Secrets of the Viz

Louis Yu
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Welcome to Secrets of the Viz, where we dive deep into the heart of Tableau Public's #VizOfTheDay. Join me as we learn from the authors themselves on their inspirations and design processes! Let's get down to unlocking.. the Secrets of the Viz.

  1. 4d ago

    Epi 115 : Busting the Myths About Reading Graphic Novels

    In this chaotic behind-the-scenes episode of Secrets of the Viz, we had Kevin on to walk through a sped-up, five-minute rehearsal of building his final Iron Viz entry in Tableau, recorded before TC. Kevin shows how he uses rehearsal-style guidelines, a cheat sheet, and parameters to hide setup marks before presenting, and explains that most of the design is built in Tableau with a dual-axis polygon and text, with only part of the background as an image. They discuss a clever search feature using a pipe string concatenator (e.g., searching “Batman” or “romance”), plus graphic novel recommendations like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, American Born Chinese, and Heartstopper. Kevin breaks down which parts were hardest time-consuming text placement, trial-and-error book visuals, and a heavily customized rank chart and why he avoided doing it all in Figma. https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/kevin.wee/viz/BustingtheMythsAboutReadingGraphicNovelsIronViz2026/Dashboard 00:21 - Introduction 00:54 - Speedrun Build 05:36 - Using Concatenators to Search 06:08 - All about Graphic Novles 08:22 - The chaos behind the chart designs 09:17 - The secret to Kevin's rehearsal 10:05 - Toughest challenges ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ℹ️ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭? Welcome to "Secrets of the Viz", where I dive deep into the amazing vizzes in #TableauPublic and other #DataVisualization tools. Have you ever wondered how these stunning visualizations come to life? I'll be peeling back the layers with the authors themselves as they share their inspirations, design processes and unique techniques. Join me as we explore, learn, and get inspired together. Don't forget to subscribe, follow for more tips and check out the full playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVkjBKxQASMmwlAE89dt97IMSFqTpGldh ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐊𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧 ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-wee/ ▶ https://x.com/KevinWee90 ▶ https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/kevin.wee/ ▶ https://kevinwee.com/category/portfolio/ #datavisualization #analytics #design #infographic #books #goodreads #graphicnovels #comics #webcomics

  2. Jul 6

    Epi 114 : Bird migration is changing

    In this episode of Secrets of the Viz, Ana Lucia Gonzalez and Prina Shah from The Guardian joins us to share about building a bird migration data visualization. They discuss how a broad pitch became bird “diaries,” the challenge of sourcing and verifying uneven migration datasets across regions, and layering routes with temperature and vegetation data. Prina explains iterative design decisions, especially the landscape-map vs portrait-mobile problem; and moving from a globe concept to cropped flat maps that worked for mobile-first scrollytelling. They cover why animation and timelines suited migration, how smooth motion and faded “tails” were achieved with an interactive journalist, and how radar, GPS trackers, community-sourced bird sounds, and illustrations filled gaps where photos and video were limited, including a featured bird that follows hurricanes. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2025/oct/16/bird-migration-is-changing-what-does-this-reveal-about-our-planet-visualised-aoe 00:00 - Globe or Flat Map 00:33 - Meet the Guests 01:12 - Project Origins 02:11 - Hunting Migration Data 04:05 - Mobile Map Design 06:33 - Mobile vs Desktop 08:22 - Animating the Journey 10:52 - Tracking Birds Science 12:57 - Illustrations and Audio 14:55 - Favorite Birds and Stories 17:50 - Wrap Up and Next Projects ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ℹ️ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭? Welcome to "Secrets of the Viz", where I dive deep into the amazing vizzes in #TableauPublic and other #DataVisualization tools. Have you ever wondered how these stunning visualizations come to life? I'll be peeling back the layers with the authors themselves as they share their inspirations, design processes and unique techniques. Join me as we explore, learn, and get inspired together. Don't forget to subscribe, follow for more tips and check out the full playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVkjBKxQASMmwlAE89dt97IMSFqTpGldh ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐧𝐚 ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana-lucia-gonzalez-paz-b800244/ ▶ https://x.com/anlugonz ▶ https://linktr.ee/analuciagonzalez ▶ https://bsky.app/profile/anlugonz.bsky.social 🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚 ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/prina-shah-939b94101/ ▶ https://x.com/PrinaShah2 ▶ https://bsky.app/profile/prinashah.bsky.social 🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐛𝐞 ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/phoebe-weston-ab156bb4/ ▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHQBxx1w4u5N6jfhP_xakiQ ▶ https://x.com/phoeb0 🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐨 ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniovoce/ #datavisualization #analytics #design #infographic #journalism #newspaper #digitalstories #birds #birdsmigration #ecosystem #birdwatching #migration #nature

  3. Jun 30

    Epi 113 : The Sp-Space Between Words

    In this episode of Secrets of the Viz, Idris shares a deeply personal dashboard about stuttering and how he learned to manage it over time. Idris recounts struggling to speak in primary school, then a turning point in secondary school when classmates pushed him to represent them in a weekly debate, where intense practice helped him win and build confidence. He emphasizes the importance of patient friends and family, not interrupting people who stutter, and improving through teaching and repetition. https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/akilapa.idris5302/vizzes 00:00 - Stuttering Reality Check 00:34 - Meet Idris and the Viz 01:13 - Inspiration and Finding Data 02:15 - Building the Grid Chart 03:26 - Dashboard Story Setup 03:40 - School Years and Silence 04:54 - Costs and Social Impact 05:42 - The Friday Debate Breakthrough 08:49 - Support Systems That Help 09:14 - Advice and Practice Tips 11:19 - Celebrities and Preparation 12:17 - Using AI and Tableau Tricks ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ℹ️ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭? Welcome to "Secrets of the Viz", where I dive deep into the amazing vizzes in #TableauPublic and other #DataVisualization tools. Have you ever wondered how these stunning visualizations come to life? I'll be peeling back the layers with the authors themselves as they share their inspirations, design processes and unique techniques. Join me as we explore, learn, and get inspired together. Don't forget to subscribe, follow for more tips and check out the full playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVkjBKxQASMmwlAE89dt97IMSFqTpGldh ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐈𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐬 ▶ https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/akilapa.idris5302/vizzes ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/idris-akilapa/ ▶ https://x.com/im_akeelah ▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8h2eXsUOYujsppwzksQK9g #datavisualization #analytics #design #infographic #journalism #newspaper #digitalstories #stuttering #mentalhealth

  4. Jun 2

    Epi 112 : What 1000 people said about their dating struggles

    Charlene Chua, a data and graphics journalist at The Straits Times, talks about her team’s “Modern Dating” visual story and why dating can feel harder despite apps and technology. They discuss Singapore-specific pressures like the BTO housing scheme and family expectations, and how the team anonymous interviews, expert perspectives, and illustrations to humanize the data. Charlene shares how they storyboarded in Figma, evaluated different visual story structures (inverted pyramid, martini glass, diamond), and iterated on key design ideas like the HDB window metaphor, a starry-night palette, and a hopeful “soulmate” ending. She also highlights challenges of compressing a complex, human topic into a concise story under a tight three-to-four-week deadline. https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2026/04/modern-dating-singapore/index.html 00:00 - Why Love Feels Unlearned 00:23 - Meet Charlene And The Viz 01:14 - Dating Apps Spark The Idea 02:13 - Singapore Pressures BTO Family 03:29 - Survey Data And Human Stories 05:45 - App Archetypes And Communication 07:48 - Media Expectations And Reality 08:47 - Visual Metaphors And Storyboarding 10:06 - Story Structures For Visuals 12:55 - Pillars And Interactive Concepts 15:25 - From Inspirations To Final Build 17:15 - Colors Windows And Soulmates 20:10 - Biggest Challenges And Wrap Up ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ℹ️ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭? Welcome to "Secrets of the Viz", where I dive deep into the amazing vizzes in #TableauPublic and other #DataVisualization tools. Have you ever wondered how these stunning visualizations come to life? I'll be peeling back the layers with the authors themselves as they share their inspirations, design processes and unique techniques. Join me as we explore, learn, and get inspired together. Don't forget to subscribe, follow for more tips and check out the full playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVkjBKxQASMmwlAE89dt97IMSFqTpGldh ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞 ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlenechuaxinzi/ ▶ https://www.straitstimes.com/ #datavisualization #analytics #design #infographic #journalism #newspaper #digitalstories

  5. Apr 7

    Epi 111 : Museum Collections Explorer

    Martina and Stefan joins us this week to talk about about a commissioned project for the Luxembourg's Museum of Art & History that helps teams explore museum collections through an internal visualization platform. They discuss how museum data is shaped by decades of manual record-keeping, inconsistencies, and missing fields, and why highlighting gaps can drive better digitization and decision-making. The pair describe how they met, how they collaborated with a proactive data-scientist client, and how they used surveys, case studies, museum visits, and brand exploration to shape the tool. Style Guide https://www.behance.net/gallery/244239007/Museum-Collections-Explorer Demo https://vimeo.com/1164475216?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci 00:28 - Meet the Guests 01:27 - From Neuroscience to Dataviz 01:57 - How They Teamed Up 03:31 - Project Kickoff and Goals 05:21 - Client Collaboration and Surveys 06:28 - Scale of Museum Collections 07:22 - Design Iterations and Branding 09:32 - Four Lenses for Exploration 10:48 - Visualizing Missing Data 13:27 - Flipping the Narrative UX 15:14 - Timeline and Visitor Potential 17:29 - Guiding Decisions with Insights 18:36 - Biggest Challenges and Tradeoffs 21:32 - What’s Next and Wrap Up ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ℹ️ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭? Welcome to "Secrets of the Viz", where I dive deep into the amazing vizzes in #TableauPublic and other #DataVisualization tools. Have you ever wondered how these stunning visualizations come to life? I'll be peeling back the layers with the authors themselves as they share their inspirations, design processes and unique techniques. Join me as we explore, learn, and get inspired together. Don't forget to subscribe, follow for more tips and check out the full playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVkjBKxQASMmwlAE89dt97IMSFqTpGldh ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚 ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinazunica/ ▶ https://linktr.ee/martinazunica ▶ https://www.behance.net/martinazunica_ 🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧 ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefan-pullen/ ▶ https://www.stefanpullen.com/ #tableau #datavisualization #analytics #design #tableau #infographic #dashboard #uxui #museum

  6. Mar 17

    Epi 110 : Playing with Food

    Take a moment and think back to the first time you remember food in-game. This week, Matt Huff drops in as a host to dig into my #IronViz entry that explores how food in video games is shown historically from 1970 to 2025 and how it has evolved over the years. https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/louisyu/viz/PlayingwithFoodIronViz/Evolution ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ℹ️ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭? Welcome to "Secrets of the Viz", where I dive deep into the amazing vizzes in #TableauPublic and other #DataVisualization tools. Have you ever wondered how these stunning visualizations come to life? I'll be peeling back the layers with the authors themselves as they share their inspirations, design processes and unique techniques. Join me as we explore, learn, and get inspired together. Don't forget to subscribe, follow for more tips and check out the full playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVkjBKxQASMmwlAE89dt97IMSFqTpGldh ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭 ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mhuff04/ ▶ https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/matt.huff/vizzes ▶ https://x.com/matt_huff_photo ▶ https://medium.com/%40matt_huff ▶ https://usergroups.tableau.com/retail-and-consumer-goods-tableau-user-group/ 🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐋𝐨𝐮𝐢𝐬 ▶ https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/louisyu/vizzes ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/yulouis/ ▶ https://x.com/datavizlouis ▶ https://datavizlouis.webflow.io/ #tableau #datavisualization #analytics #design #tableau #infographic #dashboard #uxui #videogames #ironviz #finalfantasy15 #pacman #retrogaming #arcade #gamesnightviz #ironviz

  7. Mar 11

    Epi 109 : TUG Virtual Recording Explorer

    Ever struggled with finding your favorite topics from the #datafam? Thanks to Chris McClellan, these are all in the Team Datafam channel (https://www.youtube.com/@TeamDataFam). and to take it a step further, Jacob created a dashboard to explore and search with better precision. Learn about all his techniques and cool tricks to make an awesome user experience. https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/jacob.rothemund/viz/TableauUserGroupVirtualRecordingsExplorer/Dashboard 00:29 - Meet Jacob and the Project 02:08 - Idea and Data Scraping Setup 04:30 - Vibe Coding and Refresh Strategy 06:39 - Dashboard Wireframe and Goals 08:14 - Search and Multi Term Filters 11:11 - Smart Pagination Controls 14:01 - Map Layer Layout and Text Wrap 15:58 - Container Tricks for UX ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ℹ️ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭? Welcome to "Secrets of the Viz", where I dive deep into the amazing vizzes in #TableauPublic and other #DataVisualization tools. Have you ever wondered how these stunning visualizations come to life? I'll be peeling back the layers with the authors themselves as they share their inspirations, design processes and unique techniques. Join me as we explore, learn, and get inspired together. Don't forget to subscribe, follow for more tips and check out the full playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVkjBKxQASMmwlAE89dt97IMSFqTpGldh ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐛 𝐑𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐝 ▶ https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/jacob.rothemund/vizzes ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobrothemund/ ▶ https://x.com/jacro28 ▶ https://datavizdiary.com/ 🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐌𝐜𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧 ▶ https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/chris.mcclellan/vizze ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-mcclellan-au/ ▶ https://x.com/cmcau 🔗 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 ▶ https://www.youtube.com/@TeamDataFam ▶ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL791If_OqsdiM2_lwFzQ0Gj5m1PbkP7wu ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/company/vizit-anz/ #tableau #datavisualization #analytics #design #tableau #infographic #dashboard #uxui #tableauusergroups #TUG

  8. Mar 3

    Epi 108 : Searching for Birds

    Award-winning designer Nadieh Bremer drops in this week to chat about her Google Trends project “Searching for Birds.” Nadieh walks through her research process when she’s not a “bird person,” including exploring many public datasets and narrowing the story with writer Emily. She explains how sketching led from feathers to an egg-and-nest metaphor for ranking bird-type searches, why egg colors were stylized, and how she built an egg-shaped Voronoi treemap to step from bird shapes to types to species. https://searchingforbirds.visualcinnamon.com/ 00:41 - Meet Nadieh 02:07 - Snowy Owl Hook 03:22 - Researching Birds 05:01 - Egg Nest Metaphor 07:04 - Designing Egg Details 08:28 - Spark Bird Story 10:34 - Voronoi Egg Treemap 13:25 - AI Bird Helper 15:19 - AI and Dataviz Future 18:08 - Sankey Connections 19:46 - Waves and Seasonality 21:14 - Biggest Challenges 22:33 - Why Visualizing Cinnamon ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ℹ️ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭? Welcome to "Secrets of the Viz", where I dive deep into the amazing vizzes in #TableauPublic and other #DataVisualization tools. Have you ever wondered how these stunning visualizations come to life? I'll be peeling back the layers with the authors themselves as they share their inspirations, design processes and unique techniques. Join me as we explore, learn, and get inspired together. Don't forget to subscribe, follow for more tips and check out the full playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVkjBKxQASMmwlAE89dt97IMSFqTpGldh ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐍𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐡 ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/nbremer/ ▶ https://www.visualcinnamon.com/ 🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐄𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-barone-22047a6/ ▶ https://www.emilybarone.com/ ▶ https://www.thedatadesk.studio/ 🔗 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 ▶ https://www.birdability.org/ ▶ https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/ ▶ https://www.feministbirdclub.org/ ▶ https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/ ▶ https://ebird.org/home #tableau #datavisualization #analytics #design #tableau #infographic #visualstorytelling #journalism #datavisualizationsociety #birdwatching #sparkbird #birds

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About

Welcome to Secrets of the Viz, where we dive deep into the heart of Tableau Public's #VizOfTheDay. Join me as we learn from the authors themselves on their inspirations and design processes! Let's get down to unlocking.. the Secrets of the Viz.

Information

  • Creator
    Louis Yu
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    112
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Louis Yu
  • Show Website
    Secrets of the Viz