From the course: Data Visualization: A Lesson and Listen Series

Lesson: Finding inspiration

From the course: Data Visualization: A Lesson and Listen Series

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Lesson: Finding inspiration

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(inspiring music) - You can do data visualization by just clicking buttons mindlessly in your software. Okay, I have some data, now, which charts are clickable? Click, yay, I made a chart. Congratulations to me. I know you don't do it this way, you're not that thoughtless, but everyone does this sometimes to some degree. What's the difference between that and the best of the best data visualization? Work by people like Georgia Lupi and John Burn-Murdoch, and Federica Fragapane, and Nadieh Bremer, and Sonja Kuijpers, and more. The real difference is that they're going beyond basic charts, or when they are using basic charts, they're doing them very thoughtfully, very carefully, likely agonizing over every little decision. I share all kinds of suggestions about how to agonize every little decision throughout this series' lessons and in the rest of my LinkedIn Learning courses. But one of the best ways for you to learn is through inspiration. You should be looking at the work of those people I've listed and many more, and let me add a few others. Journalism is where the best work is coming from, so look at what the New York Times graphics team is doing, or the many others doing great work like Reuters, Axios, Washington Post, ProPublica, South China Morning Post, Wall Street Journal, NPR, and so many more. Seek out their graphics teams and actively follow them on social media to see what they're up to. Beyond journalism, other places to find great work is by reading the Data Visualization Society's online publication "Nightingale," and check out the annual Information Is Beautiful Awards, which is now managed by DVS as well. You'll find a constant and diverse supply of inspirational work there. Finally, keep listening in on this series, of course. I try to bring the best of the best here to talk about what they do, how they do it, and of course, showcase their amazing work along the way. And once you've been inspired, take those ideas and think about how they can be applied in your work. If you're a data journalist covering complex topics, you might be able to go really far afield and get very creative. If you're an IT worker reporting simple metrics to your boss, maybe you need to keep it a bit more traditional. Either way, explore the sources I've mentioned, and you won't be able to help but be inspired to do what you do more effectively. Next, I'll be speaking with Julie Brunet, who's a really creative designer and data visualization practitioner, and she has some great ideas about finding inspiration and data visualization from a few different perspectives. Join us.

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