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Three transparent glasses showing different water levels, low, medium, and full — illustrating varying degrees of access.
Inumimo Idowu

How a Simple Glass of Water Makes Global Inequality Impossible to Ignore

A minimal, metaphor-driven approach to visualizing global access to safe drinking water — and why simplicity may be the most powerful storytelling tool in data..

Elijah Meeks

Behind-the-Scenes: Semiotic 3 with real-time streaming data

I’m releasing a new version of Semiotic, Semiotic 3, with first-class support for real-time streaming data and AI collaboration. You might think the timing odd,..

Rituparna Das

Building Tableau Dashboards for the PowerPoint Download

Working in reporting and analytics for the last six years has made me realize an uncomfortable truth about Tableau: Your beautiful interactive dashboard will often..

Or Misgav

The Tiles That Made Me: Mapping Friendship through the Lens of AI

According to the Oxford Dictionary, friendship is a “voluntary, personal relationship characterized by mutual affection, trust, and support.” Whereas to me, friendship involves authenticity and..

Latest articles

Three transparent glasses showing different water levels, low, medium, and full — illustrating varying degrees of access.H
Inumimo Idowu
May 15, 2026

How a Simple Glass of Water Makes Global Inequality Impossible to Ignore

A minimal, metaphor-driven approach to visualizing global access to safe drinking water — and why simplicity may be the most powerful storytelling tool in data..
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Elijah Meeks
April 29, 2026

Behind-the-Scenes: Semiotic 3 with real-time streaming data

I’m releasing a new version of Semiotic, Semiotic 3, with first-class support for real-time streaming data and AI collaboration. You might think the timing odd,..
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Rituparna Das
March 26, 2026

Building Tableau Dashboards for the PowerPoint Download

Working in reporting and analytics for the last six years has made me realize an uncomfortable truth about Tableau: Your beautiful interactive dashboard will often..
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Or Misgav
March 19, 2026

The Tiles That Made Me: Mapping Friendship through the Lens of AI

According to the Oxford Dictionary, friendship is a “voluntary, personal relationship characterized by mutual affection, trust, and support.” Whereas to me, friendship involves authenticity and..
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Ansley Standridge
March 10, 2026

Trends, Aesthetics, and Individuality: How the Internet Irrevocably Changed Fashion

Close your eyes, and picture an outfit from the 1980s. Now, the 1990s. The 2000s. Chances are you thought of perms and shoulder pads first,..
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Alberto Cairo
March 3, 2026

The Collaborative Blueprint: The Open Visualization Academy as a Community of Learning and Friendship

Let’s get the basics out of the way quickly: if you’re a regular reader of Nightingale, you’ve likely heard about the recent launch of my..
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Nightingale Editors
March 2, 2026

Teo Popescu Named New Managing Editor of Nightingale

Beginning March 1, 2026, Teo Popescu steps into the role of Managing Editor for Nightingale. Succeeding Will Careri, Teo is honored to take up the..
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Isobel Parkes
February 17, 2026

The Back of the Painting: On Structure, Integrity, and Data Visualisation

In the early 1420s, Fra Angelico, a Dominican friar and painter, completed his first large-scale work for the newly built monastery at San Domenico. The..
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Alex Kolokolov & Natalia Kiseleva
January 22, 2026

Christine and the Magic Charts: A Data Visualization Book for Kids

“Daddy, what’s your job?”“Mom, what are those pretty pictures? I want to make some too!” The idea Anyone who loves their job has probably wanted..
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Emilia Ruzicka
January 15, 2026

REVIEW: Connecting the Dots by Milan Janosov

In our increasingly interconnected world, Connecting the Dots: How data, networks, and algorithms shape our world by Milan Janosov could not be any more poignant...
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Erica Gunn
January 14, 2026

Info+

Info+ is a long-standing data vis conference, held biannually in rotating locations. This year, it was hosted at Northeastern University in Boston (my alma mater),..
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Nicole Mark
January 13, 2026

REVIEW: Everyday Data Visualization: A Refreshing Return to Fundamentals

A Zen Buddhist teacher, Suzuki Roshi, famously said, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” The implication..
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Rhea Shukla
January 8, 2026

Designing Mars: Transforming Scientific Data Into Human Understanding

Mars is easy to measure but hard to understand. Numbers can describe it, but they don’t bring it closer. My mars data visualization project began..
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Valerie Casalino
December 17, 2025

Analytics Products Will Never Be Truly Human-Centered Until the Workplaces Behind Them Are

I’ve been really excited to see a shift in analytics and business intelligence around more integration of human-centred design, ethics, and accessibility. I learn something..
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Andrew Peters
December 2, 2025

From Metrics to Mood: The Emotional Story in A HYROX Race

In the world of sports performance, data is everywhere. Watches track heart rates, apps monitor recovery, and race platforms log every split and second. But..

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What Makes A Data Visualisation Elegant?

On a dedicated channel, #dvs-topics-in-data-viz, in the Data Visualization Society Slack, our members discuss questions and issues pertinent to the field of data visualization. Discussion..
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Asterisk Nation: One Tribe’s Challenge to Find Data About its Population

The Yurok Tribe in far northern California needs to address a condition plaguing numerous rural communities in the United States: addiction and substance misuse. Across..
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Six Ways to Bring Empathy into your Data

One of the big challenges in visualizing data, and quantitative research in general, is helping readers connect with the content. Connecting directly with people and..
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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...
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Indelible Impressions: Why You Won’t Forget the Map Room Project

In my quest to improve data fluency among those who think of themselves as non-data people, I am always on the lookout for physical manifestations..
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What Board Games Teach Us About Data Visualization

Recently I visited the biggest trade fair for board games in the world. The Internationale Spieltage (Spiel) takes place annually in my current hometown of Essen in..
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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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..

Spotlight on community:

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Erica Gunn
November 17, 2025

Mapping Change: How One Design Studio Navigated 20 Years at the Forefront of a Changing Industry

Applied Works is a London-based design studio celebrating their 20th anniversary. I sat down recently with founders Joe Sharpe and Paul Kettle to discuss their..
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Jason Forrest
October 27, 2025

LA on the Move: Data Vandals Bring Wildlife and Humans Together at Union Station

The relationship between nature and the city is often framed as a tension - wilderness versus concrete, animals versus humans. But what if we looked at Los Angeles differently? What if we saw the city as a shared habitat where humans and wildlife navigate the same streets, highways, and neighborhoods together?
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Nina Koch
October 8, 2025

Datavis as a Community Experience: How to (Not) Create a Datavis in a Group

Do you know individuals who seem to focus on one thing for their whole life? I’m on the opposite side of the scale. Inspired by..
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Emilia Ruzicka
September 23, 2025

Behind the Scenes: Dashboards That Deliver

Andy Cotgreave, Amanda Makulec, Jeffrey Shaffer, and Steve Wexler have a new book coming out on September 23, 2025—Dashboards That Deliver: How to Design, Develop,..

Celebrating the dataviz of W.E.B. Du Bois:

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W. E. B. Du Bois’ staggering Data Visualizations are as powerful today as they were in 1900 (Part 1)

One of the most powerful examples of data visualization was made 118 years ago by an all-black team led by W.E.B. Du Bois only 37..
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Data Journalism in the study of W.E.B. Du Bois’s “The Negro Problem” (Part 2)

One of the most powerful examples of data visualization was made 118 years ago by an all-black team led by W.E.B. Du Bois only 37..
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Exploring the Craft and Design of W.E.B. Du Bois’ Data Visualizations (Part 3)

One of the most powerful examples of data visualization was made 118 years ago by an all-black team led by W.E.B. Du Bois only 37..
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Style and Rich Detail: On Viewing an Original W.E.B. Du Bois Data Visualization (Part 4)

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The Legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois’s “The Exhibit of American Negroes” (Part 5)

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Discovering an Unknown Chart from W.E.B. Du Bois’s “The Exhibition of American Negroes” (Part 6)

Activist and sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois created “The Exhibit of American Negroes” at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris in collaboration with Booker T. Washington, prominent black..
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Callie Dean
November 19, 2025

In the Shadow of Edmund Halley: Solar Eclipses, Citizen Science, and Qualitative Dataviz

On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse crossed North America from the Pacific Coast of Mexico to the island of Newfoundland, off the eastern..
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Daria Koshkina
November 6, 2025

Data Visualization & Affective Computing. Design That Manipulates Emotions or Design That Helps Reflect on Emotions?

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Isobel Parkes
November 4, 2025

From Pixels to Parks: The Intersection of Data Visualisation and Urban Greening

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Ruishan Wu, Zezhong Wang, Haidan Liu, Krithika Balasubramanyam, Kanak Gautam, Aham Gupta, Shannon McAllister & Sheelagh Carpendale
October 24, 2025

Exploring Data Detective Practices as a Class Activity

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Sachi Mahajan
October 14, 2025

Breaking Stereotypes in Women’s Football

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Emilia Ruzicka
September 22, 2025

Review: Dashboards That Deliver

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Alyxander Burns
September 18, 2025

Learning to Read Academic Papers by Making Data Comics

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Erica Gunn
September 17, 2025

Review of Stakeholder Whispering by Bill Shander

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Nina Errey
August 28, 2025

Why audience age matters: The Influence of Audience Age on Engagement with Interactive Narrative Visualization

Interactive data-driven stories are an increasingly common way to communicate complex information—climate change, election outcomes, etc. Often, however, they are built for a broad audience...
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Jonas Oesch
August 27, 2025

Why Visual Journalism Is So Slow

Ever wondered what consumes a visual journalist’s day? I tracked every hour of a typical project to uncover the biggest time drains and share insights..
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Shreya Jaiswal
August 26, 2025

What your New York Neighborhood Says About You (Backed by Data)

Cross between New York City neighborhoods and you’ll be transported. Parents crowd Park Slope’s stroller-lined streets, where the child-to-adult ratio is rising–defying citywide trends in..
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Neil Richards
August 20, 2025

REVIEW: Become a Great Data Storyteller by Angelica Lo Duca

I (NR) had a great discussion with Angelica Lo Duca (ALD) where we discussed her latest book: Become a Great Data Storyteller. Angelica’s book is..
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How Data Visualization Became My Career Catalyst

How mastering data storytelling can transform your career As an industrial-organizational psychologist, I started my career with a clear plan. Study workplace behavior. Research. Consult...
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Plastic Portrait: Visualizing Technical Skills Through Cable Ties

I’ve always been interested in the aesthetic side of dashboards beyond what the tools offer—importing custom backgrounds and graphic elements created outside of BI software...
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Winds of Change and How They Sway Fatalist Fractalists

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Data Doesn’t Have to Start with Spreadsheets. It Can Start with a Sneeze.

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The Bus Station That Didn’t Exist, and Other Data Epiphanies

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Flower Visualizations and the Uncertainty of New Parenthood

Developing understanding through visualizing newborn data Expecting parents are inundated with information about newborn health and all of the potential maladies that can befall them...
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BattleGraphs: Forge, Fortify, and Fight in the Network Arena

Constructive visualization enables users to create personalized data representations and facilitates early insight generation and sensemaking. Based on NODKANT, a toolkit for creating physical network..
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MyMatrescenceProject: Using “Data-Less” Data Visualisation to Explore My Experience of Motherhood

I don’t observe, collect, or draw, but the language of data visualisation is still helping me make sense of becoming a mother. Before becoming a..
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Leveraging Popular Board Games to Teach Data Visualization Through Play

What if your favorite board games didn’t just entertain you but also taught you how to interpret scatter plots, recognize chart types, and sharpen your..
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Statistical Graphics and Comics: Parallel Histories of Visual Storytelling

What do data visualization and comics have in common? One of these is used to communicate in science and journalism, and the other appears in..
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Creating Data Art with GenAI: Diffusive Alpine Metamorphosis

Living in Switzerland, I cherish time spent in nature. The majestic Alps, winding rivers, and serene lakes are perfect places for me to find rest..
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A Garden of Sleep: Tracking the Emotional Distance Between Two Bedtimes

For the past six months, my husband and I haven’t gone to sleep at the same time. We both work full-time and raise two young..
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“Can We Have That?”: The Consequences of Under-Scoping Your Data Projects

In the ever-evolving field of data visualization, no-code/low-code tools like Tableau and Power BI have become indispensable for quickly transforming data into accessible, actionable insights...
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REVIEW: Be Data Literate (Second Edition) by Jordan Morrow

The first edition of “Be Data Literate” by Jordan Morrow was published in 2021, and this second edition, hot on its heels, has been updated..
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4 Months, 2 Programs, 6 Advisers: How I Pivoted Careers through Communal Learning

When I decided to pivot my career, I quickly ruled out going back to school. Not just because it would be expensive, but because I’ve..

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From Homemaker to Data Storyteller: Lessons from a Local Analytics Class

Recently, I concluded a 6-weeks intensive Data Analytics Course in our local community. I vividly remember how participants responded when I asked each to introduce..
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Datafying Mixed Social Identities: Nonbinarity as the Complementary of Intersectionality

Capturing mixed social identities through categorical data presents significant challenges. Nonbinarity provides a conceptual, computational, and visual framework for reimagining social identities beyond binary oppositions...

Dataviz Horror Stories

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Dataviz Horror Stories: Shirley Wu

Have you ever made an embarrassing mistake in a data visualization? Did you utterly fail to meet your client’s or boss’s vision? Did you proudly..
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Histórias Aterradoras em Visualização de Dados: Jorge Camões

Read this article in English here. Alguma vez cometeu um erro constrangedor numa visualização de dados? Passou por completo ao lado da visão do cliente..
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Dataviz Horror Stories: Jon Schwabish

Jon Schwabish, co-author with Alice Feng of the “Do No Harm” guide, tells his children five things: Be honest Be kind Be respectful Be hard..
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Dataviz Horror Story: How I Crashed the Top Exec’s Email

Have you ever made an embarrassing mistake in a data visualization? Did you utterly fail to meet your client’s or boss’s vision? Did you proudly..
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Dataviz Horror Story: Miriam Quick

Have you ever made an embarrassing mistake in a data visualization? Did you utterly fail to meet your client’s or boss’s vision? Did you proudly..
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Dataviz Horror Story: Jacque Schrag

We’ve all made embarrassing dataviz mistakes, whether we’re beginners or superstars. This series of Horror Stories aims to normalize “failure” as part of professional development...
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The Shape of Why

From descriptive to prescriptive: How AI in data visualization is evolving from plotting the “What” to telling the “Why”. Today’s AI systems can draw charts...
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Decoding the Influence of Visual Data in Consumer Decisions

Do you ever wonder why your eyes dart to a flashy “50% OFF” sticker? or an appetite-stimulating visual of potato chips on a pack in..
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Visualizing as a Form of Collective Care

Care is easy to recognize on a personal level, especially when it takes the form of small, attentive gestures woven into daily life. We see..
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What Can Business Dashboard Designers Learn from the Information Is Beautiful Awards?

Why do I still love the field of data visualisation after 20 years? It’s the levers that exist between form and function, beauty and insight,..
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Data About America’s Communities Are In Jeopardy, and Lives May Hang in the Balance

Over the years, I’ve worked with counties across California focused on combating drug overdose in their communities. My goal is to help local organizations leverage..
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Scrollytelling with Closeread: The Super Low-Code Way to Bring Your Data Project to the Web!

Introduction What is Scrollytelling? Scrollytelling is a dynamic, interactive storytelling technique often used in web-based formats, that reveals insights, visuals, and narrative elements as the..
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Cards, Charts, and Strategy: A Game-Based Approach to Data Visualization for Pattern

In today’s society, the ability to read and interpret data visualizations has become a critical skill in both professional and academic contexts. Therefore, fostering visualization..
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Transforming AI-Driven Data Analytics with DeepSeek: A Critical Analysis of Visualization Capabilities

Artificial intelligence (AI) has made significant strides in revolutionizing data visualization. From simplifying complex datasets to automating real-time insights, AI-powered tools are changing how businesses,..
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Drawagram: A Game-Based Learning Approach to Teach Time-based Data Visualization

Drawagram is a card game based on creativity and interaction that explores the fundamental ideas behind the development of simple time-based data visualizations. Players create..