PODCAST · technology
Data Viz Today
by 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.
Episodes
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101: Leaders don't need more data, they need interpretation — Featuring Morgan Depenbusch
Do you think your job is just to present the data? In this episode, we talk about why reporting numbers isn't enough and why your interpretation, context, and framing matter when communicating with leaders. Our guest, Morgan Depenbusch, is a data storytelling and data visualization expert who...
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100!!! Pick your dataviz aggregation by asking: What's the decision? — Featuring Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic & Mike Cisneros
When it comes to aggregating your data in your charts, it's hard to know what's overkill and what your reader actually needs. Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic and Mike Cisneros have an interesting approach where they want you to start with thinking about your audience and what decisions they need to make...
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99: You Can Make Better BANs! — Featuring Steve Wexler
Have you ever thrown a giant number at the top of your dashboard and hoped it did… something? Steve Wexler (yes, the guy who coined the term BAN, or Big Ass Number) joins me to teach you how to turn those big numbers into meaningful, context-rich moments that will make your user celebrate or…
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98: How to Hold Your Own in Stakeholder Discussions (even as a novice) — Featuring Bill Shander
In this episode, I'm joined by Bill Shander to talk about how to hold your own in stakeholder discussions in dataviz projects, even if you're just starting out. He shares practical techniques from his new book Stakeholder Whispering, including how to build credibility, ask better questions, and...
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97: How to Land Your First Data Job with the SPN Method — Featuring Avery Smith
In this episode, I'm joined by Avery Smith to talk about how to actually land a data job right now without getting ghosted by resume bots. He shares his SPN method: Skills, Portfolio, Networking. We get into how to build just enough skills, why personal projects matter way more than you think…
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96: NEXT QUESTION: A New Game to Hone Your Data Storytelling Expertise — Featuring Kat Greenbrook
In this episode, I'm trying out a brand-new game called Next Question to help you sharpen your data storytelling skills by exploring the kinds of clarifying questions experts ask when facing challenges. I'm joined by Kat Greenbrook, author of The Data Storyteller's Handbook, and together we…
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95: You Need to Try Something New to Be Someone New
In this episode, I share the introduction of my book, Chart Spark, to inspire you to take the first steps towards a more fulfilling career, whether you're trying to transition into dataviz or integrate more creativity into your work. I'll redefine what creativity means, share why you need it in...
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94: How to Give More Confident Data Presentations (even if you're an introvert) — Featuring Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
There's no way around it: If you can speak confidently about your dataviz work to other people, you'll make a bigger impact. But you're shy, nervous, an introvert, and not a natural speaker! That's ok. You CAN learn this skill. Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, a data storytelling expert, best-selling...
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93: How to Leverage Sports Analytics for a Standout Dataviz Portfolio — Featuring Shri Khalpada
Are you looking for ways to make your work stand out in a crowded industry, like sports? Or maybe looking for a topic with pretty clean data to create a portfolio project? In today's episode, we're chatting with Shri Khalpada, a D.C. area creative coder and Principal Software Engineer at Cleaning...
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BONUS: Insider Tips for Publishing Your First Dataviz Book
Are you ready to write a book? Or maybe see it in your future down the road? Well, I spent hours and hours researching the book publishing process, spoke with tons of authors about their experience, and then lived through it myself. I want to save you some time and share what I learned. Recently…
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92: How to Navigate a Dataviz Career in Mozambique — Featuring Charama Sulemane
Have you ever felt like you made a big career mistake? Like you completely chose the wrong college major or took the wrong job. Well, today we're chatting with Charama Sulemane, a data analyst at the United Nations Office for Project Services. But only a few years ago, he was a fresh graduate in...
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Welcome to Data Viz Today!
Data Viz Today, hosted by Alli Torban, is a friendly and insightful podcast for anyone interested in data visualization. It offers practical advice, showcases the latest tools and methods, and features inspiring stories from the field, aimed at analysts, journalists, and designers seeking to…
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91: AMA — Creativity, freelancing, dataviz process and more!
In this episode, I answer some common questions I've received lately about creativity, freelancing, dataviz process, and more. Let's go! What platforms would you join when on the look out for a network, freelance projects etc? I want to transition into a dataviz job but not sure where to start?...
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90: How to Come Up with Creative Ideas
In this episode, I'll share a concept and prompt from my NEW book CHART SPARK, and how I applied it to the library check-out receipt to develop a creative idea that uses dataviz to encourage people to go to the library more. Use this prompt in your work to come up with creative ideas! Let's go!…
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89: How Great Visualization Designers Think — with Alberto Cairo
In this episode, Alberto Cairo shares some common threads he's noticed among his dataviz students who go on to excel in this field and common traits he noticed while interviewing accomplished visualization designers for his new book The Art of Insight. Show notes:...
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BONUS: Wanna chat? ☕ I'm opening up my calendar!
Hey dataviz friend, my book is launching in early December (CHART SPARK), and after giving a workshop this morning that used the prompts from the book, I realized....chatting and brainstorming with other people is my happy place! So, do you wanna chat? Anything on your mind about dataviz careers,...
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88: 3 Ways to Monetize Your Data and Dataviz — with Dr. Barbara Wixom
In this episode, we explore Dr. Barbara Wixom's insights on the three main ways companies (or even freelancers) can monetize data and dataviz, drawing from her extensive research and the insights of her book, Data is Everybody's Business. She shares the patterns of successful data monetization...
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87: How to Navigate the Complexities of Neurodivergent Creativity — with Andy J. Pizza
As data people, we tend to be more logical and analytical, which makes navigating creativity's ambiguity a little tricky. So I called on Andy J. Pizza to help us out. To me, he is creativity personified — illustrator, author, podcaster, and more! He's worked with big clients like The New York…
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86: How to Find a Balance Between Clarity and Creativity
In this episode, I share the framework that helps me decide when to stick with "best practices" or try a new approach in my visualizations. We explore four key variables: the reader's time and patience, the need to capture attention, past struggles conveying a concept, and the designer's…
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85: How to transform science into clear and welcoming graphics — with Jen Christiansen
In this episode, we dive into the world of scientific visuals with Jen Christiansen, Senior Graphics Editor at Scientific American and author of the new book Building Science Graphics. Jen shares when to consider including visuals in your work, the power of "welcoming gestures", and the...
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84: How to use serendipity to fuel your experiments and innovation with Mike Brondbjerg
In this episode, we explore how to practice openness through a fun activity that combines serendipity and structure. London City Hall's Data Visualization and Information Design Lead, Mike Brondbjerg, shares how he creates beautiful pieces of art dictated by the roll of a dice, and how these...
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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...
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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:...
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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...
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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:...
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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...
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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…
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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...
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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...
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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…
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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...
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74: What It's Like Being a Data Journalist — Featuring Danielle Alberti
Today, we have Danielle Alberti on the show to share a behind-the-scenes look at how to become and be a data journalist! She's the editor of the data visualization team at Axios and shares: What's a typical day as a data journalist Which skills are important What she looks for in a resume and...
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73: 3 Ways to Analyze Time Series Data Without Losing Nuance — Featuring Zan Armstrong
Today, we have Zan Armstrong with us to share 3 simple alternatives to aggregating time series data in the usual ways so you don't lose important nuance. It's so easy to get pushed into aggregating data a certain way by our software so being aware of some alternatives is really helpful when…
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BONUS: Top Tips on Creating a Data Viz Brief
I walk you through my process for creating a data viz brief and how to use it! If you're interested in a short training and getting a copy of the data viz brief template that I use with my clients, shoot me an email with the subject line "INTERESTED!" and if there's enough interest, I'll host a...
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72: How to Add Strategy Sessions to Your Data Viz Workflow — Featuring Liz Hatherley
When you're kicking off a data viz project, do you have a series of questions that you ask to uncover the goals, audience, and data? Want to know how to kick it up a notch? I know I do! Recently, I had the pleasure of working with Liz Hatherley, whose whole expertise is wrapped up in pulling this...
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71: Demystifying the Freelance Dataviz Process
Join the Elevate Membership Program! I invited a few of the best dataviz designers and freelancers I know on the show today (Duncan Geere, Gabrielle Merite, and Will Chase) and we absolutely stuffed the hour with as many dataviz freelancing tips as we possibly could! In this episode, we demystify...
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70: My 3 Biggest Lessons Learned in 2021
Today I'm calling out the biggest things I learned in the past year. There's just something about naming it that helps me remember to keep doing it in the new year and even how I can take it up a notch in the next year. In this episode, I'll highlight the three biggest lessons I learned this…
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69: 3 Tips for Solving Problems with Networks — Featuring Dr. Keita Broadwater
Have you ever reimagined your tabular data set as a network and discovered new insights? Networks are an obvious choice if you're visualizing someone's social network, for example, but there are so many more possibilities! In this episode, Dr. Keita Broadwater will explain what a network is…
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68: How to Future-Proof Your Data Viz Career — Featuring Dr. Jonathan Schwabish
How do we future-proof our data viz careers? What skills are important now and 10 years from now as software companies come and go and $5 dashboards pop up on Fiverr? In this episode, Dr. Jonathan Schwabish and I talk about what our consultant work looks like right now and how we're working to...
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67: How to Use 3D in Innovative Ways — Featuring Dr. Tyler Morgan-Wall
Have you written off 3D as a big no-no? Not yet! In this episode, Dr. Tyler Morgan-Wall shares his latest innovations and impactful use cases of his Rayshader package in R. Take a listen and be amazed at the samples in the show notes! (you can use Rayshader and R for free!)...
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66: How to Make Music with Data — Featuring Duncan Geere and Miriam Quick
Have you heard of data sonification? It's the process of turning data into sound, and there's a novel podcast out now called Loud Numbers where Duncan Geere and Miriam Quick introduce a data story, explain how they sonified it, and then play the sonification they've created. In this episode, we...
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65: Why You Don't Need to be a Data Viz Unicorn to Have a Fulfilling Career— Featuring Amanda Makulec
It's easy to think you have to be the master at D3 and also have the design eye of an artist in order to have a fulfilling data viz career, but that has not been my experience, nor the experience of my guest today Amanda Makulec who is the Data Visualization Society's Executive Director. She's...
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64: 3 Common Reporting Mistakes + How to Overcome Them — Featuring Ann K. Emery
How can you take a dense, technical report and turn it into something people will actually read? In this episode, Ann K. Emery shares the top tips that she recommends to her clients that have been bringing reports to life for years! Show notes: https://dataviztoday.com/shownotes/64
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63: How to Integrate Accessibility into Your Data Viz Workflow — Featuring Frank Elavsky
What can we do to make our data visualizations more accessible to more people, especially those with disabilities? In this episode, Frank Elavsky shares how we can integrate accessibility into our current data visualization workflow. It's a skill just like anything else, so let's get practicing!...
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62: How Much Money Do Data Visualization Professionals Make?
Ah, money. The topic everyone wants to hear about but no one wants to talk about! It's a complicated and nuanced subject because there are so many variables that factor into someone's compensation, but... In this episode, I'll share some highlights from the responses in the Data Visualization...
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61: 3 Insights From a Personal Project That Blew Up — Featuring Nadieh Bremer and Shirley Wu
What are the ingredients of a successful personal project? How do you even know what topic to make your personal project about? What constraints make for a successful personal project? In this episode, data visualization designers Nadieh Bremer and Shirley Wu share insights they learned from...
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BONUS: 3 Steps to Feel More Confident in Your Data Visualization Process
Do you feel lost when you're creating a chart? Are you feeling around in the dark with every new project? Confidence comes with practice, but you can also take a few smart steps, in the beginning, to create an effective chart. I've interviewed top designers for years on my podcast while creating...
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60: The Best Data Visualizations of 2020 — Featuring Lea Pica
The last episode of the year! In this episode, I have a little data viz tennis match with fellow podcaster Lea Pica. We found the most inspiring visualizations in four categories: climate change, COVID-19, racial injustice, and the US presidential election. Lea and I bounce back and forth...
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59: How Art Direction Can Make Your Work More Effective — Featuring Gabrielle Mérite
Have you ever created a successful graphic that really hit the mark and you felt like you were just spot on? Do you know how you can consistently replicate that feeling? If not, I have an idea of what you might be missing... Art direction! In this episode, we'll learn when you need art direction...
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58: How to Turn Data Into an Experience — Featuring Miriam Quick & Stefanie Posavec
Have you ever felt frustrated when you're trying to express important data to someone? Do the bars and pies just seem to fall flat? Try turning the data into an experience! In this episode, I try to bottle up Miriam Quick and Stefanie Posavec's creative genius that they poured into their new book...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
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.
HOSTED BY
Alli Torban
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Data Viz Today have?
Data Viz Today currently has 113 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Data Viz Today about?
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....
How often does Data Viz Today release new episodes?
Data Viz Today publishes regularly with 113 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Data Viz Today?
You can listen to Data Viz Today on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Data Viz Today?
Data Viz Today is created and hosted by Alli Torban.
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