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Sparrowhawk Data
Sparrowhawk Data

Sparrowhawk Data

Helping you create better data visualizations – one chart at a time.

Let's face it -- if you're here, your data viz isn't where you want it to be. We can help with that. Our approach to dataviz is grounded in the research on visualization and perception so you get expert knowledge without having to read hundreds of papers. Ready to dial your dataviz up to 11?

Work with us!

Just here to learn? That’s cool too. We have plenty of articles on dataviz best practices and some tutorials to get you started.

Recent

Makeover Monday: August 19, 2024
·4 mins
A friend sent me this line chart, presumably published in the print edition of the Irish Times. They had the same chart published on their website with corrected data, and have since corrected the y-axis direction. So props to them for making it a bit more intuitive.
Elements of Dataviz Style: Crafting Good Titles
·4 mins
Most leaders in the data visualization space maintain that visualizations should have a clear, focused message. Stephanie Evergreen (of Evergreen Data) says that we “visualize to communicate a point.” If we don’t have a point, why visualize? Mike Bostock (of Observable, and d3.js fame) says good dataviz “should be opinionated.
Makeover Monday: August 12, 2024
·5 mins
I came across these enrolment projections from BC’s School District 43 (aka SD43) while working on another project. School districts are usually pretty bad at data viz, but really, who can blame them? It’s not like kids won’t go to school just because the district doesn’t have a clear communication strategy, and budgets tend to be on the tighter side.
Makeover Monday: August 5, 2024
·4 mins
I found this stacked bar chart by Vancouver consulting firm OXD while working on another project. Since they do design consulting, OXD’s visualizations are usually pretty good, but I found this one took too long to read. The visualization comes from the Anti-racism Online Engagement Report OXD developed for the Government of British Columbia.
Data Viztory: Sumerian Tablets
·3 mins
Join us as we explore the ways data have been visualized throughout history, from ancient times to the modern era. Today we look at Sumerian clay tokens and tablets, which were used at least 6000 years ago and eventually developed into the first writing system.
Elements of Dataviz Style: Hierarchy
·3 mins
I recently attended a talk by Steve Franconeri of the Visual Thinking Lab whose big takeaway was that “reading a graph is like reading a paragraph.” Even though graphs are visual, we rely on slow cognitive operations to process them. Recognition is quick, but comparison takes a lot more time.