We know, sometimes we’re a bit nerdy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Showing data so that it is understandable and useful for an audience, letting patterns and insights emerge that would otherwise stay hidden in the numbers. It is a top-down process: our clients give us the data, we visualize it, the audience experiences it. See our works.

The opposite of data visualization: a bottom-up process. We design a frame, and the audience brings it to life with their own data, bodies, objects and spaces, building a visualization of themselves. It is a great way to collect a community’s data and let it reflect on itself, as if looking in a mirror. See Sete Festival, BlurM3Not and our training on data and participation. Further reading: Moretti & Mattozzi, 2020 and the list of physical visualizations.

It combines previous approaches. People guess a figure that is initially hidden: each guess is new data about the audience and how they perceive the phenomenon, so information first flows bottom up. Guessing positions participants towards the phenomenon and sparks their curiosity: they want the answer and ask for the real data, which then flows top down. See Sete Festival, Barriera Mentale. Further reading: Mattozzi & Moretti, 2025.

Data storytelling is the method: a narrative built around data. Visual journalism applies it to news and investigations (Mapping Diversity, Glocal Climate Change). An interactive report is the format: an institution’s report turned into an explorable web experience (Statistica Veneta, StopHateSpeech). Classic reference: Segel & Heer, 2010.

Visual communication of research to people outside the field: graphical abstracts, explorable visualizations, exhibitions. Accuracy stays, jargon goes. See MAXXI AI, Seed 360 and our graphical abstract training.

When people need to monitor data that changes over time, or find and reuse public datasets. We design them around real questions rather than every available chart. See Covidash, Matera Open Data Platform and Paesaggi Futuri. Further reading: Sarikaya et al., 2019.

Co-design is our mantra: designing with our clients and with the people the project is for. They are the domain experts: they know their needs, competitors, challenges, hopes and fears. We bring the know-how on how to get there. It is mutual empowerment towards a shared goal, a path of growth on both sides that makes projects stronger, shared and more aware. See MAXXI AI, designed with people with different needs. Further reading: Sanders & Stappers, 2008.

The ability to read, question and use data critically, including who collected it and who is missing from it. We teach it in our data literacy and storytelling training; see also Disabled Data. Further reading: Data Feminism.