Data viz tools

12 bookmarks
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Data Viz Project
Data Viz Project
Very clever data viz website where you can match the types of possible data viz to the structure of your data. Use the Input menu.
Data Viz Project
FlowingData
FlowingData
Nathan Yau's beautiful website (see his books in the book recommendations) with endless examples of how to visualise your data. It will either inspire you or make you want to give up with the sheer quantity and quality of the content.
FlowingData
Information is Beautiful
Information is Beautiful
The companion website to three books on infographics by David McCandless. He runs workshops and has an interesting blog you can sign up to.
Information is Beautiful
The Data Visualisation Catalogue
The Data Visualisation Catalogue
As it says, this is a catalogue of generic types of viz. Useful when you want to know what a Marimekko chart looks like.
The Data Visualisation Catalogue
Chart Type | Chartopedia | AnyChart
Chart Type | Chartopedia | AnyChart
An excellent resource for people wanting to code charts from scratch on the web. Each chart example comes with a chunk of JavaScript, a piece of CSS and an HTML container. Some of the names of the chart types are a bit eccentric, for example they call a scatter chart a 'dot chart'.
Chart Type | Chartopedia | AnyChart
Xenographics – Weird but (sometimes) useful charts
Xenographics – Weird but (sometimes) useful charts
The name says it all really: it's where the exotic beasts of data viz live. This is a good place to look if your data doesn't seem to fit the common patterns. It will show you what BioFabric Charts, Manhattan Plots, Divided Edge Bundlings and UnTangle Maps are. But when you are still looking at it at 3am, go to bed, for goodness sake.
Xenographics – Weird but (sometimes) useful charts
Discover
Discover
If you are working with Tableau, this is the place for beautiful examples for your inspiration. (Also a great place to copy the examples and tweak them for your own use. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone.)
Discover
Flourish | Data Visualization & Storytelling
Flourish | Data Visualization & Storytelling
Flourish is a data viz platform that integrates with (and is owned by) Canva, a software as a service graphics platform. It is very pretty and is big on animation. These people are pushing the boundaries and I expect them to be much better known in 3-5 years.
Flourish | Data Visualization & Storytelling
Home | Charticulator
Home | Charticulator
This is just a type of Power BI visualization. But it is so customisable that it might as well be an application within the Power BI application. If you work with Power BI a lot then it is worth spending a day or two understanding how to use it.
Home | Charticulator
Creator Hub
Creator Hub
Visual Capitalist is a website that regularly publishes posts that contain interesting visualisations of data. If you are really serious about data viz as a career, you can join their programme as a contributor here.
Creator Hub
Spurious correlations
Spurious correlations
A brilliant web page by Tyler Vigen that gives examples of the spurious connections that happen completely by chance in a large dataset. A warning against the dangers of data dredging that I bring up on every data viz course I teach. Did you know that per capita cheese consumption correlates with the number of people who died by becoming entangled in their bedsheets?
Spurious correlations