Data Viz Today

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 :)

It's no secret that creating two charts to show different views on a data set can be very powerful. But can connecting them somehow make it even more impactful? In this episode, we learn how Mohamad Waked used two charts with a captivating connective tissue to shine a light on a very important issue happening in the world right now. Show notes: www.dataviztoday.com/shownotes/48

It's no secret that some charts lie. You might be thinking that only a subset of people who maliciously create a chart to serve their interests are guilty of this, but the truth is, there are many ways in which a chart can lie. You can make a mistake in your design, or use data that's insufficient, or make conclusions that aren't accurate. I'm guilty of this, and guess what… so is Alberto Cairo! He wrote a whole book on How Charts Lie based on his experience creating and reading charts. In this episode, I finally got to ask Alberto's opinion on some burning questions that I have, like how he personally reads charts to assess their quality, how he'd structure a graphics team today to make sure they create quality graphics, and where he thinks we'll be fighting misinformation in the coming years. Most importantly, he explains why we shouldn't throw up our hands and give up on charts even when some mislead us. Show Notes Alberto's book How Charts Lie Follow Alberto on Twitter Follow Data Viz Today on Twitter Follow Katherine Mellow on Twitter