

Data Viz Today
Alli Torban
Helping you become a more effective information designer.
You want to create effective data visualizations. That's hard work. There are so many decisions to make, like chart type, annotations, and color!
Will this podcast help?
Host and fellow data viz designer Alli Torban is in the trenches with you. She shares the latest tools and methods that she's discovered while on the job and interviewing top designers.
If you're an analyst, journalist, or designer who wants to hone your skills with specific tactics, then this show could be just what you need.
You want to create effective data visualizations. That's hard work. There are so many decisions to make, like chart type, annotations, and color!
Will this podcast help?
Host and fellow data viz designer Alli Torban is in the trenches with you. She shares the latest tools and methods that she's discovered while on the job and interviewing top designers.
If you're an analyst, journalist, or designer who wants to hone your skills with specific tactics, then this show could be just what you need.
Episodes
Mentioned books

5 snips
Jan 10, 2023 • 8min
83: Can you X-ray dataviz?
What's it mean to X-ray a dataviz? This is my new method to make sure I learn from my dataviz inspiration and organize it in a way that helps me use it later. In this episode, I'll share what it is and how you can X-ray dataviz too. Let's go! Show notes: https://dataviztoday.com/shownotes/83 Join my newsletter: https://dataviztoday.com/newslettersignup

Dec 21, 2022 • 32min
82: How to use your inspiration with Gabrielle Mérite (Creativity Mini-Series)
We know that we're supposed to gather inspiration, but then what? Gabrielle Mérite, a senior data visualization designer at Pentagram, shares what to do with your inspiration to put it to work for you! Join my newsletter! https://dataviztoday.com/newslettersignup Show notes: https://dataviztoday.com/shownotes/82

Nov 22, 2022 • 59min
BONUS: How to build habits and rituals that support your creative practice
Why are habits/rituals important to your creative practice and what are some examples? Duncan Geere, Will Chase, and I share what's been most impactful to our dataviz practice! Shownotes / watch video: https://blog.elevatedataviz.com/the-elevate-dataviz-show-6 RJ Andrew's creative rituals infographic: https://infowetrust.com/project/routines

Nov 1, 2022 • 31min
81: Going off the beaten path with Neil Richards (Creativity Mini-Series)
How do you approach creativity for personal projects vs business intelligence? That's our big creativity question today for Neil Richards. Neil Richards is the author of the new book Questions in Dataviz, Lead Business Intelligence Analyst at JLL, and four-time Tableau Visionary. Show notes: https://dataviztoday.com/shownotes/81

Oct 11, 2022 • 26min
80: How to start a creative project with Manuel Canales (Creativity Mini-Series)
We're exploring creativity in information design from the perspective of amazingly creative people in the field! Let's hear how Manuel Canales, the graphics assignment editor at the Washington Post and previously the senior graphics editor at National Geographic, gets the most out of his creativity. How he approaches the pressure of a new project has changed the way I work! Let's go… Show notes

Sep 6, 2022 • 32min
79: Don't exceed your audience's patience with Marcelo Duhalde (Creativity Mini-Series)
We're exploring creativity in information design from the perspective of amazingly creative people in the field! Let's hear how Marcelo Duhalde, the Associate Creative Director at the South China Morning Post, approaches creativity. We dive into how he defines creativity, what his process is like, what kills his creativity, and more! Show notes

Aug 16, 2022 • 37min
78: Creativity is a risky act with Duncan Geere (Creativity Mini-Series)
We're exploring creativity in information design from the perspective of amazingly creative people in the field! Let's hear how Duncan Geere approaches creativity. We dive into how he defines creativity, how he gets the most out of his creativity, and more! Duncan Geere is an information designer living in Sweden who works with graphics, words, and sound. He's one-half of the loud numbers, data sonification podcast and studio. And one-quarter of the Elevate data viz learning community. Duncan is always surprising me with his creative data sonification experiments, and he's also a really deep thinker. So I knew he'd have some interesting answers to my questions about creativity and he did not disappoint! Show notes Volunteer to be a Beta reader for my new book!

Aug 9, 2022 • 32min
77: What daily practice looks like with Mesa Schumacher (Creativity Mini-Series)
We're exploring creativity in information design from the perspective of amazingly creative people in the field! If it's not a magical process, then what is it? Let's hear how Mesa Schumacher approaches creativity. Mesa Schumacher is a science artist currently living in Fiji who specializes in communicating complex ideas through illustration, infographics, and animation. Mesa's work can be found in National Geographic and Scientific American, on signage at the National Zoo, in academia, and on giant puzzles! We dive into how she defines creativity, what her routines are, what kills her creativity, how she presents creative ideas to clients…and more! Shownotes Volunteer to be a Beta reader for my creativity book!

Aug 2, 2022 • 35min
76: Creativity is a spectrum with Andy Kirk (Creativity Mini-Series)
We're exploring creativity in information design from the perspective of amazingly creative people in the field! If it's not a magical process, then what is it? Let's hear how Andy Kirk approaches creativity. We dive into how he defines creativity, what his routines are, what kills his creativity, how he presents creative ideas to clients, where he finds inspiration…and more! Shownotes Volunteer to be a Beta reader for my creativity book!

Jul 26, 2022 • 22min
75: Change your space to change your mind with Stefanie Posavec (Creativity Mini-Series)
Today, I'm launching a mini-series all about creativity in information design. If you're like me and came from a data background, communicating information in creative ways can feel a bit like a magical process, so over this series, I'll invite creative information designers and dive into their process: What are their routines, what kills their creativity, how do they present creative ideas to others…and more! Let's hear how Stefanie Posavec approaches creativity in information design… Show notes: https://dataviztoday.com/shownotes/75 Stefanie Posavec's work Sign up to be a Beta reader for my new book on creativity in information communication!


