👋 Hi!
I’m on my way back after spending 3 days with Cédric Scherer, and he made me realize something: the R Graph Gallery is now 10 years old.
That feels like the perfect moment to share the story behind it.
How it started
10 years ago, I was working as a bioinformatician, studying wheat genomes. The work was fun and it introduced me to the world of programming (without AI 🙂).
My favorite part quickly became the end of the pipeline, where months of work turn into a clean chart that tells a story.
So I started spending my free time exploring R vignettes, testing every possible option and parameter, creating some good… and some very questionable charts.
One day, while on holiday, I was talking with a close friend who was building websites. He told me that with WordPress, creating a site was actually pretty easy.
A few nights later, the R Graph Gallery was born and looked like... this:
What happened next
Most of the early examples weren’t great. And let’s not talk about my English back then.
But interestingly, the site quickly started ranking on Google. It turns out that a lot of people search things like “R boxplot”, and the gallery generally ranks #1.
Back then, programming was hard (but rewarding 🙃). And like today, nobody really wanted to read documentation. Everyone just Googled everything.
The result: steady growth in traffic over time.
It changed my life
At its peak, the gallery reached around 930k page views per month, which is kind of crazy.
It changed my life in many ways:
- Job: one day I received an email offering me a job in Australia from someone who used the site regularly
- Motivation: it made me realize I was truly passionate about this field and made me learn so much
- Income: at its peak, the site generated several thousand euros per month (monetization is a whole other story…)
On top of the R Graph Gallery, I created many other resources: Python, D3, and React graph galleries, Data to Viz, Dataviz Inspiration, and many smaller projects.
Two years ago, I left a high-paying job to become a freelance dataviz consultant, something I had dreamed about for a long time.
That decision would never have happened without those side projects.
The AI era
You’ve probably heard about this thing called AI.
It’s a bit ironic. Models were trained on websites like mine, and now they’re replacing them. It’s frustrating, especially when it threatens the open-source ecosystem that built the tools we all rely on.
But complaining won’t change anything. AI is here to stay.
The takeaway
Build side projects, if you enjoy the journey
I’ll never regret the nights and weekends spent writing R code for fun. Side projects are one of the best ways to grow your career.
But it only works if you enjoy the process, not just the outcome.
Listen to feedback… but think critically
Many people supported me along the way, and I made great friends because of it.
A few others doubted me or discouraged me. Interestingly, I gave their opinions more weight than the positive ones.
Try to step back and evaluate feedback objectively before letting it stop you.
I’m still here
The R Graph Gallery is still useful.
It showcases high-quality charts that AI won’t generate for you, covers 50+ chart types (some AI won’t even suggest), and highlights the right tools and packages instead of questionable defaults.
I’m also working hard on my most recent and best project: ggplot2 Uncharted.
Together with Cédric Scherer, we’re teaching how to truly master dataviz and use AI the right way to create great visualizations. You should join us!
I can’t believe it’s been 10 years already. Time flies. Make the most of it. Spend 15 minutes a day learning something instead of scrolling and it will open incredible opportunities.
If this post inspires you to start a side project or if you've ever used the gallery, let me know. It would truly make my day.
See you next week,
Yan
PS: Doors for ggplot2 Uncharted close on May 3 at midnight. Lessons start on May the fourth 🗡️😀
👋 By the way, there are 3 ways I can help you!
- Consulting: I help my clients design and create interactive dataviz webpages to make their data alive
- Online Courses: 2000+ ppl already followed my in-depth, interactive learning experiences about R, matplotlib, ggplot2 and d3.js
- Engaging Talks: I'm deeply passionate about tech and dataviz. Hire me for a talk or a training!
Check yan-holtz.com or hit reply any time!
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