Allgemein

2020 – My year in vizzes

2020 has been my first full year in the data viz community. I first started using Tableau at my new job in September 2019. I spent a few months deep-diving into the tool and by the end of 2019, I decided to become more active in the community. I wanted to keep practicing and improving my skills and consistently produce content. The initial goal I set myself for 2020 was to participate in every #MakeoverMonday in 2020 – a goal I (almost) reached (still missing 3 at this point, I think) and which I’ll write a separate blog post about. But overall, I ended up publishing more than 70 vizzes to my Tableau Public profile:

  • 50 MakeoverMonday vizzes
  • 8 WorkoutWednesday vizzes
  • 1 IronViz feeder submission
  • 5 IronQuest submissions
  • 13 vizzes just for fun

Let’s take a look back at some of my personal favorites…

My two Vizzes of the Day

We’re starting with something I have very conflicting feelings about. So… I got two #VOTD! That’s obviously an incredible honor and on paper probably my biggest success. #VOTD is a big source of inspiration for me and it features some incredible work. So getting it twice and this early in my data viz journey is mindblowing to me.

But I guess that’s where my conflicting feelings start. See, I got the first one for my Week 5 #MakeoverMonday viz and the second one in March for my first ever #IronQuest submission. Which is crazy. But the point is I don’t think those vizzes are in any way exceptional. I don’t dislike them. I think they’re fine. But compared to other VOTD they are pretty boring. And I think even within my own portfolio they don’t stand out to me. I’ve done better things since. At least I hope I’ve improved since. So, yeah, I’m just not quite sure what to make of this…

Click on the image to see the interactive version.
The viz I would frame and hang on my wall

This is the one viz in my portfolio I might consider data art. I love Van Gogh and felt inspired by his iconic use of color. I like how minimalistic and abstract this viz is and that it doesn’t even look like a data viz at first.

The viz is best enjoyed while listening to this:

My first multi-part viz series

I always wanted to combine data viz with my love for Broadway and musicals. So I spent a few evenings collecting data on one of my favorite musicals – Hamilton and chanelled the results into a three-part viz series.

My most underrated viz

My ‚Hot 100 again‘ viz barely got any attention on Twitter and has a whopping 18 views on Tableau  Public (most of which I probably generated myself). However, I still like it. The topic is interesting – why do some hits reenter the charts years after they have first been successful? The colors are fun and I tried that kinda storypoint interactivity for the first time. So maybe give this one a try if you’re reading this? 

My proudest moment

My proudest data viz moment this year came when I published this viz. Somehow it found its way to the man himself Steve Wexler who messaged me on Twitter and called it a rare good use case for pie charts. 

Goodbye 2020

Even though 2020 sucked in many ways, it was a good year on my own data viz journey. I feel so much more confident in my data viz abilities. Even though I still feel like I have a lot to learn or still struggle to find my voice at times, this look back at the year that was showed me that I did make progress. I’m so grateful to be a part of the #datafam and am excited to see what we’ll all come up with next year!