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Shirley Wu

Senses & Sentiment: When data is too emotional for the screen

After doing data visualization work for eleven years, in 2021 I decided to go back to school to gain the skills and tools for creating..

Or Misgav

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 children,..

Shanfan Huang

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..

Fe Simeoni

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…

Damla Çay, Dario Rodighiero & Weidi Zhang

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..

Latest articles

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Sylwia Nowakowska
June 25, 2025

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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Or Misgav
June 24, 2025

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 children,..
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Melissa Alexander
June 23, 2025

“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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Neil Richards
June 18, 2025

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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Shanfan Huang
June 17, 2025

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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Gulrez Khan
June 16, 2025

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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Fe Simeoni
June 10, 2025

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...
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Daria Voronova
June 9, 2025

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. Some..
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Sachi Mahajan
June 5, 2025

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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Damla Çay, Dario Rodighiero & Weidi Zhang
June 4, 2025

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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DVS Editor
June 3, 2025

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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Andy Krackov
June 3, 2025

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..
A Closeread scrollytelling webpage featuring a tree diagram and narrative text presented in a structured, side-by-side layout.S
Kenneth Odoh
May 22, 2025

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 user..
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Alena Boucher & Christina Stoiber
May 20, 2025

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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Shafeeq Ur Rahaman & Mahe Jabeen Abdul
May 15, 2025

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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Some of our favorite articles:

“A Noxious Problem” by Federica FragapaneW
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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..
Equity illustration largeS
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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..
Visitors test playing board gameW
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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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Jason Forrest
April 3, 2025

My 6 Years at Nightingale: 1,443 Digital Articles, 5 Print Magazines, and a Whole Lot of Love

This article will mark my last one as the Editor-in-chief of Nightingale. Yes, it's time for me to pass the torch to the current team, and announce our new editor-in-chief: RJ Andrews! In this article I tell the story of Nightingale and reveal of my master plan of the last 6 years.
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datacitron
March 15, 2025

Good Morning Data #10 | The Inspiration Geotag

The Inspiration Geotag or “Why are we unable to find inspiration when we try to locate it?”Sure, I could wait five minutes more, right? I..
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Nightingale Editors
March 6, 2025

3 Data Points from New DVS Board Members

The start to 2025 saw the induction of four new Data Visualization Society board members. As they begin their respective duties to elevate DVS, we..
A collage of images celebrating Frederic Fery, a contributor to "Viz for Social Good," during the VFSG Annual Summit on December 1, 2023. It features candid photos of Frederic with colleagues, a portrait labeled "Data Do Gooder," and group photos at events. The VFSG logo and a message in the bottom right read, "Not all heroes wear capes; instead, they empower others to do their best work," with several handwritten signatures of acknowledgment.H
Frederic Fery
February 4, 2025

Harnessing Data for a Better World

The world is filled with challenges, but also opportunities. As a data professional, I’ve always believed in the transformative power of data to solve problems..

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)

An all-black team led by W.E.B. Du Bois made one of the most powerful examples of data visualization 118 years ago, only 37 years after..
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The Legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois’s “The Exhibit of American Negroes” (Part 5)

An all-black team led by W.E.B. Du Bois made one of the most powerful examples of data visualization 118 years ago, only 37 years after..
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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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Stefanie Plankensteiner & Christina Stoiber
May 13, 2025

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..
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Shirley Wu
April 30, 2025

Senses & Sentiment: When data is too emotional for the screen

After doing data visualization work for eleven years, in 2021 I decided to go back to school to gain the skills and tools for creating..
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Teodora Popescu
April 29, 2025

The Art of the Trump Tracker: How Data Viz Can Combat News Fatigue

Since coming into office for his second term, President Donald Trump has issued more than 124 executive orders—with nearly as many lawsuits filed in response...
Chart showing students overclaimD
Yuqi Liao
April 24, 2025

Do students around the world think they know more than they do?

Analyzing PISA data to uncover patterns of overclaiming in mathematics. CategoriesTopics in Dataviz TagsData HumanismData VisualizationInteractives
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Emma Rubin
April 21, 2025

The Endless Stories in Baby Name Data

Throughout my time as a student I was used to being known with a last initial. My first name Emma has consistently ranked in the..
an image of google search images with a crack across itT
Jason Forrest
April 16, 2025

The “Dashboard” is Broken

The value of dashboards has eroded. When executives hear the word “dashboard” today, they envision standard charts in BI platforms—obligatory elements for meetings rather than..
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Nightingale Editors
April 7, 2025

The ‘Gale Archive

The ‘Gale has been a staple of information sharing and communication for Nightingale readers since 2021. Here you will find an archive of past issues,..
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Christian Osborne
April 4, 2025

The Hidden Toll: Microaggressions and the Impact on People of Color in the Workplace

Minority groups face microaggressions regularly in their day-to-day lives, but these incidents are most encountered in the workplace, often more than are documented. Many in..
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Natalia Kiseleva
March 26, 2025

Paperbase: A Window into Photographic Paper History

The Lens Media Lab at Yale University’s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage has created Paperbase, an interactive platform for exploring the world’s largest..
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Dawn Arvelo
March 21, 2025

Mentorship Trumps DEI

Whether you are for or against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), you have undoubtedly seen or heard about it. The Trump Administration signed an Executive..
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Alex Solokov
March 18, 2025

Beyond the Binary: Improving Data Visualization for Intersectional Identities

Personal and group identity are foundational to the human experience, shaping our values, relationships, and self-perceptions. These identities intersect across categories like gender, race, ethnicity,..
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Gulrez Khan
March 12, 2025

From Moonsighting to Ramadan Data Journaling

As I was heading out to the mosque for the evening prayer, I heard a soft voice from the kitchen—”Abbu, wait! I’ll join you.”It was..
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Why Your Teen Doesn’t Care About Driving

My own parents were baffled when I showed no interest in getting a permit or driver’s license in high school, and looking around my school,..
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Napoleon, Trump, and the Best Statistical Graphic Ever Drawn

Now that I have your attention, let me ask you three simple yes-or-no questions.  Why you have seen Minard’s diagram of Napoleon’s invasion of RussiaWhen..
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How to Get a Job

This article was originally published in Nightingale Magazine Issue 5 as “How to Get Work”.Not many people know this, but I had a protracted search..
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What Does AI Understand About a Graph?

A Conversation With a Chatbot About a Graph How much does AI know about understanding and producing graphs? I don’t mean mathematical graphs of nodes and edges. Rather, I mean common graphs..
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Good Morning Data #9 | The Error Message Longing 

The Error Message Longing or “How we should always treasure our mistakes“The conversation was loud and happy, scattered with high-pitched laughs that were probably annoying..
A header graphic for "The Fourth Wave of Democratization," with layered text and a stylized wave pattern in teal tones.T
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The 4th Wave: Democratization

This article is a continuation of A Changing World Speaking a shared languageData visualizations are themselves accessibility tools to see patterns and make comparisons, sometimes..
A header graphic titled "A Changing World," featuring a bar chart icon and intricate network visualizations in teal and yellow hues.T
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The 4th Wave: A Changing World

For decades now, we’ve seen data visualization become a part of our lives politically, socially, and culturally, rather than just being a tool at work..
A combination of a line graph comparing Pariza's and Zoeya's running totals in a Scrabble game and an illustration of a woman in a hijab sitting at a Scrabble board, looking pensive. Pariza's line is pink, and Zoeya's is black, with their names handwritten on the graph near their respective lines.C
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Cultivating Data Literacy with Board Games

बस हवा से भरे गुब्बारे हैं ये सुई चुभा दो तो फट जायेंगे।लोग गुस्से में Bomb नहीं बना करते !~Gulzar Rough translation of the above lines..
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Healthcare Insights Using Voice-Generated Data Visualizations

Dr. Erin Stevens collapses into her office chair after another hectic day at the clinic. She just spent 10 straight hours bouncing between patients without..
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I Stopped Using Box Plots: The Aftermath

I recently learned that my 2021 article about why I no longer use box plots is now the second-most-read article in Nightingale’s history🤯 (or, at..
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This Map Helps Fascists

The Size of Countries is Not Meaningful in Any SenseYou’ve surely seen this map or a variation of it somewhere on the internet. If, like..
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Building Community With Data and Visualization

Stumbling into a small peer support communityI arrived at Outlier 2021 eager to learn and explore. I was a few years into my transition from..
A holiday-themed infographic in the shape of two Christmas trees, comparing holiday tipping budgets for doorman and non-doorman buildings. The infographic uses bar charts styled as tree layers, differentiating responses from renters and owners for 2023 and 2024. The design incorporates festive colors like green and red with snowflakes in the background.I
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Insights from NYC’s Holiday Tipping Tradition

Every December, New Yorkers face a unique dilemma: the holiday tipping tradition. In buildings with doormen, supers (live-in maintenance staff), and porters (cleaning and maintenance..
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Healing Through Data Visualization

This project shows data visualization I used to reflect on my healing process and find closure after a traumatic event. I recorded the literal number..
The image features a stylized, layered design against a teal background. On the right side, three profiles overlap in a vertical composition, each depicted in contrasting hues. The largest, a dark silhouette, forms the backdrop, exuding mystery. In the middle layer, an older man with glasses is rendered in warm orange tones, suggesting experience or introspection. The foreground features a younger man holding a drink with a straw, depicted in muted red tones, hinting at a more immediate, casual presence. Behind the figures, faint fingerprint patterns create texture and reinforce a theme of identity or investigation. On the left side, partially visible textured bars resemble those from a bar chart, subtly blending data visualization elements into the design. The overall tone conveys a narrative of depth, complexity, and discovery.T
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Three Minutes and Forty Seconds: A Slow Horse Running

In Apple TV+’s Slow Horses, River Cartwright spends exactly 3 minutes and 40 seconds running in Season 1 alone. This observation started as a joke..

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A continuation of the timeline with global milestones like Margaret Thatcher becoming the UK’s first female prime minister (1979) and the passing of the Women’s Business Ownership Act in the U.S. (1988). The timeline connects events with curved lines and labels categorized by their focus areas.C
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Charting Progress: Mapping Women’s Advancement in Entrepreneurship and Financial Inclusion

In 1985–the year I was born–there were only two women holding the role of CEO at Fortune 500 companies. To date, 52 women now hold..
The image shows four grid visualizations demonstrating different distortion techniques. The top-left panel, labeled "Regular Grid," depicts a standard Cartesian grid with evenly spaced horizontal and vertical lines. The top-right panel, labeled "Fisheye in One Dimension," distorts horizontal grid lines to create a focused region while leaving vertical spacing unchanged. The bottom-left panel, labeled "Cartesian Fisheye View," applies a concentric distortion to the grid, emphasizing the center. Finally, the bottom-right panel, labeled "Polar Fisheye View," warps the grid into a circular shape, resembling a globe.D
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Distortion by Design

Distortion noun /dɪˈstɔːr.ʃən/ — A change to the intended or true meaning of something; a change to the original or natural shape of something; a..

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..
Illustration of a tombstone with a line chart dropping precipitously, with the letters WIP aboveD
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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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Dear Nightingale: It’s Natural

This article originally appeared in Issue 5 of Nightingale magazine. (Get your copy here!) This challenge is brought to you by data visualization artist Jessica Russo. ChallengeCreate a..
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No Pain (Points), No (Design) Gain: Strengthen Feedback by Making It About Their Needs

Feedback elevates work, but only when it is done right. If the feedback is personal—or solely about potential solutions—it can stand in the way of..
A visualization showing the primary stressors affecting Gen X, Gen Y, and Gen Z, represented as colorful, abstract shapes within silhouette profiles of each generation. Stressor categories such as "Health," "Finance," and "Interpersonal" are color-coded and vary in prominence across the generations, with accompanying text summarizing their life stage and main stress factors.T
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The XYZ of Work-Related Stress

How various stress factors show up in different generationsAccording to the 2024 State of the Global Workplace report by Gallup, people’s mental well-being has deteriorated..
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Bargaining, Bending, Breaking Boundaries: CEST-LA-VIZ Conference Highlights

RENDEZVOUS AT CEST-LA-VIZ ren·​dez·​vous [noun] — a meeting at an agreed time and place.Last year, the S-H-O-W Conference by Graphic Hunters was meant to be..
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A Note from the Program Manager of the 2024 Information is Beautiful Awards

As the Program Manager for the 2024 Information is Beautiful Awards, I am honored and thrilled to play a role in celebrating the artistry, innovation,..
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From Data to Art: Making “Rat Revolution”

In March 2024, we unveiled “Rat Revolution” at the Data Through Design exhibition. “Rat Revolution” can be described as a light sculpture or a physical..
An artistic cover design for a column titled 'The Mysterious Affair of Style.' The image features a black-and-white portrait of a historical woman wearing a detailed lace collar and pearl jewelry, humorously juxtaposed with a bright yellow backward baseball cap. The background is a vibrant purple with abstract yellow grid patterns. Text in bold black reads 'The Mysterious Affair of Style,' and smaller text at the bottom says, 'New column by DataCitron in Nightingale!' A tag at the top left corner states '#8,' and a yellow text box at the top center reads 'Good morning data.'G
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Good Morning Data #8 | The Mysterious Affair of Style

The Mysterious Affair of Style or “How do you (and should you in fact) find your style in data visualization?“It was the doom scrolling the..
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Diversity in the Dataviz Community: Ugly Truth of the White Man Index

Diversity isn’t just a buzzword—at least I hope it isn’t. It’s a crucial element driving business success in today’s competitive landscape. While many organizations tout..
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Core Dataviz Style Guide Components

Throughout my career, I’ve oscillated between working solo on data visualization projects and being a part of larger teams tasked with creating compelling visual stories..