Growing Your Visualization Toolset (and Mine), a FlowingData Membership Update

Nov 13, 2019

It’s time to kick the tires on some new tools.

I’ve been running FlowingData Membership for almost eight years now, and one of the main benefits is that you get unlimited access to step-by-step tutorials. They’re based on my experiences analyzing and visualizing data.

This is great, because you get first-hand, practical advice on how to make any chart instead of hand-wavy tips with a semi-usable template.

But it has almost always been from my point of view, using the tools that I’m familiar with. While productive — there are about 120 tutorials that cover a wide variety of methods — I’ve always felt that I could provide more.

When I first introduced memberships, I wrote, “There are different points of view to explore, new software and methods to try, and growing data sources to play with.”

I’ve played with a lot of data, but the first two items could use improvement.

So over the next few weeks, you’ll notice some new voices and software around here. There might be a reptile or a grammar involved. Just saying.

I’m excited to learn from them and I hope you’ll join me.

If you’re already a member, thank you so much for your support. You’ll get instant access as usual when new tutorials are published.

If you’re not a member yet, now is a great time to join.

Become a member. Support an independent site. Make great charts.

See What You Get

Favorites

Finding the New Age, for Your Age

You’ve probably heard the lines about how “40 is the new 30” or “30 is the new 20.” What is this based on? I tried to solve the problem using life expectancy data. Your age is the new age.

Peak Non-Creepy Dating Pool

Based on the “half-your-age-plus-seven” rule, the range of people you can date expands with age. Combine that with population counts and demographics, and you can find when your non-creepy dating pool peaks.

How Much Americans Make

Median income only tells you where the middle is. The distributions of income are a lot more interesting.

Redefining Old Age

What is old? When it comes to subjects like health care and retirement, we often think of old in fixed terms. But as people live longer, it’s worth changing the definition.