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map of Paris showing noise levels in shades of pink with a decibel meter in the bottom right
Claire Santoro

Noisy Cities: Behind the Scenes with Karim Douïeb

Karim Douïeb is a Brussels-based data scientist and co-founder of Jetpack.ai. He is also the creator of an unexpectedly-viral U.S. election map that he spoke..

Jason Forrest

I Asked an Artificial Intelligence to Draw a Chart

A new generation of text-to-image generative models are rapidly changing what is possible in generative design. Two apps in particular, Midjourney and Dalle-E 2, have..

Mary Aviles, datacitron, Jason Forrest & Claire Santoro

Nightingale Magazine, Issue 1 Retro: What We Learned

Now that the Spring 2022 issue of Nightingale Magazine is showing up in mailboxes all around the world, the editorial team wanted to share some..

Jeff Harrison

Visualizing Small Victories

Everyone loves a trophy! Okay, it’s not that simple. Still, we humans love to mark milestones and accomplishments. Trophies are tangible reminders of those fleeting moments of victory…

Eli Holder

Timely Advice – How Long Does Dataviz Take?

Visualizing 3iap timesheets for 10 dataviz client projects. How much time goes into researching, data-wrangling, designing, and building different types of data visualizations? Every client..

Two square artworks next to each other, each showing a circle made of rhythmic lines on a blank background, one with a white circle on dark background and the other with a dark circle on white background
Tiziana Alocci

Exploring Necessity, a Personal Data Art Project, by Tiziana Alocci

Tiziana Alocci, an award-winning information designer and lecturer based in London, recently launched a new data art series, Necessity. To learn more about the project,..

Latest articles

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Ama Nyame-Mensah
July 5, 2022

Beyond the Bar: Alternative Methods for Visualizing Two Points of Change

People love comparisons, whether between two groups or the difference in an outcome between two time points. Many data (visualization) designers use a clustered bar..
map of Paris showing noise levels in shades of pink with a decibel meter in the bottom rightN
Claire Santoro
June 30, 2022

Noisy Cities: Behind the Scenes with Karim Douïeb

Karim Douïeb is a Brussels-based data scientist and co-founder of Jetpack.ai. He is also the creator of an unexpectedly-viral U.S. election map that he spoke..
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Jason Forrest
June 29, 2022

I Asked an Artificial Intelligence to Draw a Chart

A new generation of text-to-image generative models are rapidly changing what is possible in generative design. Two apps in particular, Midjourney and Dalle-E 2, have..
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Nightingale Magazine is a collectible community celebration! Our print magazine showcases some of the most compelling data visualization projects and stories from around the world.
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Nick Desbarats
June 28, 2022

Are Vertical Line Charts Ever a Good Idea?

I recently asked dataviz Twitter if anyone could point to situations in which a vertical line chart was the best chart type for that situation...
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Mary Aviles, Jason Forrest & Claire Santoro
June 26, 2022

How to Write for Nightingale

Everything you ever wanted to know to publish with us! In addition to helping writers to level up their skills, these guidelines provide alignment for..
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Mary Aviles, datacitron, Jason Forrest & Claire Santoro
June 21, 2022

Nightingale Magazine, Issue 1 Retro: What We Learned

Now that the Spring 2022 issue of Nightingale Magazine is showing up in mailboxes all around the world, the editorial team wanted to share some..
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Evelina Judeikytė
June 16, 2022

Behind the Scenes of the First Nightingale Magazine with Its Creative Director

Enjoy an exclusive interview with Nightingale’s creative director Julie Brunet (datacitron) on how the magazine came to life. This interview originally appeared in #ThePlot newsletter...
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Michael Friendly
June 15, 2022

Remembrances of Things EDA

Published for Tukey Day, June 16, the 107th anniversary of John Tukey’s birthThis article recounts the origins and influences of the movement in statistics and data..
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Theresa-Marie Rhyne
June 14, 2022

Watching for Peas and Carrots: Solving the Green and Orange Dilemma in Data Visualization

In this writing, I discuss the challenge of working with a green and orange color scheme in data visualization. Unfortunately, 99 percent of people with..
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Claire Santoro
June 9, 2022

Three Questions with… Jason Forrest

Jason Forrest is the Director of the McKinsey & Co. Data Visualization Lab and Editor-in-Chief of Nightingale. Check out his writing for Nightingale here.1. If..
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John Polk
June 8, 2022

Get behind Me, Titivillus! How to Avoid Mistakes in Your Work

Meet Titivillus. His LinkedIn profile describes him as a demon who works for Satan to introduce errors into the works of scribes. Imagine if you..
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Sarina Chen
June 7, 2022

SPOTLIGHT: My Creation Process for the SOTI Dataviz Explanatory Challenge

I first heard about the Data Visualization Society’s State of the Industry visualization challenge when Loris Mat posted the design process behind his winning entry...
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Jason Forrest
June 2, 2022

Patrick Abercrombie’s “The Greater London Plan”

One of my favorite works of data visualization is a map from “The Greater London Plan” in 1944. This semi-abstract map by Patrick Abercrombie and..
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Eli Holder
May 26, 2022

Timely Advice – How Long Does Dataviz Take?

Visualizing 3iap timesheets for 10 dataviz client projects. How much time goes into researching, data-wrangling, designing, and building different types of data visualizations? Every client..
Two square artworks next to each other, each showing a circle made of rhythmic lines on a blank background, one with a white circle on dark background and the other with a dark circle on white backgroundE
Tiziana Alocci
May 17, 2022

Exploring Necessity, a Personal Data Art Project, by Tiziana Alocci

Tiziana Alocci, an award-winning information designer and lecturer based in London, recently launched a new data art series, Necessity. To learn more about the project,..

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Great reads

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Interview with the South China Morning Post Infographics Team

One of the most interesting teams in the world has to be the Infographics team of the South China Morning Post. Based in Hong Kong,..
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Information Graphics in Action: Russian Agitational Postcards 1900–1960

The postcard originated in the middle of the XIX century and went through the development path together with the poster, following stylistic changes in the..
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None Of Us Are Free If Some Of Us Are Not: Catherine D’Ignazio on Data Feminism

I had the great pleasure of seeing Catherine D’Ignazio speak at EYEO festival this past summer. I was totally inspired by her message, and while I had..
Wall map depicting toe tags of migrants where remains were foundD
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Data Visualization As an Act of Witnessing

In late 2016, I read an article by Michael Brennan, principal of Detroit-based, nonprofit design firm Civilla, in the Harvard Business Review. I was haunted by this line: “I..
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Beyond Nightingale: Being a Woman in Data Visualization

If you conduct a quick internet search on “history of data visualization,” you’ll nearly always see Florence Nightingale included in the annals of history. Why?..
Resettlement Administration exhibitT
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The Influence of Isotype in New Deal Information Design: A Resettlement Administration Exhibition, 1936

How the design concept influenced the American government's campaign to help its vulnerable populations.
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Draw The Rest Of The Chart: Imposter Syndrome and Leveling Up in Data Visualization

Is It Ever Gonna Be Enough? A bright, energetic consultant stares intently at Microsoft PowerPoint. This hero, inexperienced but devoted, hears a door open nearby...
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A Poet’s Perspective: Seven Reasons Why Your Dataviz Team Should Include an Analyst from the Humanities

I was once auto-rejected from a job I had written for myself. After several interviews, my soon-to-be manager asked me to delineate the responsibilities I..

Spotlight on Community

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Yan Holtz
May 11, 2022

SPOTLIGHT: The Pinterest of Data Visualisation

150 stunning chart examples, and growing! I’ve just created a website called dataviz-inspiration.com and it showcases hundreds of stunning dataviz projects I’ve encountered in the..
A visualization of the design elements of Amanda Rach Lee’s bullet journal over five years from 2017 to 2021, showing the consistency of some features, the parts that got discontinued, and the new sections that were added over the years.S
Elsie Lee-Robbins
May 5, 2022

SPOTLIGHT: Visualizing Five Years of Bullet Journaling

Bullet journaling is a style of journaling where you start with an empty dot grid notebook, and fill it with different pages that you create..
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Pilar Dibujito
April 13, 2022

DESTACAR: Visualización de La mujer de los perros

Read the English version here. El siguiente proyecto consistió en la traducción del guión cinematográfico de La mujer de los perros – una película argentina..
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Pilar Dibujito
April 13, 2022

SPOTLIGHT: Visualization of Dog Lady (La mujer de los perros)

Lee este artículo en español aquí. The aim of this project was to translate the film script of Dog Lady (La mujer de los perros) –..
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Joshua Pine
May 4, 2022

Telling the Story of Urban Innovation and Pandemic Response with Data

In late March 2020, shortly after COVID-19 was recognized as a global pandemic, the National League of Cities (NLC) partnered with Bloomberg Philanthropies to create..
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Erica Gunn
May 3, 2022

Step 2 in the Data Exploration Journey: Going Deeper into the Analysis

This article is part III in a series on data exploration, and the common struggles that we all face when trying to learn something new...
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Alberto Molina
April 27, 2022

SPOTLIGHT: How to Say ‘I Love You’ with a Graphic

For the past two years, the data visualization narratives we’ve become familiar with infection curves, maps of health zones, and models of how the virus..
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Milán Janosov
April 26, 2022

Building and Visualizing a Social Network through the Vikings’ Example

As an avid fan of the Vikings, I was extremely excited about the new spin-off on Netflix titled Vikings: Valhalla. Simultaneously, my network-and-data-scientist self was..
Cover image of young Tommy Westphall in front of tv static and the latest major evolution in the visualization of the Tommy Westphall Universe.T
William Careri
April 19, 2022

The Visual Evolution of the Tommy Westphall Universe

Television series finales often offer their long-time viewers heartfelt moments, character arc completions, plot line conclusions, tears, laughs and more. Unlike any other series finale,..
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Advaith Venkatakrishnan
April 14, 2022

Bracket Carousel: Discovering the Next Generation of Bracket Design

Another year, another successful March Madness! From renowned bracketologists, to casual bettors, and even former Presidents, millions of people embark on a quest to achieve..
Cover of the book Delivering Data AnalyticsR
Walter Paixão Côrtes
April 12, 2022

REVIEW: Delivering Data Analytics by Nicholas Kelly

In his book Delivering Data Analytics, author Nicholas Kelly presents us with a step-by-step guide to help Business Intelligence (BI) consultants drive BI adoption from..
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Theresa-Marie Rhyne
April 7, 2022

Blue and Yellow: A Matter of Complements

Very often the combination of blue and yellow suggests the color green. In this writing I provide a different perspective on this combination. I discuss..
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Christen Spehr
April 6, 2022

Five Ways to Teach Math as an Art Form

Some days it feels like my first words were, “I hate math.” There’s a stereotype that creative ‘right-brainers’ can’t do math, and as a writer..
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Rachel Costa
April 5, 2022

Data + Women Quarterly: Finding Your Path in the Data & Tech Industry

Hello everyone! I’m Rachel, one of the co-organisers of the Data + Women network. Nice to meet you! For those who have never heard of..
Photograph of the interview subject Larry Gray who is looking to his right side, holding his hands over a railing, and wearing glasses, a long hairstyle, and a gray suit with a loosened tie.G
Kathryn Hurchla
March 31, 2022

Getting to Know… Lawrence Gray, PhD

The dataviz community is broad and encompasses practitioners from a range of backgrounds, professions, and interests. In an effort to get to know the community,..
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Milán Janosov
March 30, 2022

50 Years of Oscars: Acting Success and Collaboration

The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, have been one of the most prestigious awards in the film industry for nearly a century, acknowledging..
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Does Twitter’s Algorithm Hate Your Friends?

I love Twitter. Well, I love my community on Twitter. I love learning about new art, new events, scientific discoveries, and social movements new and..
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Three Questions with… Michael Brenner

This content originally appeared as part of The ‘Gale, Nightingale’s biweekly newsletter. Michael Brenner is the Head of Design at DATA4CHANGE and the creator of..
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REVIEW: Atlas of the Invisible

It’s been about 450 years since Theatrum Orbis Terrarum was published by Dutch cartographers in 1570 as an attempt to collect the entirety of knowledge..
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Three Questions with… Mary Aviles

This content originally appeared as part of The ‘Gale, Nightingale’s biweekly newsletter. Currently a senior UX researcher at Detroit Labs and the managing editor of Nightingale,..
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REVIEW: Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch

The art of fandom is to observe and infer. This is especially true in cinema as the cult of the auteur director fuels our reverence..
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Colorless Green Graphs Sleep Furiously: A Conversation with Leland Wilkinson

This article traces some history of ideas behind Leland Wilkinson’s development of the Grammar of Graphics (and later, of ggplot2) in the form of a..
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Three Questions with… Nancy Organ

This content originally appeared as part of The ‘Gale, Nightingale’s biweekly newsletter. Nancy is currently a freelance data visualization designer and developer, with past lives..
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Step 1 in the Data Exploration Journey: Getting Oriented

This article is part II in a series on data exploration, and the common struggles that we all face when trying to learn something new...
On left is a textile with a typewritten phrase from the Book of Common Prayer: "FROM PESTILENCE FAMINE BATTLE MURDER AND FROM SUDDEN DEATH GOOD LORD FROM LIGHTNING AND TEMPEST, FROM PLAGUE DELIVER US." The phrase is overtyped 549 times on the textile surface and eventually obscures itself. On the right is the same textile, after washing.T
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The Soul of Data: Data Physicalizations on Fabric

When my area went into lockdown in March of 2020, initial case counts were relatively low in my state, even as the coasts were plunged into..
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Blog This: Transforming How Students Engage and Learn from Visualization Research

What started out as an experiment by Professor Niklas Elmqvist to make student work more meaningful gave rise to VisUMD. It’s a Medium blog that..
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How to Create a Pivot Marimekko Chart in Plain JavaScript

You have probably already seen many different articles on bar and pie charts. It’s enough to suggest that they are the only chart options available..
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Is There a Happy Ending for the Peaky Blinders?

Peaky Blinders is an award-winning historical drama series produced by BBC Studios. The show is set between the two world wars and is centered around..
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Data Literacy and General Education: A Potentially Perfect Partnership

In 2012, Harvard Business Review declared data scientist the sexiest job in the world. No one ever has declared general education the sexiest anything in..
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REVIEW: Mindworks – The Science of Thinking

Researchers and analysts are always seeking new ways to engage people, to help their insights feel meaningful to their audiences. Action is rarely generated from..
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Three Questions with… Chesca Kirkland

This content originally appeared as part of The ‘Gale, Nightingale’s biweekly newsletter. Chesca is a London + Brighton based data visualisation designer and photographer (and..
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The Information is Beautiful Awards are Back!

During our State of the Industry panel at Outlier, we welcomed a video address from a special guest: David McCandless. Founder of the Information is..
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Very Peri Pantone 2022 Divergence for Data Visualization

There are situations in data visualization where your client asks you to build a color scheme around a specific color and also contrast data values..
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Did Data Visualization Erase the Woman from Women’s Work?

As the world changed over the past two years, more and more of my friends took to handcrafts like quilting and knitting as a counterbalance..
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Encyclopedic Data Art

The digital edition of Iconographic Encyclopædia was a year-long project to breathe new life into an antique. In recent years, I’ve undertaken several of these..
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Data4Kids: A Collaborative Project to Teach Kids about Data

When the COVID-19 pandemic first shut down in-person learning, we knew education wouldn’t be the same. How could kids—especially younger kids in elementary and middle..
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Designing for Neurodivergent Audiences

When a group of autistic individuals coined the term neurodiversity in an attempt to redefine their identity, few would accurately predict the impact it would..

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Effective Data Visualizations Should Focus on Narrative, Not Numbers

Data visualization is an incredibly powerful tool — but too often, it’s underutilized or simply misused by brands and other organizations. That’s not just because people..
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A Map of Data Visualization (For Discussion!!)

The data visualization field is fascinating and I feel incredibly fortunate to be working in it, but, frankly, it’s also kind of a mess: It’s..
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The #DuBois Challenge

In February 2021, people on Twitter were challenged to re-create the historical data visualizations of W.E.B. Du Bois. The goal of the challenge was to..
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Submit Your Work for the Outlier Viz Exhibit!

Are you looking for a space to share your work and get inspired by the work of other data visualization designers? You can submit your..
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Host an Unconference Session!

We acknowledge that some folks who applied to speak and were not selected may feel disappointed, and we totally understand that. If time and budget..
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Creating an Inclusive Global Dataviz Conference

It’s amazing to me to think that Amy, Elijah, and I launched The Data Visualization Society just three years ago. I am now about to..
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Big Data, Cute Story

Happy New Year to all! As January ticks on, I think we are all familiar with the contestable tradition of the New Year Resolution. But..
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REVIEW: How Can We Use Comics to Tell Data Stories?

This post is a review of From Data to Stories, a book from Richie Lionell and Ramya Mylavarapu of Gramener, described on its front page..
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REVIEW: Detroit in 50 Maps by Alex B. Hill

In professional and community circles, Detroit can sometimes feel like a small town. I started hearing about Alex B. Hill and his site, Detroitography, early..
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Three Questions with… Chuck Burke

This content originally appeared as part of The ‘Gale, Nightingale’s biweekly newsletter. Chuck Burke is a multidisciplinary information designer with a background in explanatory journalism and academic publishing;..
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SPOTLIGHT: How Do We Measure Unpaid Labor?

I thought a lot about labor and care in the winter and spring of 2021. Like many other people, I spent most of that time..