RJ's Inspiration #011 🏹

RJ's Inspiration

weekly viz to inspire you too

🏹 UNBREAKING AMRICA
is a short film narrated by Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence for RepresentUs. It kicks off with a non-partisan appeal before giving a grand tour of corruption systemic (and legal) in American politics. Along the way charts, graphs, maps, and diagrams help Lawrence tell us about what's wrong and what we can do about it. Watch the short film on YouTube.

I love so much about this film. Its pacing is patient, explaining what axes really mean before showing data. Its hand drawn aesthetic is fresh and human all at once. The animation (credited to Sachio Cook and Niko Guardia of TodoTodo.tv) never stops moving and is perfectly timed with Lawrence's commanding performance. My favorite bit is around the eight-minute mark: a series of cartograms explains how, historically, passing state laws leads to federal victory for a broad range of issues (including the screen grab above).

Using celebrities to do PSA-explainers is not new, but seems to be experiencing some kind of revival. My other favorite celebrity explainer is the series in the film The Big Short. Delight in Anthony Bourdain using not-so-fresh fish to explain collateralized debt obligations (YouTube).

👁 DESIGN TIPS FROM CLASSIC VIZ
Andy Cotgreave, Tableau's Technical Evangelism Director (Twitter), and I spent recently talked about design tips from historic viz. It features some of my favorite pieces of inspiring visualization. Andy was an incredibly positive and enthusiastic host. Watch our conversation on Facebook Live (no sign in required): link.

👉 ARE YOU ENJOYING THIS SERIES?
Please contact me to share your favorite viz, offer any advice for how this newsletter experiment can be improved, or say hello. -RJ