From choreographed data movements to multisensory data sculptures, embodied data experiences are revolutionizing how we understand and connect with complex information. By merging design, art, and data, our speakers reveal new ways to engage with global issues—whether it’s making climate data tangible or visualizing social impact.

Lins is a choreographic designer blending dance, data representation, and human-computer interaction. As an Artist in Residence at the Maya Brin Institute for New Performance, University of Maryland, and Principal at metaLAB (at) Harvard, she explores «data embodiment»—using the body as a medium to study how scientific data can inspire human-centered, performative responses. Her talk will examine how data can be physically and kinetically experienced to boost interactivity and emotional impact.

Based in Budapest, Melinda is an artist and designer celebrated for transforming complex datasets into immersive installations and data sculptures. Pursuing her doctoral studies at the Moholy-Nagy University of Arts (MOME), she uses data physicalization to craft artworks that invite audiences to engage deeply with data. Her talk will focus on the impact of data in physical spaces and how these installations create new pathways for understanding.

Based in Europe, a Creative Lead and Technologist, Cristina pushes the boundaries of visual storytelling and sensory design. Known for collaborations with brands like Google, Chanel, and Nike, she creates interactive experiences that make data feel personal and alive. Her work explores themes like sustainability and the future of brands, blending digital and physical elements to turn complex data into memorable sensory moments.

After each On Data And Design presentation, the audience has the opportunity to ask questions. In the past, the question most frequently asked of the speakers was: «Which data visualization tool do you use?». Now, in this edition, we want to explore this question. There has been a boom in data visualization tools in recent years. It has become almost impossible to keep track of the variety of tools, and it is a challenge for newcomers to find the right tool to suit their project and previous knowledge. In this episode, three tools are presented to you, either by their founders or by absolute specialists. They will give you a practical insight into how you can transform your data into impressive visualizations without using programming languages.

RAWGraphs, presented by member of the development team Tommaso Elli, is an open-source and free to use data visualization tool designed for designers and data enthusiasts, bridging the gap between spreadsheet applications and vector graphics editors. It offers a versatile platform for transforming complex data into visually appealing charts and graphs.

Tableau, presented by Tableau visionary Neil Richards  Neil is an expert in creating impactful visual data stories with Tableau. He will show his refined skills in how to use this powerful tool and present his advanced and sophisticated approaches to the tool in order to create complex and non-standard data visualizations.

Datylon, presented by co-founder Stijn Simoens  Datylon offers solutions that empower professionals to create and produce compelling, on-brand, pixel-perfect charts and reports while maintaining full creative freedom. Our applications range from designing individual charts to producing fully automated, multi-page reports.

"Each designer is driven by unique motivations and visions when creating information design and data visualization, and responsibility plays an important role. What ethical considerations need to go into their creations to ensure their work acts as a force for good and behavior change? Where is the untapped potential for designers? As agents of change, designers have the opportunity to redefine ecosystems, influence global narratives and shape the socio-ecological landscape. We will explore what drives our speakers to innovate and push the boundaries of traditional data visualization. Alongside ethical questions on overarching considerations, we will also explore how photography, illustration and code, when paired with data, can enhance narrative and emotional impact."

Cathryn Ploehn, a designer in the field of data visualization, will discuss her approach titled "Feral Data Visualization Manifesto." Her work uses techniques like botanical simulation (l-systems, cellular automata, space colonization), she transforms traditional data visualization into new, botanical forms. Cathryn will show her research projects and her approach of responsible design which opens new pathways for understanding and interacting with the data around us.

Reg Abos, a designer, educator and researcher from Melbourne, will present her ongoing doctoral research on how playful representations of data can facilitate behavior change. She will discuss how using interactive, tactile, and sensory materials in design can lead to sustainable consumer behaviors. We are intrigued to see how responsible design practice through visualizations can impact our daily habits and contribute to environmental regeneration

Join us for the 26th edition of On Data And Design, where we will explore the intersection of «Cities, Data and Design». This online event, scheduled for January 18, 2024 at 6pm CET, will be a journey through the world of urban landscapes and their relationship with data and design. Our panel of experts will show how the fusion of data visualization, urban planning, and design shapes our understanding and experience of cities. This session is perfect for city planners, architects, data enthusiasts, and anyone intrigued by the dynamic interplay of data and urban design. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn from the best in the field and explore the transformative power of data and design in shaping urban spaces.

Adam Paul Susaneck, from Segregation by Design, discusses the role of visualizations in city development, under the theme «Cities, Data and Design». He's focusing on how urban planning and data representation have contributed to segregation and social inequalities. His insights highlight the importance of inclusive and equitable approaches in urban development, emphasizing the transformative impact of visualizations.

Joost Grootens, a renowned graphic designer and educator, specializes in book design. His expertise particularly shines in the creation of atlases and reference works. In his presentation, Grootens showcases his skill in transforming complex urban data into accessible visual narratives. He aims to demonstrate how this approach can profoundly influence our understanding of cities. His work plays a significant role in shaping social and community dynamics.

Data4Change is a nonprofit organization that empowers other organizations to use data in their advocacy work. They collect data, coach organizations on using data, and help them communicate data effectively. They have created numerous data projects to address critical issues and bring about change.

Our panel of experts will discuss the latest projects that combine data visualization data art sculpture and sensory experiences. The overarching question guides us «Where does design end and art begin?».

Adrien Segal a sculptor who elegantly fuses art with data transforming abstract datasets into tactile masterpieces. With a knack for visualizing natural phenomena and human experiences in 3D forms. In her talk she illuminates the journey of shaping data into sculptures inviting us to perceive information through touch and form.

Tiziana Alocci a London-based data artist designer lecturer explores the fascinating world of sensory data. The talk delves into the realms of sound music fragrances and aromas presenting a fresh approach to data storytelling.

Lev Manovich pioneering media theorist and the mind behind "The Language of New Media." Lev introduces selected projects of his Cultural Analytics lab which combine methods from design data visualization and digital humanities. The lab was created in 2007 to develop techniques for the study contemporary and historical visual cultures using big data approaches.

Our expert panel is discussing the latest trends and techniques in data visualization and mapping. From tracking forest defoliation due to climate change to monitoring corona infections maps are becoming increasingly important in identifying many global problems.

John Nelson a cartographer at Esri known for his contributions to the field of map-making. Through his YouTube channel he shares detailed tutorials on map creation sharing the cartographic process from start to finish. John shows us examples of maps as a visual platform for data and some of his projects showcasing the enormous potential of maps to uniquely reveal and communicate.

Nico Belmonte brings 15+ years of experience in Data Visualization and Mapping from working at companies like Twitter Uber and Meta. At Twitter Nico specialized in visualization of public-facing events as they were lived through the real-time conversational platform. As a Director of Engineering at Uber Nico’s team delivered industry-leading mapping software like avs.auto kepler.gl and deck.gl for business geospatial and self-driving car visualization. At Meta Nico leads the Maps Geo organization which focuses on maps for the Metaverse.

Craig Taylor a creative data artist with over 15 years of experience in the spatial industry. Currently leading the data visualization design team at Ito World he specializes in transforming movement data into visually captivating representations.

What do we know about an issue? What is actually knowledge compared to actual practice? Shedroff's theory states that data leads to information information leads to knowledge and knowledge leads to wisdom of an individual. What role does visualization play in this? How can visualizations lead to new knowledge? In what ways can we create knowledge?

Valentina D'Efilippo a London-based designer illustrator and creative director. Whose work has been part of the permanent collection of Austria's largest anthropological museum the Weltmuseum Wien and her book "The Infographic History of the World" has been translated into nine languages. Valentina talks about her latest projects and her experiences with illustrating history and human development through data visualization and infographic storytelling.

Barbara Vissirini a Berlin based communication designer will talk about her latest award winning project  Dieses kleine Buch ist für dich: A visual grammar for German as a Foreign Language. She will share with us the basics behind her design research and the developed visual system. We are curious to see if this book could be a first step into learning new languages with fun and visual logic.

Dario Rodighiero is an Assistant Professor of Sciences and Technology Studies at the University of Groningen a principal of metaLAB (at) Harvard and a member of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. As an interdisciplinary researcher and designer Dario takes us to the intersection of knowledge design critical data and digital humanities focusing on the creative possibilities of visualizations and the digital mapping of knowledge.

We are all aware that these are difficult times  war conflicts human rights violations climate change and much more. We also know that difficult issues can be very emotional or disregard certain perspectives. It takes courage and a lot of sensitivity to approach these issues. Visualisation is not always helpful and has often been abused in history better known as propaganda. At our this event we want to approach the issue from an activist perspective. We dedicate ourselves to three speakers who have tackled taboo issues related to data visualisation provocation and transparency.

Federica Fragapane is an independent data visualization designer. She designed data visualizations for Google UN Scientific American and many more. Federica tells us during this session about her personal projects that gently polarize and the strategies of the visual language behind them.

Mushon Zer Aviv is a designer researcher educator and media activist. His love-hate relationship with data guides his design work and his artworks. Mushon talks about his political project the Map of Israel and ends with a note about imagining futures through visualization.

Angeles Briones is a design researcher and data activist. She works at the intersection of data visualization and data activism research an area she explored in her PhD thesis "Disclose to tell. A data design framework for alternative narratives". Angeles shows us her findings and her own collaborative archive that presents alternative narratives.

For On Data And Design 21 «Visual Systems» we examine the structure of visual systems. By systems we refer to components that have distinct properties and are related to one another. These properties can be implemented in graphics data visualizations or in code.

Nicole Lachenmeier finally reveals Superdot Studios first publication «Visualizing Complexity  Modular Information Design Handbook» after two years of work. In this book presentation Nicole explains everything from the origin to the basic principles of the new design system.

Dr. Martin Lorenz has combined his practical experience teaching and research at the University of Barcelona in the design manual for modern visual identities: «Flexible visual Systems» In this video Martin talks about his different approaches and use cases of Flexible Visual Systems  a new mindset for designers.

Christian Schneider explores how data visualization makes complex data accessible creates insights and reveals patterns. He connects data and design with code and shows the hidden beauty of data in the upcoming event. For this purpose Christian has developed a system of how programming languages can be used to make this beauty visible.

Louis Sullivan one of the first great skyscraper architects wrote in 1896 "Whether it be the sweeping eagle in his flight or the open apple-blossom the toiling work-horse the blithe swan the branching oak the winding stream at its base the drifting clouds over all the coursing sun form ever follows function and this is the law.“ On Data And Design 20 explores the question of whether Sullivan's statement can still be put into a new context 126 years later with practical examples from three speakers. The question is whether design follows the data or does the data follow the design? What is the mindset behind it? Does a question follow the data or does the question follow the design? What is the relationship between data literacy and questions? Does the audience follow the data or does the audience follow the design? How can you create dataviz for different age groups?

Stefaan G Verhulst Co-Founder and Chief Research and Development Officer of The Governance Laboratory shares insights of their initiative The 100 Questions that seeks to turn the focus on the questions that matter rather than the data that may be available. He argues that we need a new “science of questioning” along with visual topic mappings to establish a Gestalt of the problem domain. He believes that next to data literacy designers also need question literacy  understanding the way questions are asked and visualized.

Stefanie Posavec whose work has been exhibited internationally at major galleries including the Centre Pompidou and MoMA talks about recent projects that focus on finding new and experimental approaches for the communication of data and information. Stefanie shares important experiences and challenges about the power to communicate data to a variety of ages and audiences.

Moritz Stefaner keeps as an independent Truth & Beauty Operator chasing the perfect form for information. In his talk he investigates the practice of data visualization in a wider context — is there a specific "dataviz mindset" that is unique to the field? And how can we characterize and describe it?

The purpose of Open Data is to make data publicly available to everyone. It can be freely interpreted and used by all. However how many of us have actually used this data at least once? How many of us know about the topic of open data but fail at the first *.csv file?

Matthias Mazenauer Vice Head of the Statistical Office of the Canton of Zürich talks about the need for data transparency of government agencies and how government agencies can enhance the accessibility of data so that people like Diana and Matteo can do their important work. He shares his own experience in advocating open government data and the obstacles and challenges he faces in his daily work.

Diana Krebs Head of the Open Government Programme at the think tank neuland21. Neuland 21 is a non-profit organisation in Bad Belzig/Brandenburg that researches and implements social and digital innovation projects in rural areas. Diana shares interesting insights and challenges of the current research project OpenDataLand especially with a focus on good strategies on how to implement  an Open Data culture at a local level.

Matteo Moretti co-founder and designer at Sheldon.Studio talks about three projects: Glocal Climate Change Mapping Diversity and Matera 2019 European Capital of culture. Matteo shares important experiences and hurdles in working with open data to empower communities and support a better-informed debate which is the basis for all three projects.

Most people's first points of contact with data visualization are either newspapers or museums. The reason for this is that both are meant to fulfill a communication function. In museums and public spaces in particular the lines between data communication or data art are blurred. With our two speakers who are pioneers in this particular field we explore this question and also learn if their approaches can open up other application areas.

Cedric Kiefer co-founder and creative director of onformative opens different dimensions of visualizing data at the intersection of technology art and design. He gives insights into their projects that creatively translate data into the physical space.

Pau Garcia cofounder and managing director of domestic data streamers talks about info-experiences and the contextual importance of space. Showcasing projects on data in all kinds of places from churches to prisons to hospitals. The talk gives us insights behind their process in transforming information into data-experiences.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted in September 2015 and runs until 2030. Data and statistics are a key element in measuring the development as well as in supporting the implementation of its 17 goals. Data visualization is a in the heart of communication of those data. On Data And Design 17 presents different aspects of the SDGs: How can data visualization support but also mislead the communication? How are the United Nations communicate with visuals their data and finally how is a national statistical office using and improving new approaches of data visualization to communicate with the data users?

Stefan Schweinfest Director of the UN Statistics Division talks about the importance of the SDGs as a worldwide agenda the current challenges and how data visualization have an impact on worldwide communication.

Serenella Ravioli Director for Communication at the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) gives us insights about national developments towards standardised data interfaces and visualizations especially on the topic of Census.

Vincent F. Hendricks Founder and Director of The Center for Information and Bubble Studies at the University of Copenhagen. He considers the last and very important SDG Goal: New Partnerships.

Jan Schwochow (Deutschland), Gründer von "Schwochow Visual Stories", wird sein neues Buch "Die Welt verstehen" vorstellen. Sarah Luger (Österreich), Gründerin von Moments of Aha, wird das Buch "Zweitkleinste" vorstellen. Thomas Schulz (Schweiz), Leiter Informationsvermittlung im Bundesamt für Statistik (Schweiz) wird sein Buch «Die Schweiz in Bild und Zahl. Heute und vor 100 Jahren.» vorstellen.

Jan Schwochow founder of "Schwochow Visual Stories" presents his new book "Die Welt verstehen".

Thomas Schulz head of information dissemination at the Federal Statistical Office (Switzerland) presents his book "Die Schweiz in Bild und Zahl. Heute und vor 100 Jahren."

Sarah Luger founder of Moments of Aha presents the book "Zweitkleinste".

Flooh Perlot talks about his visualisations of political data in Austria. He gives us insights in his process of processing data and using the d3 JavaScript libraries. Based on realised projects Flooh will show what benefits and challenges exist in visualizing political data.

Gerhard Halusa from the „Österreichischen Gesellschafts- and Wirtschaftsmuseum“ talks about the roots of the „Wien Method of pictural statistics" later called Isotype. The topic covers the history Otto Neurath and his team the method todays museum challenges research and the future outlook of the museum activities.

Olga Kononykhina is a quantitative sociologist and data scientist. She shares her experience from data driven research projects to informing policy-makers talks about pitfalls and tradeoffs she had to make and also seeks input from the audience on building a more common understanding of how to generate true impact when communicating data.

Jeffrey Heer is a professor of computer science & engineering at the University of Washington and a co-founder of the dataviz languages Vega and D3.js. He speaks about the challenges around data ethics from his perspective as an interactive tool creator.

Dominique Brodbeck talks about how to get from data to insights with the help of interactive visualization. He draws on his experience in visualizing complex things from atoms to galaxies and everything inbetween in science technology business and everyday life.

Marina Bräm talks about her work as head of infographics and design director for the digital paid media at Tamedia. She‘s currently working on the redesign of the different news websites. She talks about her most important experiences over the last four years in this tow positions.

Arne Haeger talks as the head of newsdesign at SRF about the system they have developed to introduce complex topics in news. His talk shows insights use-cases learnings and challenges of storytelling in the context of fast media production.

Ilya Boyandin from Teralytics talks about visualizing human mobility and the challenges posed by the complexity of data on large-scale geographic movement. Addressing these challenges makes it possible to extract useful insights which can help improve the transport infrastructure and mobility services in our cities.

Ksenia Pogorelova talks about her work as an information designer at the trend research agency Zukunftsinstitut explaining the potential of journalistic analysis and visualization of data. She also goes into detail about her work process providing best practice examples of using currently existing infographic apps.

Burcu Mikulcik talks about her project Urban Change in time which visualises the change in Wien through maps from 1600s till today. She shares with us her experiences and background stories how she build up her research and what we can learn from using visualisations to enable insights and communication.

Bernhard Krabina talks about the award-winning platform Open Spending Austria. On this platform spending data of more than 1.000 Austrian municipalities are visualized using several different visualizations.

Christoph Almasy talks about on what he has learned in 10 years of visualizing information for organizations in all sorts of areas and sizes. He reflects on his way of handling complexity and guiding people towards a better understanding.

Fabienne Kilchör designed the font Diglu to help communicate archaeological information to a target audience. Her talk will prove how designers can help science communicate their results.

Andrea Schnell talks about a Design Toolbox for the software package R she developed with her colleagues at the Statistical Office of the Canton of Zürich. It enables the creation of print-ready graphics PDF reports and XLSX tables that comply with our corporate design guidelines.

Dylan Muir talks about artificial neural networks the role of visualization and his benevolent project "data science for good" where they help society use open data.

At this event we had a speaker canceling so Darjan Hil jumped in and had a talk about a labs project in Superdot (former YAAY). The Labs projects is showing the cost of Living around Europe with a new invented diagram type based on the data of Eurostat. He also shows a fuckup-project which was very important for YAAY (now Superdot). In this talk Darjan shares some learnings in understanding information and creating information design in forms / reports for decision making. There are some sections censored. Sorry

Thomas Torsney Weir from the VDA research group at the Faculty of Computer Science University of Wien has been working on visualizations for understanding machine learning algorithms and will share his insights on the current projects.

Borna Müller of Roche talks about his daily practice and challenges with data and visualization in the corporate world of Big Pharma.

First Swiss Meetup On Data And Design in Basel. The summer talk was given by Felix Michel from Tageswoche. He has given insights about data journalism and storytelling.

First Austrian Meetup On Data And Design. The extended summer talk was given by Darjan Hil from Superdot GmbH (Former YAAY) from Basel. He has given insights about their data visualizations and information design projects. There were 4 examples presented in print as well as in the online field. One of them is the early  award winning project for Stiftung Bauhaus and Arch+ Competition.