👋 Hi!
The goal of this newsletter is to grow your dataviz culture every Saturday with a quick 4-minute read.
Today, I suggest we revisit 6 iconic dataviz projects.
Just like some movies are classics everyone should know, these visualizations are must-see for anyone working with data.
Let’s dive in!
1️⃣ Gapminder
What: An interactive bubble chart plotting countries by income and life expectancy over time. Each bubble represents a country, sized by population, so you can watch global development unfold dynamically.
Why: Hans Rosling’s famous TED Talk is one of the earliest and best examples of storytelling with data. It’s mesmerizing to see history come alive as the chart evolves step by step.
Author: Hans Rosling — video.
2️⃣ Impeach This
What: In 2019, Donald Trump shared a county-level choropleth map of the U.S. election results captioned “Impeach This.” The map showed a vast sea of red counties, giving the impression of overwhelming support.
Why: It became a textbook example of how maps can mislead by emphasizing land over people. The visual went viral, sparking debates about election maps. An alternative bubble map by Karim Douieb revealed a much more accurate picture — and the animation is mesmerizing.
Author: Originally posted by Donald Trump; alternative versions popularized by Karim Douieb.
3️⃣ Vaccine Heat Map
What: A heat map showing measles infection rates across U.S. states over time. Each row represents a state, each column a year, with darker colors indicating more cases.
Why: It’s one of the clearest demonstrations of how vaccines save lives. I also love it because it shows that heat maps can be an excellent alternative to line charts for time series with many groups.
Author: Based on Project Tycho’s historical disease data. R Code
4️⃣ COVID-19 Spirals
What: A circular streamgraph used to show the evolution of daily COVID-19 deaths.
Why: The spiral format broke away from the usual line charts we were seeing everywhere. What I love is how much debate it sparked within the dataviz community! It’s a powerful example of using unusual chart forms for maximum impact.
Author: The New York Times graphics desk.
5️⃣ Connected Scatterplot of Web Tools
What: A connected scatterplot mapping JavaScript tools by usage (x-axis) and satisfaction (y-axis). Each tool is drawn as a line across survey years, showing how its position has shifted over time.
Why: This chart makes it instantly clear which tools are rising stars (moving up and right) versus those losing ground. It’s a perfect use of the connected scatterplot form — not just showing data points, but telling the story of their evolution. The interactivity here is spot on.
Author: Amelia Wattenberger, for the State of JS survey.
6️⃣ The Climate Stripes
What: A simple stripe chart showing annual global temperatures since 1850. Each year is a vertical stripe, colored from blue (cooler) to red (warmer), creating a clear visual progression from past to present.
Why: In just one glance, the warming trend is undeniable. The design is minimalistic, wordless, and universally understandable — so effective it has been printed on posters, T-shirts, and even buildings.
Author: Ed Hawkins.
That’s it. I could keep going for ages, but these are 6 examples you simply can’t ignore.
If you want to see more stunning examples, remember that my Dataviz Inspiration project is here to help — with about 200 entries like these.
See you next week!
Yan
PS: All of these charts can be reproduced in Python! If you’d like to learn how, there are only 48 hours left to join my Matplotlib Journey online course!
PPS: I'm also organising a dataviz workshop in december!
👋 By the way, here is how I can help!
- Master R: Join my productive R workflow online course, already helping hundreds to excel in R, Quarto, and GitHub.
- Team Training: Hire me to train your team on Data Visualization and Programming.
- Engaging Talks: Book me for short, impactful talks on Data Visualization and Programming.
Check yan-holtz.com or hit reply any time! I love hearing from you.
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