A lot of people have been emailing asking how I create these images, what software I use and so on. So I thought I’d share a bit of my process with you. I hope you find it helpful.

general approach

As a general rule, I create the images by hand in Adobe Illustrator CS4. It’s an amazingly powerful drawing package. Adobe have a fully functional 30-day trial version to download if you want to take it for a spin.

Data visualisation wise, it can output a few basic graphs, but otherwise, it doesn’t render data.

That means, yes, I have to hand position every data point on every single image I create. And, yup, I am that anal.

To be honest, most times, you get a much better, designed, organic result working by hand. Although other times, it’s just an arse.

Hand-creating information designs gives you a better connection to the information you’re working with. It helps you make decisions on the fly while you’re drawing. Above all it’s meticulous and fun. Like painting with data.

Personally I feel that most data needs a degree of sculpting, shaping, editorialising to make it approachable, or useable, or to allow the interesting story or pattern inside to be revealed.

some examples

Timelines: TimeTravel in TV and Film
Yup, we went through 36 drafts of this. Yes, I am a rampant perfectionist. Yes I can be difficult to work with.




More process stuff later. If you have any thoughts or recommendations, feel free to drop me an email. Thanks! David

• Time Travel In TV and Film (Process)
• 2012: The End Of The World?