How do great visualisation designers think?

Over the course of the last several years of this blog, you’ve got a good level of insight into how I think. But this post isn’t about me – how do great visualisation designers think? This (with the exception of me anglicising the spelling and emphasising the word “great”) is the subtitle and premise of Alberto Cairo’s latest essential book: The Art of Insight

Alberto is one of the most important and supportive people in the field of data visualisation (not least as the series editor of the AK Peters books, a series close to my heart!), and his previous books The Truthful Art and The Functional Art are similarly essential reads for anyone in our field. For this reason, he is also an important follow across social media feeds. Because of this, I had seen lots of quotes and comments from Alberto about how proud he was of this book, which he is too modest to have considered his best to date, but certainly shared the amount of personal investment he had put into the book and his pride in the result.

And sure enough, we can see why. It’s a book that appeals directly to me, perhaps in a way more than almost all of the books on my shelf / reviewed on this site. In developing each chapter through conversations with some of the most eminent designers in our field, he paints a number of detailed portraits covering information designers across all different roles and areas in our field. Straight away, the book’s chapters and contributing personalities are divided into four sections: pragmatists, eccentrics, ambassadors and narrators. Scanning the chapter titles and contributors for those whom I most relate to and aspire to be, I immediately decide I am an eccentric. I’m happy with that! 

This immediate structure of the book is a great way to dive straight in. But before doing that, Alberto interweaves the introduction with contributions from an industry great in much the same way he will with future chapters. “On Magic”, with Shirley Wu, summarises the wonderment I feel about data visualisation and information design, and what has hooked me into the field from the start. 

And indeed, Shirley herself, whom I cite as an influence repeatedly on these pages, is an important co-narrator – her contribution to this chapter being a perfect complement to her inspiring and moving keynote to the Outlier Conference in 2023. In writing this post I’ve taken a break of over an hour to re-watch Shirley’s talk in full here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF7mSTVwVs0 – so I don’t mind if you take a one hour plus break from reading this review to do exactly the same, you’ll find your inspiration levels for this review, and our data visualisation field, raised a further couple of notches before you continue!

Each chapter is a standalone read, focusing on one data visualisation designer (though there is a narrative flow which ultimately makes it easier to pick up and read from start to finish). And each chapter is a delightful mix of words from the relevant designer, thoughts from the author (often referencing quotes and concepts across a far wider cultural remit than just data visualisation), and industry-leading output and visualisations from the relevant designer.

I can best illustrate this by choosing the example of one such designer. Sonja Kuijpers has long since been one of my primary influences – I’ve had the privilege and pleasure of meeting her at industry events too and becoming friends. Also categorised as an “eccentric”, hers was the first chapter I wanted to read. Summarised by her title chapter of “A Mindful Artisan”, the chapter leads with a quote from sociologist C Wright Mills: “The laborer with a sense of craft becomes engaged in the work in and of itself: the satisfactions of working are its own reward”, explaining how Sennett distinguishes between craft and art. He draws conclusions on whether such eccentric designers are artists, artisans or both – you can read the book to find his conclusion! 

But this leads us then into the main content where we learn about Sonja, her career, and the stories behind many of her most well-known and influential pieces of work. This allows us to be inspired both by Sonja’s personal journey as a designer and by her body of work. Written in such a way that you can imagine the friendly and open conversations between author and designer, we are led to Alberto’s conclusion in a friendly manner as if we were part of the conversation itself. In this case, the rhetorical conclusion: “Is there a greater reward for work done with attention, love and care?”

Repeat the process twenty-one further times, and you have a collection of 22 personal discussions and showcases of great visualisation designers (23 including Shirley Wu). In particular, after being drawn to the “eccentric” group of designers that inspire me, it was instructive to read about those labelled as “ambassadors”. The designers included in this category are second to none when it comes to raising awareness of the field and the diversity of talent within. In doing so they foster communities and become role models. These chapters and the individuals featured within them (such as Allen Hillary and Amanda Makulec but including several more, some of whom I need to learn more about), inspire me to do the same. Is it possible to be a creative, individualistic and eccentric designer as well as an ambassador and role model? Although every designer in the book is understandably categorised in just one way for purposes of flow of the book, I believe so. If you’re like me, you will be able to take influence from all types of designer, without being pigeon-holed to just one area.

Many data visualisation books (including those reviewed within this blog) feature on visualisation outputs, which act as inspiration. Many focus on technical process, storytelling or thought process, all which can lead to ideas and knowledge. But few combinations of content are as directly inspirational as the chapters contained within this book, which acts as a number of personally-curated nuggets of pure inspiration tailored to different skills, personalities and circumstances.