Wonder Tools

Share this post

Wonder Tools šŸ“Š The Best Data Visualization Tool

wondertools.substack.com

Wonder Tools šŸ“Š The Best Data Visualization Tool

Try Flourish to create charts and interactive visuals — a 3-minute read

Jeremy Caplan
May 18, 2023
26
2
Share

Flourish is the most useful tool for creating data visualizations. It’s free and easy to use to make line, bar and pie charts. You can also use its templates to craft sophisticated 3D maps, word clouds, quizzes, or annotated timelines.

You can share, download, or embed your creations. Canva acquired Flourish in 2022, so you can use it on its own or insert graphics into a Canva presentation. This post is an update of my earlier writeup.

3 visuals you can create with Flourish

Bar Chart Race

Compare changes over time. Show sales growth, a market value comparison, or a head-to-head assessment of athletic performance.

Photo Slider

Show before and after images to illustrate damage caused by a natural disaster or how a face or place has changed over time. Just upload two photos.

  • Default view: The viewer drags a slider back and forth to see image A and B.

  • Fader style: Two images fade into one another as the viewer drags the slider.

  • Spotlight style: Elements of image B are spotlighted when the viewer mouses over image A. This highlight changes to details within an image. Ā 

Photo by Scott Butcher on Unsplash. See the before/after slider version I created using Flourish and Canva’s Magic Editor.

Cards

Flourish visualizations don’t require numbers. Cards let you highlight companies, political candidates, athletes, artists, or other entities with a carousel.

New in Flourish

  • Scrollytelling renders your visuals as an immersive scrollable visual story.

  • Interactive calculators let viewers personalize data. You can even link a Google Sheet to Flourish to visualize survey responses as they arrive.

  • Gauge graphics let you show data on a low-high gauge (as on election night).

Share

4 useful featuresĀ 

  • Templates include more than 50 ready-to-make visuals. Drop in your own data to get a graphic to use for your site, newsletter, or social networks.

  • Stories let you combine multiple visuals over a series of interactive slides. An example illustrates global exports.Ā Ā 

  • Searchable charts enable your viewer to find relevant data within a graphic. Ā 

  • Annotations allow you to explain complex data sets or anomalies.Ā 

Pricing: Flourish is free for basic use. Newsrooms can apply to use Flourish for free. Enterprise users can contact Flourish for a price quote.

Caveats 🄺

  • No mobile app. Visuals created w/ Flourish do look good on mobile, though.

  • Some visualization templates— like timelines and interactive calculators— are only available on paid plans.

  • Data novices may find Flourish’s customization options overwhelming.

Flourish in Action šŸ“ˆ

Wimbledon data šŸŽ¾ | COVID-19 data šŸ“‰ | US election results mapsĀ šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡ø | Climate-related litigation ā„ļø | UK name popularity | Love Island dating show data ā¤ļø

Share Wonder Tools


Sponsored Messages

Meco is a distraction-free space for reading newsletters outside the inbox. The app is completely free and packed with features designed to supercharge your learnings from your favorite writers. Become a more productive reader and cut out the noise. Try Meco free.

šŸ¦„ Unicorner sends the best early-stage startups straight to your inbox. Every Monday morning, you'll get a 2-minute rundown on a promising company with the potential to be a future unicorn. Learn about the next Netflix, Uber, or Airbnb before they're the next Netflix, Uber, or Airbnb.Ā Check it out here.


Learn More

  • Charts and Infographics is a great list of tools from the Journalist’s Toolbox.

  • This guide to creating charts and graphics for social media has useful tips

  • A step-by-step guide + video for visualizing Google Trends data w/ Flourish

Alternatives to Flourish

  • Piktochart & Infogram have easy-to-use infographics templates

  • Genially lets you add a variety of interactive elements to your graphics

  • Datawrapper šŸ‘‡ is free and simple, but has fewer visualization templates

Make quick charts and maps šŸ“ˆ

Jeremy Caplan
Ā·
June 9, 2022
Make quick charts and maps šŸ“ˆ

Datawrapper makes it easy to create your own data visualizations. It’s free and easy to use for non-designers.

Read full story

Email a friend about Wonder Tools. This linked text generates a pre-written email draft that’s ready to send to a friend who may appreciate you sharing.

26
2
Share
Previous
Next
2 Comments
Mitchell Allen
Writes Mitchell’s Mind-bending Variety…
May 18Liked by Jeremy Caplan

Ah, my least favorite subject: charts. LOL I'm not much of a numbers person and I always find it interesting how difficult it is for the average person to create meaningful charts. Charts are like websites: they can be flashy or plain; they can tell a story succinctly or they can bury insights in a jumble of noise; they can be honest or they can be misleading.

Do you know Mynda Treacy? I learned a lot from her site, mainly, that I didn't want to take the time to learn about data visualization. šŸ“ˆšŸ“‰šŸ¤¢

Expand full comment
Reply
Claudia Cruz
May 18Liked by Jeremy Caplan

Great edition as always. A follow up "request"...😁 for those of us self taught data enthusiasts, with some data I always wonder what type of chart is better for what set of data...

Expand full comment
Reply
Top
New
Community

No posts

Ready for more?

Ā© 2023 Jeremy Caplan
Privacy āˆ™ Terms āˆ™ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
SubstackĀ is the home for great writing