Books on a bookshelf - infographics resources

Data visualization resources: all the links you'll ever need!

Data visualization: all the resources you'll ever need!

You want to start creating clear and attractive data visuals, but don’t know where to start? No worries, here’s a complete overview of tools, resources and inspiration you can use as a starting point for your designs.

Finding useful datasets

Inspiration for data visualization

Digital tools to create infographics and data visuals

Illustrations and icons

Colour schemes

Typography

Creating graphs

Creating maps

Creating tables

Ethics in data visualization

  • Dealing with outliers: https://flowingdata.com/2018/03/07/visualizing-outliers/
  • Visualizing projections and missing data: https://flowingdata.com/2018/01/30/visualizing-incomplete-and-missing-data/
  • Spurious correlations: https://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations
  • About dynamite plots: http://biostat.mc.vanderbilt.edu/wiki/Main/DynamitePlots
  • Alternatives to box plots: https://nightingaledvs.com/ive-stopped-using-box-plots-should-you/
  • Visualizing the uncertainty in data (Flowing Data): https://flowingdata.com/2018/01/08/visualizing-the-uncertainty-in-data/
  • Visualizing uncertainty (Claus Wilke): https://clauswilke.com/dataviz/visualizing-uncertainty.html

Books about infographics and data visualization

  • Data visualisation, Andy Kirk
  • Dear Data, Giorgia Lupi & Stefanie Posavec
  • Information graphics, Taschen
  • Infographic designers’ sketchbooks, Steven Heller & Rick Landers
  • Storytelling with data, Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
  • The visual display of quantitative information, Edward Tufte
  • Trees, maps and theorems, Jean-Luc Doumont
  • Visual journalism, Gestalten
  • Visual thinking, Willemien Brand

People on Twitter talking about data

Videos about data visualization

Dataviz blogs and online magazines

Dataviz podcasts

Books on a bookshelf - infographics resources

Read more:

Tell me why… I don’t like dashboards

I don't like dashboards. Well, most dashboards at least. They're just trying too hard... to do everything, everywhere, all at once. Why is that? And is there a better solution?

Read More

3 September 2024

Why I love matrix charts

This one is definitely in my top 5 of favourite chart types: a matrix chart! Super flexible, can provide some great insights into the data, and it will fit well into your beautiful report design.

Read More

2 September 2024

Vreemde plaatsnamen in Vlaanderen

Iedereen kent wellicht 'Kontich' en 'Reet', maar in Vlaanderen hebben we nog veel meer merkwaardige, onverwachte, en vaak grappige plaatsnamen. Heb je bijvoorbeeld ooit al gehoord van Buitenland, Dikkebus, of Grote Homo?

Read More

9 June 2024

Small multiples can save your chart

When you're dealing with a chart that has too much information on it, the most straightforward advice to follow is: break it down into multiple charts, each with less information on them. A powerful example of this is a so-called small multiple approach.

Read More

5 September 2023

Data visualization podcasts 2023

At Baryon, we’re huge fans of podcasts! Data visualization podcasts are a great way to stay up to date on the latest trends and techniques in data visualization.

Read More

4 September 2023

thumbnail for video 10 - can you use excel to create a powerful chart

Can you use Excel to create a powerful chart?

Spreadsheet tools such as Microsoft Excel or Numbers might not be the first thing on your mind when considering data visualization tools, but they can be pretty solid choices to build data visuals. Don’t let anyone convince you that using Excel to create data visuals is unprofessional.

Read More

9 January 2023

We are really into visual communication!

Every now and then we send out a newsletter with latest work, handpicked inspirational infographics, must-read blog posts, upcoming dates for workshops and presentations, and links to useful tools and tips. Leave your email address here and we’ll add you to our mailing list of awesome people!

by MrKoen

Books on a bookshelf - infographics resources

Research visuals: all the resources you'll ever need!

Research visuals: all the resources you'll ever need!

If you want to start creating clear and attractive visuals about your research, but don’t know where to start, this page is for you! Here’s a complete overview of tools, resources and inspiration you can use as a starting point for your designs.

Presentation

Institut Curie course:

Inspiration for your visuals

Digital tools to create visuals

Inkscape tutorial videos

Photos to use in your visuals

Illustrations and icons to use in visuals

Photos and illustrations (specific themes)

Colour schemes for your visuals

Typography for your visuals

Creating graphs

Creating maps

Books about visuals, infographics and data visualization

  • Data visualisation, Andy Kirk
  • Dear Data, Giorgia Lupi & Stefanie Posavec
  • Information graphics, Taschen
  • Infographic designers’ sketchbooks, Steven Heller & Rick Landers
  • Storytelling with data, Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
  • The visual display of quantitative information, Edward Tufte
  • Trees, maps and theorems, Jean-Luc Doumont
  • Visual journalism, Gestalten
  • Visual thinking, Willemien Brand

People on Twitter talking about infographics and data visualization

Infographic blogs and online magazines

Podcasts on data visualization

Books on a bookshelf - infographics resources

Read more:

Tell me why… I don’t like dashboards

I don't like dashboards. Well, most dashboards at least. They're just trying too hard... to do everything, everywhere, all at once. Why is that? And is there a better solution?

Read More

3 September 2024

Why I love matrix charts

This one is definitely in my top 5 of favourite chart types: a matrix chart! Super flexible, can provide some great insights into the data, and it will fit well into your beautiful report design.

Read More

2 September 2024

Vreemde plaatsnamen in Vlaanderen

Iedereen kent wellicht 'Kontich' en 'Reet', maar in Vlaanderen hebben we nog veel meer merkwaardige, onverwachte, en vaak grappige plaatsnamen. Heb je bijvoorbeeld ooit al gehoord van Buitenland, Dikkebus, of Grote Homo?

Read More

9 June 2024

Small multiples can save your chart

When you're dealing with a chart that has too much information on it, the most straightforward advice to follow is: break it down into multiple charts, each with less information on them. A powerful example of this is a so-called small multiple approach.

Read More

5 September 2023

Data visualization podcasts 2023

At Baryon, we’re huge fans of podcasts! Data visualization podcasts are a great way to stay up to date on the latest trends and techniques in data visualization.

Read More

4 September 2023

thumbnail for video 10 - can you use excel to create a powerful chart

Can you use Excel to create a powerful chart?

Spreadsheet tools such as Microsoft Excel or Numbers might not be the first thing on your mind when considering data visualization tools, but they can be pretty solid choices to build data visuals. Don’t let anyone convince you that using Excel to create data visuals is unprofessional.

Read More

9 January 2023

We are really into visual communication!

Every now and then we send out a newsletter with latest work, handpicked inspirational infographics, must-read blog posts, upcoming dates for workshops and presentations, and links to useful tools and tips. Leave your email address here and we’ll add you to our mailing list of awesome people!

by MrKoen

Small datasets to practice your data visualization skills

Small datasets to practice your data visualization skills

When you’re teaching data analysis or data visualization, or when you’re learning new data visualization tools and techniques, you might be looking for datasets to practice with.

But such datasets are not always easy to find. They should be sufficiently small, so they are manageable with common analysis tools for beginners, such as Microsoft Excel. On the other hand, they should have sufficient depth to allow you to find interesting insights – the data should have at least a few different parameters and dimensions. Finally, the data should cover an interesting topic to keep your students (or yourself) engaged throughout the practice.

This page gives you some starting points to find interesting small datasets, which you can use for data analysis and data visualization teaching and practicing!

General dataset sources

  • The wonderful chart creation tool RAWGraphs has an interesting set of data samples from various sources. Topics include wine aromas, cat classification, FIFA players statistics, letter frequency, and much more.
  • Kaggle user Rachael Tatman has compiled a list of fun, beginner-friendly datasets specifically suited for statistical testing, but they can be used for data visualization as well.
  • The weekly Makeover Monday challenge (initiated by the Tableau community) has generated an extensive list of datasets covering a wide variety of topics. Most of them are hosted on data.world.

Some personal favorites

Small datasets to practice your data visualization skills

Here are some of the datasets I regularly use in my data analytics and visualization teaching and trainings:

  • The Titanic Disaster Dataset listing, among other parameters, the age, gender and travel class of this famous ship’s passengers – including whether they survived the event or not.
  • A list of Nobel Prize laureates from 1901 to 2020, including information on gender, country, age and category. I often use this as part of a Datawrapper exercise – you can see the finished visual at the bottom of this page!
  • The results of the annual Stack Overflow Developer surveys. This is a pretty extensive dataset (over 83.000 rows and 49 columns) providing information on salary, tools used, level of experience, and much, much more.
  • An overview of Summer Olympics medal winners, unfortunately only between 1976 and 2008, with information on discipline, country, gender, and type of medal received.
  • Responses to the Ask a Manager Salary Survey 2021, with lots of opportunities for practicing data cleaning techniques.
  • A pretty extensive but fictituous spreadsheet of US Regional Sales Data, excellent to demonstrate and practice basic data analysis techniques.
  • I use this Makeover Monday dataset of 40 Years of Music Industry Sales often during my trainings as a way to demonstrate RAWGraphs.

What are your personal favorite datasets to use in data analytics or data visualization teaching? Let us know, and we’ll add them to this list!

Read more:

Tell me why… I don’t like dashboards

I don't like dashboards. Well, most dashboards at least. They're just trying too hard... to do everything, everywhere, all at once. Why is that? And is there a better solution?

Read More

3 September 2024

Why I love matrix charts

This one is definitely in my top 5 of favourite chart types: a matrix chart! Super flexible, can provide some great insights into the data, and it will fit well into your beautiful report design.

Read More

2 September 2024

Vreemde plaatsnamen in Vlaanderen

Iedereen kent wellicht 'Kontich' en 'Reet', maar in Vlaanderen hebben we nog veel meer merkwaardige, onverwachte, en vaak grappige plaatsnamen. Heb je bijvoorbeeld ooit al gehoord van Buitenland, Dikkebus, of Grote Homo?

Read More

9 June 2024

Small multiples can save your chart

When you're dealing with a chart that has too much information on it, the most straightforward advice to follow is: break it down into multiple charts, each with less information on them. A powerful example of this is a so-called small multiple approach.

Read More

5 September 2023

Data visualization podcasts 2023

At Baryon, we’re huge fans of podcasts! Data visualization podcasts are a great way to stay up to date on the latest trends and techniques in data visualization.

Read More

4 September 2023

thumbnail for video 10 - can you use excel to create a powerful chart

Can you use Excel to create a powerful chart?

Spreadsheet tools such as Microsoft Excel or Numbers might not be the first thing on your mind when considering data visualization tools, but they can be pretty solid choices to build data visuals. Don’t let anyone convince you that using Excel to create data visuals is unprofessional.

Read More

9 January 2023

We are really into visual communication!

Every now and then we send out a newsletter with latest work, handpicked inspirational infographics, must-read blog posts, upcoming dates for workshops and presentations, and links to useful tools and tips. Leave your email address here and we’ll add you to our mailing list of awesome people!

by MrKoen

Graphical abstract for Ghent University PSYNC research

How to create a graphical abstract

How to create a graphical abstract

Graphical abstracts are becoming more and more important. Journal publishers such as Elsevier encourage you to create a concise visual summary of the main findings of your research.

But where to start? What steps should you follow to create the perfect graphical abstract for your article? What tools can you use?

On this page, you’ll find an overview of tips, tools and inspiration to create your own graphical abstract for your next article. Let’s show the world what your research is all about!

Presentation

Workshop VUB LSM PhD Day (March 30, 2021):

Digital tools to create graphical abstracts

You can use almost any graphical tool you want to create a graphical abstract. You could even use just pen and paper, if you like – the story is the most important part of the visual, not the artistic quality. Use the tool you know best, or feel the most comfortable with!

Here is a list of tools to get you started:

Illustrations and icons to use in infographics

Photos to use in graphical abstracts

Color schemes for graphical abstracts

Creating graphs and maps for graphical abstracts

Books that can help you create better visuals

  • Infographic designers’ sketchbooks, Steven Heller & Rick Landers
  • Storytelling with data, Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
  • Trees, maps and theorems, Jean-Luc Doumont
  • Visual thinking, Willemien Brand

People on Twitter talking about information design

Blogs about information design

Wrapping up

Did we miss something? Which indispensable resource did we miss? Make sure to let us know at koen@baryon.be!

Also, feel free to check out our other resource guides:

Books on a bookshelf - infographics resources

Read more:

Tell me why… I don’t like dashboards

I don't like dashboards. Well, most dashboards at least. They're just trying too hard... to do everything, everywhere, all at once. Why is that? And is there a better solution?

Read More

3 September 2024

Why I love matrix charts

This one is definitely in my top 5 of favourite chart types: a matrix chart! Super flexible, can provide some great insights into the data, and it will fit well into your beautiful report design.

Read More

2 September 2024

Vreemde plaatsnamen in Vlaanderen

Iedereen kent wellicht 'Kontich' en 'Reet', maar in Vlaanderen hebben we nog veel meer merkwaardige, onverwachte, en vaak grappige plaatsnamen. Heb je bijvoorbeeld ooit al gehoord van Buitenland, Dikkebus, of Grote Homo?

Read More

9 June 2024

Small multiples can save your chart

When you're dealing with a chart that has too much information on it, the most straightforward advice to follow is: break it down into multiple charts, each with less information on them. A powerful example of this is a so-called small multiple approach.

Read More

5 September 2023

Data visualization podcasts 2023

At Baryon, we’re huge fans of podcasts! Data visualization podcasts are a great way to stay up to date on the latest trends and techniques in data visualization.

Read More

4 September 2023

thumbnail for video 10 - can you use excel to create a powerful chart

Can you use Excel to create a powerful chart?

Spreadsheet tools such as Microsoft Excel or Numbers might not be the first thing on your mind when considering data visualization tools, but they can be pretty solid choices to build data visuals. Don’t let anyone convince you that using Excel to create data visuals is unprofessional.

Read More

9 January 2023

We are really into visual communication!

Every now and then we send out a newsletter with latest work, handpicked inspirational infographics, must-read blog posts, upcoming dates for workshops and presentations, and links to useful tools and tips. Leave your email address here and we’ll add you to our mailing list of awesome people!

by MrKoen

Books on a bookshelf - infographics resources

Data visualization resources: all the links you'll ever need!

Data visualization: all the resources you'll ever need!

You want to start creating clear and attractive data visuals, but don’t know where to start? No worries, here’s a complete overview of tools, resources and inspiration you can use as a starting point for your designs.

Presentation

Doctoral Schools – Turning research data into powerful visuals:

Finding useful datasets

Inspiration for data visualization

Digital tools to create infographics and data visuals

Illustrations and icons

Colour schemes

Typography

Creating graphs

Creating maps

Creating tables

Ethics in data visualization

  • Dealing with outliers: https://flowingdata.com/2018/03/07/visualizing-outliers/
  • Visualizing projections and missing data: https://flowingdata.com/2018/01/30/visualizing-incomplete-and-missing-data/
  • Spurious correlations: https://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations
  • About dynamite plots: http://biostat.mc.vanderbilt.edu/wiki/Main/DynamitePlots
  • Alternatives to box plots: https://nightingaledvs.com/ive-stopped-using-box-plots-should-you/
  • Visualizing the uncertainty in data (Flowing Data): https://flowingdata.com/2018/01/08/visualizing-the-uncertainty-in-data/
  • Visualizing uncertainty (Claus Wilke): https://clauswilke.com/dataviz/visualizing-uncertainty.html

Books about infographics and data visualization

  • Data visualisation, Andy Kirk
  • Dear Data, Giorgia Lupi & Stefanie Posavec
  • Information graphics, Taschen
  • Infographic designers’ sketchbooks, Steven Heller & Rick Landers
  • Storytelling with data, Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
  • The visual display of quantitative information, Edward Tufte
  • Trees, maps and theorems, Jean-Luc Doumont
  • Visual journalism, Gestalten
  • Visual thinking, Willemien Brand

People on Twitter talking about data

Videos about data visualization

Dataviz blogs and online magazines

Dataviz podcasts

Books on a bookshelf - infographics resources

Read more:

Tell me why… I don’t like dashboards

I don't like dashboards. Well, most dashboards at least. They're just trying too hard... to do everything, everywhere, all at once. Why is that? And is there a better solution?

Read More

3 September 2024

Why I love matrix charts

This one is definitely in my top 5 of favourite chart types: a matrix chart! Super flexible, can provide some great insights into the data, and it will fit well into your beautiful report design.

Read More

2 September 2024

Vreemde plaatsnamen in Vlaanderen

Iedereen kent wellicht 'Kontich' en 'Reet', maar in Vlaanderen hebben we nog veel meer merkwaardige, onverwachte, en vaak grappige plaatsnamen. Heb je bijvoorbeeld ooit al gehoord van Buitenland, Dikkebus, of Grote Homo?

Read More

9 June 2024

Small multiples can save your chart

When you're dealing with a chart that has too much information on it, the most straightforward advice to follow is: break it down into multiple charts, each with less information on them. A powerful example of this is a so-called small multiple approach.

Read More

5 September 2023

Data visualization podcasts 2023

At Baryon, we’re huge fans of podcasts! Data visualization podcasts are a great way to stay up to date on the latest trends and techniques in data visualization.

Read More

4 September 2023

thumbnail for video 10 - can you use excel to create a powerful chart

Can you use Excel to create a powerful chart?

Spreadsheet tools such as Microsoft Excel or Numbers might not be the first thing on your mind when considering data visualization tools, but they can be pretty solid choices to build data visuals. Don’t let anyone convince you that using Excel to create data visuals is unprofessional.

Read More

9 January 2023

We are really into visual communication!

Every now and then we send out a newsletter with latest work, handpicked inspirational infographics, must-read blog posts, upcoming dates for workshops and presentations, and links to useful tools and tips. Leave your email address here and we’ll add you to our mailing list of awesome people!

by MrKoen

Books on a bookshelf - infographics resources

Infographics: all the resources you'll ever need!

Infographics: all the resources you'll ever need!

Infographics are the perfect way to turn complex information into attractive visual insights. They can help researchers, marketeers, journalists or consultants to share knowledge with students, clients, readers, or the general public. If you want to start creating clear and attractive infographics, but don’t know where to start, you’ve come to the right place. This page gives you a complete overview of tools, resources and inspiration you can use as a starting point for your designs!

Presentation

Vlaamse Hogescholenraad:

Universiteit Utrecht workshop:

Inspiration for infographics

Digital tools to create infographics

Photos to use in infographics

Illustrations and icons to use in infographics

Photos and illustrations (specific themes)

Colour schemes for infographics

Typography for infographics

Creating graphs for infographics

Creating maps for infographics

Books about infographics

  • Data visualisation, Andy Kirk
  • Dear Data, Giorgia Lupi & Stefanie Posavec
  • Information graphics, Taschen
  • Infographic designers’ sketchbooks, Steven Heller & Rick Landers
  • Storytelling with data, Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
  • The visual display of quantitative information, Edward Tufte
  • Trees, maps and theorems, Jean-Luc Doumont
  • Visual journalism, Gestalten
  • Visual thinking, Willemien Brand

People on Twitter talking about infographics

Videos about infographics

Infographic blogs and online magazines

Infographic podcasts

Books on a bookshelf - infographics resources

Read more:

Tell me why… I don’t like dashboards

I don't like dashboards. Well, most dashboards at least. They're just trying too hard... to do everything, everywhere, all at once. Why is that? And is there a better solution?

Read More

3 September 2024

Why I love matrix charts

This one is definitely in my top 5 of favourite chart types: a matrix chart! Super flexible, can provide some great insights into the data, and it will fit well into your beautiful report design.

Read More

2 September 2024

Vreemde plaatsnamen in Vlaanderen

Iedereen kent wellicht 'Kontich' en 'Reet', maar in Vlaanderen hebben we nog veel meer merkwaardige, onverwachte, en vaak grappige plaatsnamen. Heb je bijvoorbeeld ooit al gehoord van Buitenland, Dikkebus, of Grote Homo?

Read More

9 June 2024

Small multiples can save your chart

When you're dealing with a chart that has too much information on it, the most straightforward advice to follow is: break it down into multiple charts, each with less information on them. A powerful example of this is a so-called small multiple approach.

Read More

5 September 2023

Data visualization podcasts 2023

At Baryon, we’re huge fans of podcasts! Data visualization podcasts are a great way to stay up to date on the latest trends and techniques in data visualization.

Read More

4 September 2023

thumbnail for video 10 - can you use excel to create a powerful chart

Can you use Excel to create a powerful chart?

Spreadsheet tools such as Microsoft Excel or Numbers might not be the first thing on your mind when considering data visualization tools, but they can be pretty solid choices to build data visuals. Don’t let anyone convince you that using Excel to create data visuals is unprofessional.

Read More

9 January 2023

We are really into visual communication!

Every now and then we send out a newsletter with latest work, handpicked inspirational infographics, must-read blog posts, upcoming dates for workshops and presentations, and links to useful tools and tips. Leave your email address here and we’ll add you to our mailing list of awesome people!

by MrKoen