not specific to the Datawrapper tool.
  • Flowing Data. Nathan Yau sends out a daily example of a data visualization. I’m also a member of Flowing Data ($100 for the year), which gives me access to additional written content plus tutorials in D3, R, and Excel (often written by others).
  • Nightingale (from the Data Visualization Society). Collaborative effort from a variety of folks in the data visualization field. If you’re interested in blogging about your data visualization journey but don’t want the hassle of hosting your own site, you might want to reach out to the editors here.
  • Storytelling with Data. Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic’s site is one of the tops in the field and the recent addition of the SWD “challenges” and “community” (see below) are great community-based additions to the platform.

Author(s): Jon Schwabish

Publication Date: 14 Feb 2022

Publication Site: PolicyViz

Four(plus) Ways to Visualize Geographic Time Data

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://policyviz.com/2021/05/11/fourplus-ways-to-visualize-geographic-time-data/

Graphic:

Excerpt:

The last visualization I tried was to really embrace the idea of time in the data. Instead of a map or bar chart or something else, I placed the state abbreviations around two clock faces. I know it sounds weird, but take a look at the final version.

I think this is a fun visualization, and it communicates more precisely the exact average starting times than the previous graphs. The two clocks could be combined to one, but I worry it’s not quite as clear, so I tried using the different colors to differentiate the two hours.

Author(s): Jon Schwabish

Publication Date: 11 May 2021

Publication Site: PolicyViz

Three Things You Can do to Make Your Data Tables More Visual

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://policyviz.com/2021/03/02/three-things-you-can-do-to-make-your-data-tables-more-visual/

Graphic:

Excerpt:

One last option is to add sparklines. Sparklines are small line charts that are typically used in data-rich tables, often at the end of a row or column. The purpose of sparklines is not necessarily to help the reader find specific values but instead to show general patterns and trends. Here, the sparklines show all five years of data, which allows us to omit three columns of numbers, lightening and simplifying the table. This approach lets us show the full time series in the sparklines while just showing the two endpoints in the table cells.

Author(s): Jon Schwabish

Publication Date: 2 March 2021

Publication Site: PolicyViz

Style Guides

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://policyviz.com/2016/11/30/style-guides/

Excerpt:

In the previous iteration of this site, I reserved a special page dedicated to collecting Data Visualization Style Guides. I’m republishing that collection here as a blog post with the rekindled hope that readers will add their own or their organization’s guides to the collection.

The original idea was developed at the Responsible Data Forum in New York City on January 11, 2016. It’s simply a list of data visualization style guides provided in no particular order. The idea is to build a collection of guides that layout style, formatting, and perhaps some other basic recommendations. These should not necessarily be documents that describe “best practices” or “dos and don’ts”.

My hope is that this post will serve as a repository for guides from around the world that others can use to develop their own guides and best practices. The list was originally published in January 2016, started small, and has grown to more than 15 documents. But I’m sure there is more, so please send me your suggestions and links using the comment box below, via the Contact form, or on Twitter.

Author(s): Jon Schwabish

Date Accessed: 8 March 2021

Publication Site: PolicyViz