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Milán Janosov

A Network Map of The Witcher

The Witcher, a fantasy novel series by Andrzej Sapkowski, has inspired multiple computer games and was even launched on Netflix in 2019, with the latest..

Vladimir Laptev

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..

Erica Gunn

Embrace the Challenge to Beat Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome came up as a common struggle in October’s Topics in Data Visualization discussion about education on the DVS Slack channel. When talking about..

Simone Betito

REVIEW: Edith Young’s Color Scheme Is the Whimsical Data Visualization Book We Need Right Now

Color Scheme, An Irreverent History of Art and Pop Culture in Color Palettes is not your typical data visualization book. It may be due to..

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Claire Santoro
January 13, 2022

Getting to know… Jarrett C. Hurms

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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Theresa-Marie Rhyne
January 12, 2022

Very Peri Pantone 2022 for Your Visualizations

In early December 2021, Very Peri was announced as the 2022 Pantone Color of the Year. Today, let’s explore how to integrate this new color..
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Kristin Briney
January 11, 2022

Crafting a COVID Visualization: How I Processed Pandemic Anxiety and Grief with Yarn

I spent December 2020 recovering from COVID. I got sick via an outbreak at my children’s daycare during the third U.S. COVID wave that overwhelmed..
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Evelina Judeikytė
January 7, 2022

Send Us Your Lightning Talks!

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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Vladimir Laptev
January 6, 2022

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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Danièle Gibney
January 5, 2022

Crossing into Datavis

For the past year or so, I’ve been using cross stitch as a medium to develop my interest in data visualisation. Here’s a run-down of..
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Erica Gunn
January 4, 2022

Embrace the Challenge to Beat Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome came up as a common struggle in October’s Topics in Data Visualization discussion about education on the DVS Slack channel. When talking about..
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Milán Janosov
December 23, 2021

A Network Map of The Witcher

The Witcher, a fantasy novel series by Andrzej Sapkowski, has inspired multiple computer games and was even launched on Netflix in 2019, with the latest..
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Goof van de Winkel
December 22, 2021

ENCORE: 14 Takeaways from the Latest S-H-O-W Event

In the last year, Graphic Hunters has moved the S-H-O-W event about data visualisation to the virtual stage. The overall topic of the latest event..
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Rajesh Sigdel
December 21, 2021

Visualizing Hispaniola

With the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, the kidnapping of 17-foreign born missionaries, and a destructive earthquake which left thousands dead, Haiti is once again..
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Theresa-Marie Rhyne
December 16, 2021

My Journey in Un-Colorizing a Data Visualization

In this writing, I discuss my adventure in transitioning my “Process of Colorizing a Data Visualization” to a Greyscale illustration. I learned that it was actually a..
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Nick Desbarats
December 15, 2021

Does Data Visualization Have Rules? Or Is It All Just “It Depends”?

tl;dr: In the data visualization community, there are those who believe that there are universal rules such as “Never use pie charts”, or, “Always include..
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Erin Waldron
December 14, 2021

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..
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Evelina Judeikytė
December 14, 2021

Register for Outlier!

You can now get your ticket for the global virtual Outlier 2022 event!  Like last year, we offer multiple pricing options because we don’t want..
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Simone Betito
December 9, 2021

REVIEW: Edith Young’s Color Scheme Is the Whimsical Data Visualization Book We Need Right Now

Color Scheme, An Irreverent History of Art and Pop Culture in Color Palettes is not your typical data visualization book. It may be due to..

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Spotlight on Community

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Amanda Makulec
December 8, 2021

What Does the Work of a DVS Board Member Look Like?

We’re excited to be accepting candidates for six open roles on the DVS Board for the 2022-2023 term. You can learn all about the nomination..
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Julia Schaeman
December 7, 2021

REVIEW: Diaries of the Evergreen Data Academy

I first heard of Stephanie Evergreen in 2012 when I finished my graduate studies and moved to Atlanta, GA. Our company was bringing her in..
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Elle Gover
December 2, 2021

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..
hand sewn venn diagram showing love of tartan as the intersection of passion for patterns, fall/winter, and sewingT
Claire Santoro
December 1, 2021

Three Questions With… Julie Brunet (aka datacitron)

This content originally appeared as part of The ‘Gale, Nightingale’s biweekly newsletter. Building on her former position as a literature teacher and five years as..
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Mary Aviles
November 30, 2021

Curiouser and Curiouser: Crafting Questions and Attending to the Answers

Adjacent skills—some of which are referred to as “soft” skills (such an inappropriately diminutive moniker)—can serve you both personally and professionally. My goal in this..
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Gulrez Khan
November 23, 2021

Drawing Data with Kids

For many of us, the pandemic has merged the two worlds of “home” and “office.” On the rare occasions that I used to work from..
Header image from the IEEE VIS virtual showing the conference dates 24-29 Octobre 2021H
Noëlle Rakotondravony, Matt Brehmer & Yiren Ding
November 18, 2021

Highlights from IEEE VIS 2021

For the data visualization community all around the world, the last week of October was marked by IEEE VIS 2021. This was the second year..
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Amy Cesal, J. K. Dru & Jill A. Brown
November 17, 2021

Announcing the 2021 Data Visualization SOTI Survey Challenge!

The Data Visualization Society is pleased to announce a two-month challenge, focused on the results of the 2021 Data Visualization State of the Industry (SOTI)..
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Amanda Makulec
November 17, 2021

Five Questions to Ask When Starting Out in Dataviz at a Consulting Firm

Within the Data Visualization Society we frequently talk about the growing availability of full-time data visualization opportunities, including working as a data visualization consultant. If..
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Theresa-Marie Rhyne
November 16, 2021

Color Scheming from a Vintage Visualization

In this writing, I discuss how to build fresh color schemes from a vintage visualization.  I use a bubble chart created in the 1890s as..
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Oscar So
November 11, 2021

“What are you going to write for your second?” – An interview with Kenneth Field

Recently, I had the chance to interview Kenneth Field about his newly published book, Thematic Mapping: 101 Inspiring Ways to Visualise Empirical Data. Kenneth is..
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Claire Santoro
November 10, 2021

​​Communicating Climate Risk: Insights from the IPCC Information Design Team

This week marks the end of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), which is being billed as “the world’s best last chance to get..
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Andy Krackov
November 9, 2021

Dashboards Are Not Data Stories

A few months ago, a longtime client asked if my data communication consultancy could build out a dashboard display for health collaboratives in California doing..
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Nick Desbarats
November 4, 2021

I’ve Stopped Using Box Plots. Should You?

tl;dr: After having explained how to read box plots to thousands of workshop participants, I now believe that they’re poorly conceived (box plots, not workshop..
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Ilena Peng
November 3, 2021

What Data Visualization and Analysis Taught One Activist about Airbnb’s Impact on Communities

Activist and technologist Murray Cox has been described as a “Lone Data Whiz” who is Airbnb’s “Public Enemy No. 1 in New York.” These monikers..
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Evelina Judeikytė
November 3, 2021

Sponsor Outlier!

Does your organization value data visualization? Please consider sharing this message with them!  Outlier – the global virtual data visualization conference – will be back..
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Analytics of Avant-Garde: How Soviet Artists Designed Data

Internet research teaches us that people don’t read a text, but scan it. Fonts, pictures, and charts are used to highlight important ideas. A hundred..
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Early Career Corner: Meet Dzifa Amexo

I feel so lucky to be the Early Career Director at DVS: I get to talk to all sorts of people about data visualization and..
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Information Empowerment Bridges Expertise to Amplify Impact, Part 2

Part two of a six-part series on the application of design thinking for data practitioners, business intelligence analysts, researchers, and anyone working with data. Catch..
Messy backside of a hand embroidered chartD
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Datos y Técnica: Reflexiones sobre Visualizar los Datos a Mano

Read this article in English here. Antes de hacer Visualización de datos con Tableau, Illustrator, R y todos los softwares que nos facilitan hacer Dataviz,..
Tidy hand embroidered bar chartD
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Data and Technique: Reflections on Visualizing by Hand

Lee este artículo en español aquí. Before people began creating data visualizations with Tableau, Illustrator, R, and all the software that makes it easy for..
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Plan Planet: Part 6 of a Year-Long Personal Data Project

This is the sixth installment of a year-long data visualization journey. If you want to read the fifth part before jumping in, here’s the article..
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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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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: Jorge Camões

Leia este artigo em portugues aqui. Have you ever made an embarrassing mistake in a data visualization? Did you utterly fail to meet your client’s or..
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How I Survived Being a New Mum Using My Dataviz Goggles

I found out that I was pregnant with my first child in the middle of the first lockdown. I was sitting at my favourite spot..
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Five Steps to a Diverging and Contrasting Color Scheme for Data Visualization

In this writing, I discuss the similarities between a Complementary Color Harmony and a Diverging Color Scheme for data visualization. The final results can look..
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REVIEW: Michelle Rial’s New Book, Maybe This Will Help, Feels Like a Hug From a Friend (With Charts!!)

If there’s one thing that the last 18 months have shown us, it’s that we are all Going Through Some Stuff. Maybe that’s dealing with..
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Print Subscription Starts Today!

We are one step closer to Nightingale’s quest toward establishing a print magazine. After announcing our intentions at the beginning of the year, today we..
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Cognitive Load as a Guide: 12 Spectrums to Improve Your Data Visualizations

The internet is brimming with tidy lists of data visualization best practices, and their definitive confidence can be quite comforting. But at the end of..
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REVIEW: “Data Visualization: Storytelling” on LinkedIn Learning

After decades of dancing between a natural affinity for engineering and an insatiable obsession with visual aesthetics, I’ve recently landed in the professional field of..
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Why Mental Models Matter in Data Visualization

My three year-old son once told me, “I know how computers work: when you press a button on the keyboard, it pulls a string inside..
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An Insight-Informed View of DVS Education Opportunities

In July 2021, I joined the DVS Board as the Education Director. Since then, I’ve been doing some initial research to get clear on what..
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How to Iterate on a CDC Health Advisory Graphic

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has had its hands full for the last year and a half. It’s an agency full of talented,..
Screenshot of course landing page with image of Federica Fragapane holding a data visualizationR
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REVIEW: “Data Visualization and Information Design: Create a Visual Model,” a Domestika course by Federica Fragapane

If you are reading Nightingale, there is a chance you have just discovered the world of data visualization and information design. If that is the..
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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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THE KIDS’ TABLE: Draw Along Dataviz

Welcome to Draw Along Dataviz!This article is part of The Kids’ Table section on kids dataviz. This section of Nightingale is filled with mini-lessons and..
Outlier conference provides inspirational talks, to meet and connect with others, and for all attendees to have a voice. The conference will also reflect and celebrate the global visualization community.
Check it out!

DVS Fireside Chats

Archives

Information Empowerment - part 1I
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Information Empowerment is a Universal Theory for Data Design, Part 1

Part one of a six-part series on the application of design thinking for data practitioners, business intelligence analysts, researchers, and anyone working with data.Jason comes..
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CoViz-19 Part 2: A Personal Visualisation of the UK’s ‘Roadmap to Freedom’

During the first UK national lockdown in 2020, I documented and visualised my experience of living alone for 75 days from April to June 2020...
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Early Career Corner: Meet Rosmery Izaguirre

The Data Visualization Society Early Career Committee is launching the Early Career Corner, a series of conversations with practitioners in the beginnings of their data..
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What the DVS Team Did on Summer Vacation

Ever wonder what’s happening behind the scenes at DVS? What are the Board and Committees working on? What’s coming up soon?Here’s a bit about what..
Book cover: Information Design for the Common GoodI
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Information Design for the Common Good: Behind the Scenes with Author Courtney Marchese

As an environmental analyst, I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about how to use information design to help solve societal problems. I think..
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Making Sense of Satellite Data, An Open Source Workflow: 2. Pre-processing Data with QGIS

There is more satellite data available now than ever before, but it still takes a little bit of work to convert the raw data into..
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Getting Physical with Perceptual Uniform Color Schemes: The Journey from HCL to CMYK and Pantone

In this writing, I discuss how to move your data visualization created with a Hue Chroma Luminance (HCL) color scheme to a physical or hard..
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Outlier is back in 2022 – Apply to speak!

This February, Data Visualization Society hosted the first annual Outlier Online with nearly 1,000 attendees, and 57 curated speakers. As we gear up for the next..
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REVIEW: Mapping Affinities by Dario Rodighiero

Influence has consequential implications. Consider Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger’s findings from his book, Contagious:  “A word-of-mouth conversation by a new customer leads to an..
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Today’s the Day: Take the DVS State of the Industry Survey and Live Your Best Life

Greetings from the Data Visualization Society, your global hub for connecting with resources, experts, peers, and data while expanding your own network and data visualization..
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REVIEW: Data Vis Book Club

Historically, I’ve been great at buying books to stage my shelves, but less good at reading them. In 2021, I’ve made a conscious effort to..