Picture perfect dataviz

20 minutes packed with examples that use photographs as a dataviz tool. A combination of philosophy and practical frameworks. Originally delivered virtually at Outlier 2022 in April 2022.

Frameworks

The grid - for comparisons or to show scale

• A window to Delhi’s pollution / Reuters Graphics
• Dollar Street / Gapminder
• Figures behind the faces / Reuters Graphics
• Heroin: Killer of a generation / The Palm Beach Post

Before and after - For comparisons across time

• Dixie Fire / Maxar Technologies

The composite - To show movement over time

• Movements in Pole Vaulting (1884) / Étienne-Jules Marey
• Pole Vault (1885) / Thomas Eakins via Charles Bregler’s Thomas Eakins Collection
• Pole Vault (1964) / Harold Edgerton
• Frame by Frame, Moves That Made Simone Biles Unbeatable / The New York Times

The stack - To show change over time

• Time in Motion / Fong Qi Wei
• Face of a nation / Güney Soykan
• The Sunday Times 2013 Rich List / Grey London
• What tree rings reveal about America’s megadrought / Alvin Chang for The Guardian

The average - To show a common trend

• The average Indian PM / Pixa Naut
• The average American athelete / Brandon Liu
• Tens days on Tinder / Pierre Buttin

The construction - To make the audience notice

• A plateful of plastic / Reuters Graphics
• These vehicles are carrying 69 people (1965) / Heinz Zinram for London Transport
• Trash or treasure: Can you tell what can and cannot be recycled? / The Straits Times
• Books read v/s bought / Kirti Vardhan

Books

• Photoviz / Nicholas Feltron
• On Photography / Susan Sontag
• Stopping Time: The Photographs of Harold Edgerton