I started visualizing data back at the National Geographic Society back in the late 1990s. A lot has changed since then. I took what I learned there — visual storytelling and infographic design — and applied it to my new world and new company Down Under.
I was one of the first to bring infographics to Australia. The problem was it was too early. No one at that time understood the power of that type of visual data and storytelling. Believe it or not, “What is an infographic?” was a typical question.
Fast forward to the present day, infographics are everywhere. And infographics are everywhere in terms of quality and sophistication. Bad ones outnumber the good.
Long ago, I moved up the “food chain” and stopped selling and designing infographics for clients. I like to learn and challenge myself for the ‘next thing.’
This came with the massive growth of business intelligence and dashboards.
I was at the first Tableau roadshow in Melbourne, Australia. The speaker from Tableau asked the audience of a thousand or so attendees, “Who here is currently using our product?” Roughly one in ten hands went up. I spent the rest of that presentation changing my generic dashboard design page, sprinkling the keyword “Tableau” liberally about it.
Since then, Microsoft Power BI has overtaken Tableau, both in client interest and in functionality. I now design in both.
In the early days of the BI revolution when I was consulting with Marriott Hotels in Hong Kong, I saw a need for data visualization style guides. Too many dashboards are created without a design philosophy, without a common design language, and without the proper attention to color theory, typography, grid systems, and user experience (UX) design. Since then, my data visualization style guides are in operation inside great companies such as Mercedes-Benz in Germany, Intel in San Francisco, BlackRock in New York, and Telstra in Australia. I do more every year, expanding the range and depth of what they cover.
What’s next in data visualization? I think you know where this is going: Artificial intelligence or A.I.
Where am I going with the Datalabs Agency? Yep. Same answer.