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
Aug 25, 2020 • 10min
56: [Mini] 3 Ways to Enhance Your Legend
Chart legends are so key (ha!) to make your chart understandable, but you need to give it some thought and care. The goals of a good legend: informative and concise It shouldn't be a puzzle. So how can we enhance the default legend to be more informative and concise without becoming a puzzle? Let's jump into 3 ways to enhance your legend! Show notes
Jul 28, 2020 • 10min
BONUS: 3 Invisible Tools to Help You Create Faster
What are the invisible tools (i.e. processes or methods) that I use to help me create visualization more efficiently? I pinpointed 3 roadblocks that I encounter frequently, and in this episode, I share the invisible tools that I use to catapult over them and keep moving. Let's go!
Jun 9, 2020 • 55min
55: How to Get Your First Data Viz Freelance Project — Featuring Dr. Stephanie Evergreen
Are you interested in freelancing or consulting in data visualization? Being your own boss as a full-time freelancer has its own set of unique challenges, and of course, many benefits! But from the outside looking in, it's hard to know where to even start... How do you find clients? How do you know what to offer? How do you reach out and pitch to potential clients? How do you communicate the value that you bring and know what to charge? How do you make sure you end up getting paid?! There's so much! But don't worry, Dr. Stephanie Evergreen joins me today, and I asked her all the questions. Let's go!
May 5, 2020 • 30min
54: How to Find New Collaborators and Execute a Complex Project — Featuring Shirley Wu
In this episode, Shirley Wu shares the specific things that she looks for in potential collaborators, the steps she took to execute her innovative People of the Pandemic game, and how she overcame her moments of self-doubt under the mounting complexity of creating a game from scratch… Show notes
Mar 31, 2020 • 16min
53: How to Sidestep These 3 Common Sources of Frustration
You feel that mounting frustration in your body and you're about to lose your patience... what could have avoided this?! In this episode, I talk about 3 common sources of frustration and what you can do to sidestep them. Let's go! Show notes
Feb 18, 2020 • 18min
52: How to Keep Your Reader Engaged with Thoughtful Annotations — Featuring Alyssa Fowers
I've noticed that many of the really engaging graphics have something in common: really thoughtful annotations. Usually, we think of annotations as a way to communicate context (like the title, subtitle, data labels) or point out outliers or specific events. But what if we thought of annotations as a tool beyond just context. What if we could use annotations to keep the reader more engaged? In this episode, we'll learn about a recent project by Alyssa Fowers, where she visualized data about protests around the U.S. and the specific things she did to create annotations that made her project more engaging. Let's go! Show notes
Jan 28, 2020 • 15min
51: Our Advice to Data Viz Designers Just Starting Out
I started this show almost two years ago, and I've been asking everyone that I interview: what's your advice to data viz designers just starting out. Today, I gathered all their advice and wrapped up nicely into this one episode. Let's go! Show Notes
Dec 31, 2019 • 20min
50: How to Fill Your Data Viz Toolbox — a New Years Resolution that won't drive you crazy
Happy new year! It's time for goal-setting, right? One small thing you can do throughout the year that will make you a better information designer (and not drive you crazy) is focus on building your data viz toolbox. I've been filling my toolbox over these past 50 episodes, and while I'll never be done filling it, the more I fill it, the easier my job is. In this episode, I'll share with you the top 9 episodes that helped give me a structure for filling my toolbox. Here's to 2020! Show notes
Dec 10, 2019 • 8min
BONUS: A technique to find the underlying emotions in your project
Why do we care about finding the underlying emotion in our project? Because it can help guide us toward visualizing the data in a more meaningful way for our audience. It helps you hone in on their point of view and what they really want. In this bonus episode, I show a quick technique that I learned recently that helps me get to the underlying emotions quickly. Join my newsletter! (you'll get my guided brainstorming template in the welcome email, plus my top tips after each episode) Original data viz about DVS survey results Contagious by Jonah Berger Grafiti.io
Nov 19, 2019 • 15min
49: How to Communicate the Value of Visualizing Data - Planetarians Show the Way
Have you ever been asked the explain the value of visualizing data? I always jump to "it reveals insights you couldn't see before!" But while I was at the Data2Dome conference last month, I had a light-bulb moment. Revealing insights is just part of the puzzle… In this episode, I share stories of how the planetarium community is using data to engage scientists and the general public in really innovative ways, and then I pull all the pieces together to see our value in a whole new light. Show notes Data2Dome Tips to your inbox! Join my newsletter :)
