Gridlines >>> axes Almost always, gridlines are better than axes. At least for vertical axes. I admit, vertical axes are the default option, and they have been around for centuries, so they are very well known. But your typical vertical axis also has some downsides. 1/15

Serendipity: sometimes the best discoveries happen by chance. 🌱 While browsing a random library in a coworking space in Berlin, I stumbled upon "Obstbau in Wort und Bild": a completely unknown, but beautifully illustrated book on fruit cultivation. 1/3

Michael Friendly & Howard Wainer clearly love graphs. But "A History of Data Visualization & Graphic Communication" isn’t just about graphs — it’s about the stories behind them: the context, people, new measurements that made them necessary, and the discoveries they enabled. 1/3

Some charts are more powerful than others. And Sankey diagrams are among the most powerful of all. Here's one of the examples I really love: it shows an entire country’s energy balance for a year: every source, every use, imports, exports, losses, even the exact numbers... 1/3

✈️ Heading back home after an engaging 2 days in Berlin… This week I was kindly invited by 50Hertz to contribute to their Hackathon, where experts from across Europe gathered to tackle the question: how to bridge the gap between electricity markets and system operations? 1/4

📘 When the book "Storytelling with Data" first came out, it changed the way many of us thought about graphs. It's not about flashy tools or exotic chart types; it's about clear, practical principles that anyone can apply. Even if you don't want to leave Excel! 1/5

Very few charts are famous enough to have their own Wikipedia page. In climate studies there are the hockey stick graph and warming stripes. The energy sector also has one: the duck curve. It's one of the rare charts that jumped from engineering papers into public debate. 1/5

Most reports have boring, or downright confusing charts. CREG’s Monitoring Report = 150 pages of clear, beautiful visuals. The secret? 🔹 Clever annotations 🔹 Small multiples 🔹 Smart chart choices I broke down the lessons here: baryon.be/report-visua...

📊 Visual journalism often takes weeks to produce, even though a similar written article may only take a day or two. Jonas Oesch takes a closer look at a typical visual story to uncover why it takes so long to produce and what can be done to speed up the process. nightingaledvs.com/why-visual-j...

Cool job alert! DNB (De Nederlandsche Bank - the Dutch national bank) is looking for an information designer to translate complex economic and societal topics into impactful visual stories! www.werkenbijdnb.nl/vacatures/in...

If you're looking for color combinations but are out of inspiration, you can check out the official colors of the International Chronostratigraphic Chart. A beautiful palette spanning over 4 billion years! All details and color codes can be found at stratigraphy.org/chart

🎙️ Just updated my list of data visualization podcasts for 2025 Perfect for learning, sparking new ideas, and hearing from voices shaping the field. Check out the updated lineup here: baryon.be/data-visuali... Did I miss any #dataviz podcasts? Let me know!

Hey, I'd like to meet you! In 2 weeks, I'll be in Berlin for a workshop. I have some free time on Wed 13/8 (1-5 pm), and on Thu 14/8 (evening). Anyone from the #dataviz family who wants to meet up for a ☕ or a 🍺? Let me know! Picture: my last visit to Berlin - 5 years ago!

📚 My summer reading list for 2025 - what's on yours? Just finished: 📘 A History of Data Visualization and Graphic Communication (Michael Friendly & Howard Wainer) 📘 The Richest Man in Babylon (George S. Clason) 📘 Rebecca (Daphne Du Maurier) 1/5

📘 Currently reading 'Info We Trust' by RJ Andrews ( @infowetrust.com ). A more philosophical approach to the field of #dataviz, with once in a while small gems like this one.

A data visual doesn't need a ton of colors. But working with only 1 color? That's quite a challenge! In the most recent @viblifesciences.bsky.social annual report, each chapter uses its own characteristic brand color. However, this means the visuals also needed to use this single hue! 1/4

The piece of #dataviz advice I repeat most often? 🔄️ "Rotate that chart!" I'm exaggerating of course, but very often a chart can be improved by rotating it: ✅ Long labels can be made horizontal (easier to read) ✅ Less whitespace is needed (compact layout) 1/2

My three principles for running successful workshops on #dataviz or #scientificvisuals: ✅ "It depends" is the only correct answer. There are no universally right or wrong tools, answers, or approaches. The real value lies in exploring what it depends on—and why. 1/3

❌ Most tooltips only contain information about the element you're currently hovering over. 💡 Smart tooltips show all the information you need. For example, a smart tooltip in a line chart shows the data for each of the lines, not just the line you happen to be hovering over. 1/3

📊 Charts can save the world! Last weekend, I was invited by the #Nerdlandfestival to present some of the most inspiring, fascinating and entertaining stories from the history of #dataviz to a crowd of 500+ proud nerds. Such an amazing experience, thanks for all the enthusiasm!

Outfit ready for #nerdlandfestival this afternoon. 📊 Charts can save the world!

This spring, I helped APPLiA - the trade association for the European Home Appliance sector - design their latest Statistical Report. It’s full of pretty charts! But we also needed to give the charts a 'visual upgrade' compared to last year's version. 1/12

📊 Our client @APPLiA_Europe has published its annual statistical report, filled with data and insights on the European home appliance market! statreport2024.applia-europe.eu Happy to have had the opportunity to build a lot of different charts and maps, both for the print ... 1/2

The new #SMIBarometer for 2025 is out! A comprehensive overview of social media use and influencer marketing in Belgium. A collaboration between @comeos-nl.bsky.social and @arteveldehs.bsky.social, and yours truly had the honour of contributing one of the more complex matrix charts. 1/2

A great visual strikes a balance: it should be engaging and informative—but not overwhelming. 📈📊 One of the best ways to achieve this is by using a combination of charts rather than forcing everything into one. 1/4

⚖️ One of my favorite days of the year is when I can evaluate the Legal Design projects of law students @ugent. 🏆 After teaching the principles of #informationdesign, and providing feedback, it's rewarding to see them proudly show their work to the jury. 1/3

🐟 This is one of the weirder charts in my collection of examples: a set of fish icons to compare funds. I use it when I talk about visual variables. This chart uses SIZE as a visual variable in 15 different ways, to show 15 different aspects of a fund. 1/4

Counting down the days until June 7th - when I'll be on stage at the #Nerdland science festival in Wachtebeke. Let's explore how 400 years of graphs and charts have changed - and saved - the world! See you there? www.nerdlandfestival.be/nl/

😍 "Wow! How did you manage to make those great icons?" Some nice words from a recent client. I'm not an icon designer, and to be honest, I'm not even the biggest fan of icons. From an information design point of view, they carry surprisingly little information. 1/6

🐊 Back from my family trip with lots of great memories, and some nice examples of #informationdesign. I mean, look at this stunning map of the Everglades! What a feast for the eyes 😍

Small multiples can save even the most complicated chart. And the best thing is, you can use this technique for almost any type of chart. A scatter plot, for example! medium.com/p/3aa0b039410 (Post 4 out of 4 while I'm on holiday, sharing some highlights from previous years)

Sometimes, it's hard to wrap your head around a chart. The data is there, the presentation is correct, but it fails to show what we want to see. How can we fix that? medium.com/p/36c67ddb4670 (Post 3 out of 4 while I'm on holiday, sharing some highlights from previous years)

In 2021, I created 30 completely different maps for the #30DayMapChallenge. In a blog post, I shared all the data sets, techniques and tools I used along the way! medium.com/p/66d6377b8644 (Post 2 out of 4 while I'm on holiday, sharing some highlights from previous years)

If you thought a pie chart was the only food-related chart type out there, think again! A waffle chart is one of my favourite chart types to use! medium.com/p/51387eb52f5e (Post 1 out of 4 while I'm on holiday, sharing some highlights from previous years)

More advice to visually optimize your text: ✅ Centered text requires lots of different eye movement, left aligned text is easier to read. 1/2

This wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I searched for 'professional working environment' on Freepik, but thanks, I guess? 🕺🕺

Chart type of the day: the CYCLE PLOT! A cycle plot is great if you have data with strong seasonal patterns, but you want to focus more on the growth over time - without losing the granularity of the data. By giving each month its own separate panel, the seasonal effect... 1/2

Thoroughly enjoyed the first practical session in the physical geography course I'm following: geomorphological mapping of the Semois river valley near Bouillon. The manual sketching is both soothing and enticing at the same time!

INSTANT PRE-ORDER! 😍

Quick pro tip: even when working purely with text, you can optimize how it looks! Rather than wirting a default paragraph, you can break up your text into logical blocks. Columns, creative numbering and highlighting can go a long way in showing the structure of the information.

First, they force you to store your Timeline data locally on your phone, so you can't access it from any other device. Then, they accidently delete the data for lots and lots of users. And we have to trust this company with our data?

🎂 Funny throwback: 11 years ago, my career as a designer started when I won a logo competition and had the opportunity to cut a cake together with the rector of Ghent University to celebrate. Half a year later, I became a designer as a side job. 1/2

Have you ever heard of a chorochromatic map? In a chorochromatic map, regions with the same or similar data values are indicated using a set of colors. They are typically used for categorical data, such as languages, geological information, land use, ethnicity, etc. 1/4

📊 Soms komen dromen uit! Op zaterdag 7 juni mag ik op het podium kruipen van het #Nerdland festival in Wachtebeke om mijn passie over grafieken te delen. Want grafieken kunnen de wereld redden! 1/4

With great power comes great responsibility... In information design, we've come a long way since the first experiments by van Langren, Priestley and Playfair. 1/5 #dataviz #informationdesign #infographics

😍 Who doesn't love a good exaggerated relief map? Especially when it's drawn from an unusual angle and shows the earth's curvature as well. Stunning example by Richard Edes Harrison from 1943. #geography #maps

Here's an old hydrology chart for you, from the mid-20th century, showing two key #dataviz approaches I really like. 1/4

Talk alert! On Monday, March 24, I'll be at the Flemish Parliament for Voorjaarsvonk 25: the yearly inspirational event for internal communication professionals. I'll be giving a session (in Dutch) on powerful data visuals (what else 😉). Practical info in the post below ⬇️

Here's a cool, simple technique I learned from Joey Cherdarchuk ( @obumbratta.com ): in a choropleth map, your legend can double as a histogram - showing both the colour coding ánd the data distribution. #maps #dataviz

Every time @Datawrapper.de adds a new functionality, it just... works. It does exactly what you want it to do, it behaves like you would expect, and it looks really good. They just added the option to create small multiple bar charts. And I love it! The synchronous tooltips are a great addition 😍