Insight

Creative Community Update: Getting heard on client calls

The Creative Community update is a bimonthly newsletter sent to our network of data specialists summarising the latest news and resources in the data viz world. We also include opportunities to work with us, such as contributing to our community articles or collaborating for client projects.

Welcome to the 7th issue of the Creative Community newsletter from infogr8. Every couple of months, I share a roundup of dataviz updates and upcoming opportunities to work with us.

We’ve recently welcomed Martina Zunica as our new Information Design Lead. Part of her focus involves a new partnership with the Data Visualization Society for our Future Fridays initiative — more details to come soon.

Speaking of partnerships, you may have heard that Figma and Adobe abandoned their proposed merger in December. I’ll admit that I did feel a sense of relief with this news because I like how Figma is operating right now. They have all the right products and features that their users care about. The ease of use and simplicity is what draws me back to the app, and it seems to be growing within the dataviz space as people create more integrations to connect with powerful BI tools like Tableau and Power BI.

Work with us:

We are still accepting pitches. See our current writing themes and send me your ideas by replying to this email.

News

• I know many of you love to use Notion, and they just released their Calendar app. I’ve just started using it and I really like how simple the interface is.
• You can now create small multiple line charts in Datawrapper.
• Or generate usable vue.js components with vue0.dev
• Andy Kirk from Visualising Data has launched ‘Visualising Data Newsletter’, which will ‘chronicle the most insightful and delightful data viz content every month’.
• Gabrielle Mérite and Eli Holder have partnered to publish their Effect & Affect newsletter on the latest scientific research on human perception and the impact of dataviz.

New books

• Daphne Draws Data by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
• Mémo visuel d’agronomie by Benjamin Nowak
• Data Visualization Handbook by Juuso Koponen & Jonatan Hildén

Upcoming Events

• Datawrapper Conference (Mar 13-15)
• Tableau Conference 2024 (Apr 29 – May 1)

Learning resources

• A directory of 19 data visualisation design systems
• Getting started with D3 + Svelte with Matthias Stahl
• Svelte + D3: Map on canvas and zoom on click with Matthias Stahl
• Friends don’t let friends make bad graphs: 14 guiding principles to building good charts

Getting heard on client calls

This section is dedicated to sharing helpful tips with dataviz freelancers on working with clients.

Jake, our GM of EdTech, shares three practical tips on how you can get your voice heard on client calls.
Being on calls with clients can be tough. They may be time-poor,  commanding, or think their ideas are best.

So getting your point across and even influencing opinions is a critical skill that, when mastered, will bring your game to the next level. Here are my three tips for success.

Show, don’t tell

Being visual by demo is a core value at infogr8. You’d be surprised how many times people will try to explain a concept only for it to fall flat because it was too abstract or complex. Being prepared with visuals goes a long way. Need to think quickly on your feet? Have a pen and paper to hand. Sketching a concept can often be the most effective visual.

Stay objective 

Refer back to your knowledge and mastery in your profession. Thinking practically, if there’s a brief or a strategy the client has agreed to, then ground your reasoning in that. Is there a reference the client has shown interest in? Refer back to it. Explain why those colours don’t work — is it colourblind tested or will it go off brand?

Be collaborative and empathic

Bring clients on the journey with you. Ask for their inspirations or benchmark work they’ve seen before. Usually a client has seen something they love and want to emulate it. Get them as excited in your thinking as you are. And finally, listen. If you’re trying to make a point that doesn’t answer a client’s needs or veers the conversation off-topic, then be prepared for uninterested ears.

Want to get these updates straight in your inbox? Sign up for the infogr8 Creative Community newsletter. We share data viz updates and work opportunities with our talent network.