Explore Explain
Andy Kirk
Explore Explain is a long-form podcast and video series hosted by Andy Kirk and launched early 2020. It goes deep behind the scenes of data visualisation projects.
Each episode is structured around a conversation with visualisation designers, developers, or data journalists to explore the design story behind a single visualisation or a related major project. Guests explain the thought-process behind and share insights about the myriad little decisions that underpin the finished works they produce.
Audiences will gain an appreciation of the what, the why and the how, learning about the hidden problems and challenges, the breakthroughs and the eureka moments. You'll learn about the things that were done and the things that were not done, the pressures and frustrations as well as successes and failures.
Each season comprises nine episodes and always seeks to include guests representing a diverse cast of talented practitioners from across the field and around the world, showcasing a wide variety of different types of visualisation work.
Every episode is published as both an audio interview as well as an enhanced video conversation, enriched by detailed visuals that illuminate the discussions. Visit the Youtube channel to see all the recordings, including shorter highlight episodes.
To read more about each episode, and browse through the full archive of conversations, visit the Podcast page on Andy Kirk's Visualising Data website. Explore Explain is a Bethany Andrew production.
Each episode is structured around a conversation with visualisation designers, developers, or data journalists to explore the design story behind a single visualisation or a related major project. Guests explain the thought-process behind and share insights about the myriad little decisions that underpin the finished works they produce.
Audiences will gain an appreciation of the what, the why and the how, learning about the hidden problems and challenges, the breakthroughs and the eureka moments. You'll learn about the things that were done and the things that were not done, the pressures and frustrations as well as successes and failures.
Each season comprises nine episodes and always seeks to include guests representing a diverse cast of talented practitioners from across the field and around the world, showcasing a wide variety of different types of visualisation work.
Every episode is published as both an audio interview as well as an enhanced video conversation, enriched by detailed visuals that illuminate the discussions. Visit the Youtube channel to see all the recordings, including shorter highlight episodes.
To read more about each episode, and browse through the full archive of conversations, visit the Podcast page on Andy Kirk's Visualising Data website. Explore Explain is a Bethany Andrew production.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Nov 8, 2023 • 1h 8min
S4E6 - Chimdi Nwosu
Welcome to episode 6 of season 4 of Explore Explain, a long-form video and podcast series all about data visualisation design.
In this latest episode, I am delighted to welcome Chimdi Nwosu, a Data Visualization Manager based in British Columbia, Canada. We explore the story behind not one but two of his wonderful Tableau-based data visualisation projects: 'Incarcerated in America' (published August 2021) and 'Press Freedom Index' (published May 2023).
As well as listening to this show, you can watch the video of this conversation. Head over to Youtube and visit the Explore Explain channel.
Jul 31, 2023 • 1h 9min
S4E5 - Lora Oehlberg & Samuel Huron
Welcome to episode 5 of season 4 of Explore Explain, a long-form video and podcast series all about data visualisation design.
In this latest episode, I am delighted to welcome Lora Oehlberg, Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Calgary in Canada, and Samuel Huron, Associate Professor in Design at the Institut Polytechnique de Paris in France. We explore the story behind their work, with fellow co-authors Wesley Willett and Till Nagel, on the new book 'Making with Data: Physical Design and Craft in a Data-Driven World', published December 2022, to learn more about the field of data physicalisation and the editorial process behind creating this book.
As well as listening to this show, you can watch the video of this conversation. Head over to Youtube and visit the Explore Explain channel.
Jun 13, 2023 • 60min
S4E4 - The Nightingale Editorial Team
Welcome to episode 4 of season 4 of Explore Explain, a long-form video and podcast series all about data visualisation design.
In this special episode I am delighted to welcome the editorial team behind Nightingale Magazine, the journal of the Data Visualization Society: Claire Santoro, Emily Barone, Julie Brunet, and Jason Forrest. We explore the story behind the team's work on the new Nightingale print magazine, learning about the context, the content, the design, and key reflections from creating the first few issues.
This episode was live-recorded on stage as part of Outlier Conference, which took place in Porto in early May 2023. Jason was live in-person for the conversation which was enriched with pre-recorded video contributions from Claire, Emily, and Julie.
As well as listening to this show, you can watch the video of this conversation. Head over to Youtube and visit the Explore Explain channel.
May 15, 2023 • 1h 1min
S4E3 - Steph Bradley
Welcome to episode 3 of season 4 of Explore Explain, a long-form video and podcast series all about data visualisation design.
In this latest episode, I am delighted to welcome Steph Bradley, a freelance designer based in Chicago, USA. We explore the story behind her work on the wonderfully charming 'Traveling June Bug', Steph's award-winning capstone project to visualise the objects, the diaries, the destinations, and the timelines across her Grandmother's 30 years of documented travels.
As well as listening to this show, you can watch the video of this conversation. Head over to Youtube and visit the Explore Explain channel.
Apr 4, 2023 • 1h 13min
S4E2 - Will Chase & Jared Whalen
Welcome to episode 2 of season 4 of Explore Explain, a long-form video and podcast series all about data visualisation design.
In this latest episode, I am delighted to welcome Will Chase, Visual Stories Editor, and Jared Whalen, Data Visual Journalist, both working at Axios and based in the US. We explore the story behind their work on a project to visualise the changing trends in popularity and dimensions of pickup trucks 'Pickup Trucks: From Workhorse to Joyride'.
As well as listening to this show, you can watch the video of this conversation. Head over to Youtube and visit the Explore Explain channel.
Feb 20, 2023 • 57min
S4E1 - Neil Richards
Welcome to episode 1 of season 4 of Explore Explain, a long-form video and podcast series all about data visualisation design.
For this season opener, I am delighted to welcome Neil Richards, Global Data Fluency Lead at JLL based in Derbyshire, UK. We explore the story behind Neil's new book 'Questions in Dataviz: A Data-Driven Process for Data Visualisation' to learn about the mental, practical, and creative process of writing his first title.
As well as listening to this show, you can watch the video of this conversation. Head over to Youtube and visit the Explore Explain channel.
Oct 28, 2022 • 1h 18min
S3E9 - Francis Gagnon
Welcome to episode 9 of season 3 of Explore Explain, a long-form video and podcast series all about data visualisation design.
In this episode I am delighted to welcome Francis Gagnon, founder of Voilà:, an information design firm based in Montreal, Canada.
For this season finale, we embarked on a detailed exploration to learn about the process of setting up a data visualisation company as Francis explained the story behind evolving from being an independent professional, working alone, to a team of nine.
As well as listening to this show, you can watch the video of this conversation. Head over to Youtube and visit the Explore Explain channel.
Sep 13, 2022 • 1h 9min
S3E8 - Ros Pearce
Welcome to episode 8 of season 3 of Explore Explain, a long-form video and podcast series all about data visualisation design.
In this episode I am delighted to welcome Ros Pearce, Visual Data Journalist at The Economist.
We had a detailed conversation to explore the clever thinking behind an in-depth data study titled 'Nearly half of Mariupol has suffered grave damage' looking at the early phase of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, published in April 2022.
As well as listening to this show, you can watch the video of this conversation, illuminated by accompanying visual details of the design workflow. Head over to Youtube and visit the Explore Explain channel.
Jul 27, 2022 • 1h 17min
S3E7 - Mick Yang & Nur Munirah Mansoor
Welcome to episode 7 of season 3 of Explore Explain, a long-form video and podcast series all about data visualisation design.
In this episode I am delighted to welcome Mick Yang, who at the time of the recording was the Partnerships Executive, and Munirah Mansoor, Visual Designer, at Kontinentalist, based in Singapore.
We had a detailed conversation about the data and design story behind a data story 'Sexual violence in Singapore: a crisis', produced and published by the Kontinentalist studio in 2021.
As well as listening to this show, you can watch the video of this conversation, illuminated by accompanying visual details of the design workflow. Head over to Youtube and visit the Explore Explain channel.
Please note: As the project title will already suggest, please note this conversation discusses the communication and analysis of data relating to sexual assault and violence, hence the decision to mark this episode as including explicit content.
May 30, 2022 • 1h 14min
S3E6 - Sam Parsons
Welcome to episode 6 of season 3 of Explore Explain, a long-form video and podcast series all about data visualisation design.
In this episode I am delighted to welcome Sam Parsons, Senior Analytics Consultant with Biztory.
We had a detailed conversation about the data and design story behind Sam's visualisation 'Rivers of Time', a vast visual study of time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
As well as listening to this show, you can watch the video of this conversation, illuminated by accompanying visual details of Sam's design workflow. Head over to Youtube and visit the Explore Explain channel.
