Creative Constraints for Data Visualisation Practice

Read the essay and see the interactive charts produced by this code.

Technologies: html, svg, css, javascript.

Framework: svelte.

Key libraries: D3.

Explore how everything was put together.

• src/App.svelte put eveything together into a single page.
• src/components/* includes all the code needed to create the interactive charts.

In summary: In the essay I show how setting myself arbitrary constraints helped me to be more creative in my data visualisation design practice. Constraints like working in greyscale and working with only a single chart type. The idea came from my practice as an electronic music producer, where for the last few years I have used arbitrary constraints to help me to come up with musical ideas. The visualisations within the essay show a well-known dataset from environmental economics. A dataset that tracks the relationship between the wealth of a country and its carbon emissions.

The target audience: data visualisation practitioners who are interested in learning more about novel techniques for promoting creativity in their practice.

Process: I started by setting myself some arbitrary constraints. Then working within these constraints I developed a series of interactive data visualisations. I then iteratively developed an essay reflecting on, and sharing, my experiences of working within the constraints. I received helpful feedback throughout the process from the Elevate Data Viz community.