Tutorials

Fill areas with varying line density to give more or less visual attention. With geographic maps, the technique is especially useful to adjust for population density.

Visualize rankings over time instead of absolute values to focus on order instead of the magnitude of change.

Easily compare multiple categories and spot differences between two or more series.

Almost all of my visualization projects that use data from the Census Bureau comes via IPUMS. In this guide, I provide five steps to getting the data you need using their tools.

Using the library command-line gets you more flexibility to highlight the important parts of the data.

With cyclical data, a circular format might be useful. Combine that with a smooth density to reduce noise, and you got yourself a plot.

By shifting the baseline to a reference point, you can focus a line chart on relative change, which can improve the visibility of smaller categories.

Learn how to build a custom visualization using D3.js and get acquainted with the popular JavaScript library.

Ooo, bubbles... It's not the most visually efficient method, but it's one of the more visually satisfying ones.

Visualize rankings over time instead of absolute values to focus on order instead of the magnitude of change.

For when you want to show the occurrence of events over time.

Also known as a Marimekko diagram, the mosaic plot lets you compare multiple qualitative variables at once. They can be useful, sometimes.

Using color as the visual encoding, show changes over time in two dimensions.

With latitude and longitude coordinates, there are a number of ways to map geographic data using D3.js and Leaflet.

A combination of a bivariate area chart, animation, and a population pyramid, with a sprinkling of detail and annotation.

Also known as ridgeline plots, the method overlaps time series for a 3-D-ish view of the data. While perhaps not the most visually efficient, the allure is undeniable.

Compare distributions side-by-side with a pyramid chart. Observe the change over the years by animating it.

Show individual data points by splitting bars into smaller cells.