I was so tired of getting requests asking about dashboards and cracker-dry reports in the past 8 months. I designed a visualization to describe this experience. I tracked every lead I got since January. None of the dataviz opportunities worked out. The reason for this is extremely clear, my skills did not meet the demands of the market. It was obvious and June was when I seriously considered pivoting into a different industry. But, two promising opportunities came to me in August.

The first opportunity came from a big Canadian bank. They were looking to hire someone internally, they had full-time and contract positions. The second one was from my alma mater. They needed someone with a data visualization background to host a workshop. The best thing about these two opportunities were that I could bring tremendous value with my existing skills and be paid for it. I remember chuckling in disbelief because I got these two requests in the same week. I was so close to giving up, but with some patience and luck, things started coming together.

These two opportunities were great learning experiences, I’ll break each one down for you.

Big Bank

The senior manager found me through LinkedIn and has looked up my website to see my work. One of his team members reached out to me for a phone call. I honestly thought it was spam because he didn’t look like a recruiter and he didn’t update his LinkedIn details with his current employment. The first call we had was just the team member and we talked about the role. It sounded like the role was new and they didn’t have anything formal in place, such as a job posting. It seemed to be on-the-fly, this meant it wasn’t a streamlined process.

What worked:

* Asking how they found me: this is so important if you are freelancing. Know what sources are helping you generate leads. Even when people connect with me, I ask how they heard about me.

* Asking why they are hiring: there are so many reasons for people to hire. It could be to replace someone, perhaps there is more work coming in, or they need new skills (which was my case).

* Asking why they wanted to move away from bar charts: I challenged them on this because I hate nothing more than to get an answer of “we want to make cool charts”. That’s a huge red flag for me because it means they don’t understand the real value of good data visualization. He struggled to answer my question properly, but said something along the lines of wanting to stand out. Which I get, they want to be different.

* Asking them ‘why me’: this question is for them to state the value they imagine I could bring to them. They had the option to reach out to other people, why me? What is something I can do others can’t? I encourage you to ask this question when possible. We suck at advocating our strengths, and somehow give more credibility to a third-party perspective.

What could be better:

* Clarifying if the position was independent or employee: in Canada, you can be hired as an independent contractor either as an employee (so they put you under their system and take care of your taxes and you might also get health benefits), or they can register you as independent (I take care of all the taxes myself, and I have the advantage of deducting taxes for certain expenses). I didn’t clarify and if I had known, I would’ve quoted a different rate. If you are Canadian, you can read more here about the differences.

* Quoting a higher rate: this is painful to write, but I chickened out. I got too scared and said a rate lower than what I wanted to quote. I regretted it because on the second call, the senior manage was quick to accept my rate. I immediately knew my rate was lower than what they expected. Oh well, live and learn I guess.

It was interesting to learn why this bank wanted to hire someone like me. They had a team of UX designers and developers. They deal with a lot of data but no one on their team was a data person who understood design and how to package it for human consumption. They came to me because I breathe data visualization. I took a huge risk to specialize only in data visualization and nothing else, and it paid off. There’s barely anyone who competes with me in Toronto. The downside is that the data visualization culture matures too slowly with few independent people. If you work for organizations, your work hides behind the great confidential wall, work that doesn’t get shared doesn’t improve. As a collective, we can’t advance.

This opportunity hasn’t been finalized, it’s still in progress. Whether or not it works out, it gives me some hope that what I am doing is worthwhile.

Teaching data visualization

I was very excited to get this opportunity, especially in Toronto. The downside was that I had no control over how I was paid. I would be paid for the 3 hours of the workshop, and 2 hours for prep work (which isn’t a lot of time). I am getting paid $83.50/hr CAD, so that’s $417.5. The way to make this more worthwhile is to get more mileage out of it. I plan to record this workshop and release it online to show my expertise.

What worked:

* Asking upfront about the rate in the emails before we set up a meeting: knowing this helped me gauge if it would be worth my time. If not, then no need to meet.

* During the call, asking in detail about how students would apply data visualization: applications vary so widely, digital, print, interactive. It’s helpful to know this so I can cater to their needs. I am user-centric at all times.

* Asking how they found me: the coordinator follows me on LinkedIn and has been seeing the stuff I regularly post. LinkedIn is THE place for opportunities. Twitter and Instagram hasn’t been as successful.

* Asking who else they talked to: this is important to understand the market. How are they finding people like me?

What could be better:

* Asking about a deposit payment: I forgot to ask this, but it was important to know. It’s not a good idea to start any work without anything to prove a promise on their end. In the end, they don’t do deposits. The alternative was to have a contract signed, which they provided. This was better than working off of nothing.

* Once again, asking the technical details of how I’d be paid: when I got the contract, they put me as an ‘employee’. Didn’t know this was the case. It wouldn’t have changed my decision to do the workshop, but would’ve been good to know.

* I wish I had the bravery to ask if the rate was negotiable. This is the rate they offered. I didn’t bother asking, but wish I had some confidence to. Maybe I could’ve asked for a higher rate. Who knows. Talking about money is so hard.

The main reason I took on this workshop was because I wanted to help Toronto advance in data visualization. Even by a little. There’s a huge focus on big data in Toronto, but not enough on design.

Moving forward

I was very lucky to have these two opportunities come to me. It was unexpected. I am jealous of people who live in places where data visualization has gained acknowledgement and respect (London, New York, San Francisco, Milan). I have always questioned if I was in the right environment to cultivate my talent and creative tastes. For family reasons, it is very difficult for me to leave Toronto to build a career elsewhere. As a result, I was determined to make something out of myself at home and work hard to build brand awareness. And here I am, seeing some fruits of my labour.

In case you missed it

I published a new article on Nightingale. I wrote about the Tekken project and how it completely changed my process. It’s a deep look at how data visualization as a medium can help teach people ‘how to think’, not ‘what to think’. This article emphasizes my process. A lot of people ask me what my process is like and this article explains it in detail.

Here is a friend link to the article. If you have a Medium Membership and would like to support me, use this link instead.

About Jane

I am an independent data visualization designer based in Toronto, Canada. To see my latest work, check out my website.

Ever since I became an independent designer in 2019, I’ve had many insights about life, work, data visualization, design, and creativity. I have been documenting these insights as much as I can through various mediums. In 2020, I decided to start a newsletter where I can put all these insights in one place. This newsletter is meant for people who want to learn more about what it’s like to be an independent data visualization designer.

Feel free to send me questions or topics you’d like me to explore by replying to this e-mail or by commenting to this post.

Read the full archive of newsletters here.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

a) freelancingb) failuresc) growthd) all of the above

It’s exactly one year since I quit my full-time job to be independent. A lot can happen in 12 months. There were a lot of lows and some highs. Coming to a close of the year, I have changed so much. I feel as though I’ve experienced five years in the span of one. It felt that I was making a major decision almost every other month.

I also had my first episode of depression in these 12 months.

It hits in short-term episodes. I’ve never been formally diagnosed, but I looked up the symptoms and they match up to what I am going through. How did it come about? Perhaps from the lockdown we’ve been going through. Perhaps it’s the pressure of freelancing.

I didn’t have any luck freelancing in dataviz. I had a lot of luck freelancing in social media. I had my first episode early in January. At that time, I didn’t see a future for myself in dataviz. I was stuck and just had no way to move forward. My skills and interests didn’t align with what the dataviz market wanted: interactive work, dashboards, big data, and reports. I felt useless. My negative thoughts took the best of me.

I was sick in bed for several weeks at the start of the new year. I was stuck at home and I didn’t eat well. And then, when I recovered, my first episode of depression hit. It lasted for one week. I wasn’t able to move. I was physically stuck and all my desires disappeared. Nothing could move me during that period. Everything lost its colour and I had no will to get up and do something. It was terrifying. I kept telling myself to stand up and go do something. But I couldn’t. When I got out of it, I found a therapist to understand what just happened. It hadn’t come back until the end of June, which also lasted about a week. It’s not predictable and I don’t understand it yet.

Things didn’t seem to be working out for me. I felt like a failure. Whether or not if I was one, was a separate issue. I told myself that I was and I believed it. I kept thinking whether or not to go get a full-time job. When is a good time to give up? How do I know?

It’s odd. I have low confidence and low self-esteem, yet I am optimistic about being independent. I think to myself: “maybe the right person hasn’t seen my work yet”, or “the next project will help me get to where I want to be”. Maybe I was influenced with this idea from Tyler the Creator:

“I haven't been super successful with [radio], but that time will come. If it's not the next album, then it's the three after that…”

I told myself to wait until the end of August. Don’t think, just make. I put my head down and pumped out work that I wanted to do. Not to please anyone or do what other successful dataviz people do, but do what I wanted to do.

I was watching a documentary of a Japanese mangaka (someone who creates Japanese comics) and it was so insightful to see how they work. One quote from Akiko Higashimura resonated deeply with me:

“When I draw a character’s face like, whoosh, in one go, that’s when I have the most fun. It’s like there’s this moment when you get the face how you want it, like it just fell into place, and when that happens, I think, ‘Ah, I won’t ever be able to give this up.’”

When I finished the Tekken project and held the cards in my hand, I think the same thing to myself: “There’s no way I can give this up”. Because at any point in time, just like this mangaka, I can tell myself to give up trying and just do something else with my time.

Most of my work is met with a confused faces when I show it to potential clients. People have no idea what they mean and don’t know what to use it for. I got tired of trying to fit my skills with the current dataviz market. I didn’t see a path forward anymore as a freelancer.

So I made my choice.

I will stop marketing myself as a freelancer and I will switch gears and focus on solving the world’s problems with dataviz. I will focus on being product-centric, rather than service-centric. Just like the Tekken project, I’ll go into various online communities, listen to their problems, and get really good at problem solving. My work is too unique for client work, but it makes sense for end-consumers. I think if I can solve a big pain point with my skills, then I can find a way to sell it to people. I don’t know if it’ll work, but it’s worth a shot.

The Tekken project was a safe way for me to try this out. I went on Reddit, took the time to listen to the pains the players had when they were learning to play the game, and made a tool that allows them to truly understand the mechanics of the game. The medium is unique. I used physical cards to visualize a series of small multiples for people to compare different moves in the game. When I shared the final version on the Tekken subreddit, players saw potential for what I made and I felt hopeful in this new path.

One of my life goals is to get better at Chinese, and I learn slowly by absorbing the culture and stories from Chinese dramas. I’ve been watching a new series and one of the protagonists left her small hometown to find success in Shanghai. Her parents wanted her to return home, get married, and settle down. She said she would 认命 when she turns 30. 认命 is a new phrase I learned from this story. The literal translation is to “admit life”. It means to accept one’s fate. The way she used the term, she said she would accept whatever fate had in store for her and give up trying to build a life in a big city. Later in the series, she had to quit her job and return home. She was home, but it didn’t feel like home. She eventually confessed to her parents that she wanted to go back to Shanghai and 拼命, which means put your all into something. There is a character for life (命) in this phrase, and I interpret this phrase as using your own life to achieve something. Putting your all means to put your life, your time, your energy on the line. I identify with this protagonist in that I don’t feel ready to 认命 yet. Maybe that day will come, I don’t know. For now, I’ll just put my head down and put out work that only I can make.

About Jane

I am an independent data visualization designer based in Toronto, Canada. Through personal projects, I have taught myself how to create data visualizations. To see my latest work, check out my website.

Ever since I became an independent designer in 2019, I’ve had many insights about life, work, data visualization, design, and creativity. I have been documenting these insights as much as I can through various mediums. In 2020, I decided to start a newsletter where I can put all these insights in one place. This newsletter is meant for people who want to learn more about what it’s like to be an independent data visualization designer.

Feel free to send me questions or topics you’d like me to explore by replying to this e-mail or by commenting to this post.

Read the full archive of newsletters here.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Process is very important, it is the foundation to what gets created. Mick Gordon, music composer for Doom’s recent games has a 1-hour long talk about how he created the music for Doom. He consistently reiterates how important it was that the Doom team allowed him to experiment how he works:

“If you want to get a different outcome, you must change the process”

Mick Gordon composed music for Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal (2020). His work fascinates me, especially this heavy metal choir.

Process is hard to see, it’s usually experienced by the creator as they work away at their desk. It’s nice to flash the final product in its full mock-up glory. But, I think people want to hear about how, not what. And this makes sense. Look at American Idol, the whole show is about showing the how, not the what. It’s all about the making of a star.

In 2016, my friend showed me a video clip of a rugged entrepreneur telling viewers the following:

“document, don’t create”.

If you recognize this reference, then you know Gary Vaynerchuk. I thought it was a strange concept and I didn’t understand what he meant. “Don’t create? Are you kidding me? I am a designer, all I do is create!”.

It’s been four years since then. As I work in social media and market myself to the world, I finally get it.

When I was coming up with a section heading for an article, I was going to use “Show your work”. As I was writing, I realized that showing your work isn’t the end goal, it should be a means to show how you think.

I try to show my process as much as possible. I tell people what goes through my mind as I am trying to execute on an idea out of nothing. I’ve been documenting my work since the very beginning. I wasn’t good at it, but I’ve gotten better over the years. Showing my process helps me build trust with the viewer. I tell them my intentions, how I made certain choices, challenges I had and how I overcame them.

I usually document my process after I am done with a project. Because, what if I don’t finish it? What if I tell the world about this project, then 2 months later have to call it quits? That feels embarrassing. But, I’ve changed my perspective on this.

I didn’t like the idea of documenting stuff as it happens. I think it might be from this fantasy where we tell ourselves that “I’ll tell the world about my journey after I’ve made it”. There’s something scary about failing at something after announcing your aspiration to make it work. I now approach this with an attitude of:

“If things don’t work out, at least I have something to show for it.”

I’m taking a leap and for the first time, I will be documenting my work as I create it. I’ve been testing it through small steps. I’ve decided to commit to it and published a blog post on a new project I am taking on. I am going to try and visualize fighting game mechanics from Tekken 7. This project might not work out because it’s a huge challenge to tackle, but, I know I’m going to learn so much from this.

I got a new microphone! Maybe you noticed the audio quality has significantly improved (or maybe you didn’t). Substack has a built-in feature to add audio. I am testing this out and I am going to use audio as a quick summary of the newsletter. What do you think?

About Jane

I am an independent data visualization designer and social media strategist based in Toronto, Canada. Through personal projects, I have taught myself how to create data visualizations. To see my latest work, check out my website.

Ever since I became an independent designer in 2019, I’ve had many insights about life, work, data visualization, design, and creativity. I have been documenting these insights as much as I can through various mediums. In 2020, I decided to start a newsletter where I can put all these insights in one place. This newsletter is meant for people who want to learn more about what it’s like to be an independent data visualization designer.

Please feel free to send me questions or topics you’d like me to explore by replying to this e-mail or by commenting to this post.

Read the full archive of newsletters here.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

I would like to get to know you, understand why you subscribed. In the design world, it’s impossible to design something without understanding who it’s for. Similarly for this newsletter, I’d like to know more about you so I can write what’s relevant to you. You can reply to this e-mail to let me know.

* What do you do?

* What do you hope to learn from this newsletter?

* What are you working towards in your life and career?

* What was there something I made/wrote that resonated with you?

Ever since I wrote the article on “How Self-Employed Data Visualization Designers Make a Living”, my career has taken a shift. People started to ask me questions about starting their own journey in data visualization. They ask me how to stay on track on personal projects. Someone else saw my talk on this topic and asked if I was interested in joining a panel that would help students in their career development.

Suddenly, I am seen as a person who could help others start in this field. This was never my intention. I am always a designer above everything else. I never thought of myself as someone who could provide advice on this topic. I did my research on this because I had a strong desire to address the unknown. And it struck me that there’s something interesting about what it means to be an expert.

People often underestimate what writing can do for the writer. I once asked one of my social media clients the following:

“Do you think writers are an expert before or after they release a book?”

And this isn’t to say that you can’t be an expert before you write a book. But, I have no doubt that you develop more expertise through the process of writing. And I think that’s what happened with my article. It started with curiosity, a desire to solve a problem I had. Through the quest for knowledge, I acquired a new way of understanding dataviz work.

There were a couple times in the last two weeks when I questioned if what I was doing was worthwhile. If I should spend my energy doing something else that would contribute meaningfully to society. Can data visualization change the world? Is this the medium I should work with? What other strengths can I leverage to better society?

When I asked RJ Andrews if there is anyway to know if we are good at what we do. He said there isn’t. There’s often a long lag from when we finish our work to when we get feedback on it. But, he emphasized the following:

“you need to have faith that what you’re doing is important”.

After he said this, tears started to stream down my face. I was crying and I felt relieved. He said words that I needed to hear during a time when I was very lost. I don’t have a lot of confidence in myself as a person, I have a lot of doubts just like anyone else would. But, I try to not lose sight of what’s important. I work to solve user problems with my work. The most recent one I completed was looking at how to teach players how to think about winning a game. The game I worked with was “Bang!”, a board game I played over 100 times when I was in school. The game manual is heavy with text making it inaccessible. From my experience, people learn board games from experienced players, rather than directly from the game manual. So, I designed a visual aid to help experienced players teach the game to beginners.

Despite playing it so many times, I didn’t realize how little of the mechanics I understood. When I made a histogram of all the playing cards, I quickly saw which cards were more valuable due to scarcity. I started to see the game differently, I started to see it for what it was. This project allowed me to learn something important.

“How can my work teach others how to think?”

How can I reveal the mechanics of the world? How can we see the world differently? How can we teach people how to think about life, about the world, about political leaders? How can we teach people how music improvisation works? Or how to effectively string movements together in martial arts? Is this something data visualization can achieve? Is data visualization even the right medium?

This is where I am at now, focusing on this idea and seeing where I can take it. Thanks for reading, I’ll see you in the next issue :)

About Jane

I am an independent data visualization designer and social media strategist based in Toronto, Canada. Through personal projects, I have taught myself how to create data visualizations. To see my latest work, check out my website.

Ever since I became an independent designer in 2019, I’ve had many insights about life, work, data visualization, design, and creativity. I have been documenting these insights as much as I can through various mediums. In 2020, I decided to start a newsletter where I can put all these insights in one place. This newsletter is meant for people who want to learn more about what it’s like to be an independent data visualization designer.

Please feel free to send me questions or topics you’d like me to explore by replying to this e-mail or by commenting to this post.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn