Andy Kirk - Data Visualization: a successful design process

Andy Kirk is a freelance data visualization design consultant, training provider, and editor of the popular data visualization blog, visualisingdata.com.

After graduating from Lancaster University with a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Operational Research, he spent over a decade at a number of the UK's largest organizations in a variety of business analysis and information management roles.

Late 2006 provided Andy with a career-changing "eureka" moment through the serendipitous discovery of data visualization and he has passionately pursued this subject ever since, completing an M.A. (with Distinction) at the University of Leeds along the way.

In February 2010, he launched visualisingdata.com with a mission to provide readers with inspiring insights into the contemporary techniques, resources, applications, and best practices around this increasingly popular field. His design consultancy work and training courses extend this ambition, helping organizations of all shapes, sizes, and industries to enhance the analysis and communication of their data to maximize impact.

This book aims to pass on some of the expertise Andy has built up over these years to provide readers with an informative and helpful guide to succeeding in the challenging but exciting world of data visualization design.

Thanks go to my family and friends, but especially to my wonderful wife, Ellie, for her unwavering support, patience, and guidance.

Alberto Cairo has taught infographics and data visualization at the University of Miami since January 2012. He is the author of the book The Functional Art: An Introduction to Information Graphics and Visualization ( Peachpit/Pearson , 2012, http://www.thefunctionalart.com). He has been director of infographics at El Mundo online, Spain (2000-2005), professor of infographics and visualization at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (2005-2009), and director of infographics and multimedia at poca magazine, Brazil (2010-2011). In the past decade, he has consulted with media organizations and educational institutions in nearly 20 countries.

Ben Jones is founder of Data Remixed, a website dedicated to exploring and sharing data analysis and data visualization in an engaging way. Ben has a mechanical engineering and business (entrepreneurship) background, and has spent time as a process improvement expert and trainer in Corporate America. Ben specializes in creating interactive data visualizations with Tableau software, and has won a number of Tableau data visualization competitions. This is Ben's first contribution to a book on the subject of data visualization.

I'd like to thank Andy Kirk for selecting me to contribute as a technical reviewer of this book, and my wife Sarah for all the support she gives me in pursuing my passion of the field of data visualization. I'd also like to thank my fellow technical reviewers, from whom I have learned a great deal over the course of the creation of this book.

Santiago Ortiz invents and develops highly innovative and interactive projects for the Web, using self-built frameworks in JavaScript, HTML5, and ActionScript.

He has over more than 10 years of experience working on interactive visualization projects. In 2005, he co-founded Bestiario (http://bestiario.org), the first European company specializing in information visualization. Currently, he freelances in the U.S.A. and Europe.

He has presented at events such as VISWEEK, FutureEverything, VizEurope, O'Reilly STRATA, SocialMediaWeek, NYViz, OFFF, and ARS ELECTRONICA.

His projects have been featured in blogs such as ReadWriteWeb, FlowingData, O'REILLY radar, Fast CoDesign, Gizmodo, and The Guardian datablog.

Jerome Cukier is a highly respected Paris-based data visualization consultant with many years of experience as a data analyst and coordinator of data visualization initiatives at the OECD. Jerome specializes in the creation and design

of data visualizations, data analytics, and gamification. His broad portfolio of work is regularly profiled on the leading visualization and design websites and collated on his own site at http://www.jeromecukier.net.

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