T. from Data Rocks

@datarocksnz.bsky.social

2578 Followers 2693 Following

Dataviz | Information Design The person behind The Dataviz Bookshelf, The Data Design Manifesto & The Design Matters newsletter series. I don't use autocorrect. I own all of my typos. https://www.datarocks.co.nz

Tom Scott from classic Youtube era, raising his hand somewhere and saying "I am at my fucking limit"
Comic composed of 4 panels. Panel 1, black cat, looking cute, big eyes, with the words "it's time.for cuddles". Panel 2, woman character, short hair, striped shirt, says "I'm sorry sweetie, I'm very busy". Panel 3, black cat proceeds to walk all over her desk, stomping on her laptop's keyboard, as is it's natural divine given right. The woman just stares in the distance, knowing this was not the first and it won't be the last time. Panel 4, black cat is lying down, lounging comfortably over her entire laptop keyboard, stretching out the entire desk, posing as the muse that has and will inspire a million comic strips. It is ensuring it is cuddle time, where the woman agrees with it or not. The woman has her hands raised in a pose best described as "can you believe this?".
An owl, resigned to the fact that it needs volunteer care, looking a bit confused, laying on its back, semi-wrapped in a towel, paws up, being held by a human hand.
Shy Calico cat called Spot. In the picture she is in her clamshell shaped bed, with just the head out, with inquisitive bright green eyes wondering if it's reading time. She has a white face, and brown and black spots on her head.
An image of two UX user personas, both with the exact same text in bullet points: male, born in 1948, raised in the UK, married twice, lives in a castle, wealthy and famous. The top picture is of Prince Charles and the bottom picture is of Ozzy Osbourne.
A photo of an e-reader screen displaying a passage of text from the book Cyberselfish, by Paulina Borsook. The text reads: "But I don't think all change is good, or without cost. I am a Luddite—in the true sense of the word. The followers of Ned Ludd were rightfully concerned that rapid industrialization was ruining their traditional artisanal workways and villages, creating nineteenth-century local environmental disasters and horror-show factory working (and living) conditions for family members of all ages. For decades, the displacements of the Industrial Revolution sent hundreds of thousands of people to lives of penury, starvation, disease, and despair in the slums of big cities. The Luddites were early labor and ecology activists, upset not so much with technology per se but with technology's destructive effects to their bodies, to their children, to the places where they lived, to their ability to make a sane living. And, in a sense, they were early protesters of de-skilling."
Meme using a scene from the movie Jaws, where the original dialogue would be "We're gonna need a bigger boat". The meme text reads "We're gonna need a smaller violin".
Cover of a book named Feathers of Aotearoa: an illustrated journal by author Niels Meyer-Westfield. The cover shows several hand drawn illustrations of feather from New Zealand birds.
Image from the game https://dialed.gg/ Score at the top is 48.90 out of 50. Underneath there are 5 colour swatches, the ones guessed in-game. Under the swatches there's the sentence: "Perfect Score. Congratulations. You've peaked. It's all downhill from here."
A close-up of a woman in a car's passanger seat, while a man drives. The woman has a defiant frowny expression. Cover of the album Uh-huh-her by artist PJ Harvey.
Two cats by an open window. First cat is black and fluffy, in the foreground, on the inside of the window, with his tongue out, second cat is a calico, also with her tongue out, but climbing the window glass, from the outside, in the background.
Scene from the TV Series Bob's Burgers where Bob looks tired and defeated while climbing up some stairs saying to his daughter "It's been a rough year", to which she replies "It's the first week of January".
A pouty, fluffy black cat defiantly sitting on top of keyboard, mouse, pen and notebook of his human, who is just trying to get on with the 2026 work. His face seems to say "what is this work shenanigans about? No work, just pets!"
Picture of Spot, a calico cat, with her belly up and showing lots of calico toe beans. Spot is Data Rocks Director of Toy Chasing Operations and has lots of fun in her role.
Picture of Ozymandias, a very fluffy black cat, against a yellow wall, sitting on top of his cat tower, from which a toy spider dangles. Ozzy is Data Rocks Chief Purring Officer and takes his duty very seriously.
A modified version of the classic xkcd diagram about the the modern digital infrastructure. It shows a tower of scrappy random blocks balanced in ever more flimsy blocks. From top to bottom: lots of little random blocks poorly balanced with the note "something happening in the web", then a tiny block at one leg of the tower called Cloudfare. Another one a little below it called AWS. A tiny itsy little load-bearing block called Unpaid Opensource Developers. The Linux foundation is a thin base of the Tower. A tiny balancing block with a picture of the shark that ate the underwater internet cables is holding the entire tower together. For extra comic effect, there is a hinge forcefully streching half the tower upwards called AI. And an angry bird is being thrown at the entire thing with the note "whatever Microsoft is doing.
Picture of feet wearing a pair of socks with artwork inspired by Wassily Kandinsky.
Photo of Spot, Data Rocks' Executive Director of Toy Chasing Operations enjoying the weekend. A Calico kitten's face closeup. The kitten has her eyes closed and her tongue out, looking like the emoji 😝 She just had a big play session and is grooming. Her human is hugging her gently, wearing a pink hoodie in the background.
Photo of a business card resting on top of a notebook, surrounded by coloured pens and pencils, in shades of purple, pink, orange and yellow, which match Data Rocks logo and brand colours on the business card. The business card is daek purple, with a logo composed of geometric forms that together assemble a puzzle in the shape of a mount, with a negative space shaped like a diamond in the middle. Each geometric form is a different colour: yellow, orange, purple, and pink. Underneath the logo, there is the name Data Rocks in elegant sans serif yellow letters, followed by a yellow like and the name Thabata Romanowski under it.
Poster celebrating the 1 year adoption anniversary of a black cat named Ozymandias (Ozzy). The poster has a textured background with multiple polaroid-style photos. Header: "OZYMANDIAS" is written in large handwritten letters on the left, with "Adoption Anniversary 1 year" in smaller text on the right. Top left photo: "First Pic!": Shows a small black kitten in a carrier. Text: "Ozzy was adopted on 21st September 2024, with 9 months. He weighted 3.2kg" Second photo labeled "First Vet Visit": Shows hands holding the small black kitten at the vet table. Text: "He went to the vet four times. Two of those were poop related" Top right photo: Shows him investigating a fluffy yellow duck toy. Caption: "If this poor duck could talk..." Text: "His favourite toy is a yellow fluffy duck that moves and quacks." Right photo labeled "Catio!": Shows the cat in an outdoor enclosed area. Text: "Ozzy's favourite place is his catio, no matter the weather." Middle left photo: Caption: "A very scary vet trip". Shows Ozzy lying on his bed. Text: "Ozzy is afraid of heavy rains and strong winds, but when he hugs his ESPie (Emotional Support Plushie), everything seems less scary." Middle right photo labeled "First backyard walk": Shows him outdoors climbing a tree. Text reads: "He's a very smart boy. He knows how to walk on a leash, high-five, sit, spin and lay down on command. He also knows 'out' means getting out of the counter, but he often chooses to ignore it." Bottom left photo labeled "Baaah!": Shows two sheep in a field. Text: "He was once visited by two sheep" Center large photo: The main image shows Ozzy as a fully grown black cat with bright green eyes sitting in a red and white striped box looking up and to the left. Bottom right photos: Two close-up shots of Ozzy's funny faces with captions "What?!" and "weeee!!!" Text nearby reads: "Ozzy is very chatty and expressive" Bottom text: "He has grown up to be a big fluffy boy, at 5.2kg!" Footer: Created with love by @datarocksnz
Tom Scott, YouTuber, at an unidentified location, raising his hand, looking at the camera saying "I am at... my fucking limit".
A black cat named Ozymandias, or Ozzy for the friends. He is also known as Mr. Coffee Beans, and occasionally referred to as the Pharaoh of Darkness, because it is a damn cool badass nickname. He is sitting in a 12/10 cat loaf form, perched on his favourite cat scratcher spot. He is very fluffy.
A female calico cat, named Spot, sitting in her new home after a delicious welcome meal, cheek scratches, and lots of treats.
The robot Bender, from Futurama, connecting a purple cable into his head.
Design Thinking! Web Comic strip. By @designthinking.lol Panel 1: Four business people in professional attire stand together, three of them running, looking confused and concerned. One person with a confused look asks "What... what's happening?" The scene conveys bewilderment and uncertainty, unsure of what's driving the sudden urgency. Panel 2: A larger group of diverse business professionals are all running in the same direction, their faces showing determination mixed with panic. The same person from the first panel, now joining the others in running, calls out "Why are we all running?!" while another responds with frantic energy "I don't know, but we can't be seen to NOT be running!" Panel 3: The same group continues running, now with visible anxiety and competitive urgency. Someone shouts "Quick! That guy's running faster than us!" while another person responds with desperation "NO! We can't let him get there first!" The illustration shows the escalating panic and mindless competition, with everyone racing to whatever this might be. Panel 4: A massive crowd of tiny silhouetted figures runs directly off a cliff to their deaths. Someone asks "Get WHERE first???" while another responds "No idea, but wherever it is, we can't afford to get there last!" Bodies are falling into the abyss and piling up at the bottom. Everyone is running themselves off a cliff in their mindless pursuit of the latest business hype.
A poorly designed pie chart by an unknown author, likely created as a joke, which says: Will I finish my portfolio this year? One slice is blue, at about 95% of the pie, coded in blue in the legend, saying "No". The other slice, representing 5% of the pie is yellow and the legend is coded as "No, but in yellow".
Manganui Gorge suspension bridge, Taranaki Maunga, NZ.
Ozzy, Data Rocks' Chief Purring Officer (a black cat) ready to jump head first into some dataviz books.
Page 271 of Stephen Few's Show me the Numbers book. It starts the chapter named 12. Silly Charts that are best foresaken". Quote about Donut Charts: "a donut chart is a pie chart with a hole in the middle. Both pie and donut charts attempt to display parts of a whole. If pie charts are graphical pastries filled with empty calories, donut charts are the same and more."
Data Visualization in Tableau Public about the work of multi-artist David Lynch. It depicts Lynch's face in a Mondrian-inspired montage, with colourful squares overlapping his image. Squares are blue and red with white and black accents, colours often prominent in his movies and art.
Three dragons. The first is fierce, second is wondering what the hell the third one is about. The third one is making a silly face.
A meaningless error message from Microsoft Power BI that reads "There's a problem with WebView2. Please report the issue to the Power BI Community so we can help you resolve it. And a green button saying Get in touch.
Woman, in front of a bookshelf, wearing a t-shirt with an stylised map of New Zealand, made with the logo pattern from Tableau, with a red heart where Auckland is located. The T-Shirt text says: "Auckland, Tamaki Makaurau, Tableau User Group. Design by T. from Data Rocks (the person in the picture).
Tableau swag pack spread on a red surface, displaying: a backpack, a pair of socks, a greetings card saying "party with your data", a notebook with the Salesforce branding, a electronics organiser, speakers, a water tumblers and a custom-made tshirt with the winning design for the Auckland TUG tshirt design contest, with the print designed by T. from Data Rocks. The print sows a map of New Zealand using the Tableau logo as a pattern, with a Heart placed where Auckland is located. The text underneath the illustration reads "Auckland Tamaki Makaurau, Tableau User Group". The swag pack is being appreciated by a black cat, Ozzy, Data Rocks Chief Purring Officer.
18 alternatives to traffic light red-green colour palettes containing three colours each. One to signify "positive", 1 to signify "neutral", and another one to signify "negative". The title reads: Some Traffic Light Options - You Don't Have to Go Green-red!
Ozymandias, Data Rocks' new Chief Purring Officer. Picture of a long-haired black cat, with big expressive green eyes, sitting on his owner's lap, making biscuits.
Celebrating 10M users. 397,541. Certified Elder, first 10% users. Joined July 28th 2023. T. from Data Rocks. @datarocksnz.bsky.social
An abstract illustration of a lower-case letter 'a' moving in a diagonal path and leaving a trail behind. There are 4 text elements which read: (Dataviz) Design Matters; #8; 01 September 2023; www.datarocks.co.nz
"A graphic titled 'dataviz design matters #7' dated 26 August 2024. The design consists of elongated isometric rectangles with shadows, forming a diagonal pattern across a dark background. The rectangles overlap and create a sense of depth and movement in the composition."
Excerpt from the job ad posted which reads: ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS: Ability to travel and communicate outside of work hours. Must be able to work extended hours and/or weekends as needed.
Picture of a page from chapter 12 of Show Me The Numbers by Stephen Few. It reads: "The Donut chart is definitely one that people are tempted to use because it's cute. Software vendors sometimes make donut charts enticing to eat (see below), but they'll still leave you empty". It shows a depiction of a poorly designed 3D tilted Donut Chart, with 4 almost identical slices in different colours.
The Data Design Manifesto by Data Rocks, principle number 3: good data design is balanced It seeks harmony between simplicity and complexity, functionality and aesthetics. It’s not about oversimplification, but about refining complexity to make it accessible.
Aurora Australis. Purple, pink and red lights dance among the stars, in Taranaki's night sky.
Picture of Nightingale Magazine issue 4, titled 'Emotion', with Mount Taranaki, NZ in the background. The cover depicts a yellow balloon, with a smiley face, about to fall on top of a sharp pin.
Illustration of a floppy disk wearing glasses and walking with a cane, because he’s so old. Source: https://uxdesign.cc/the-floppy-disk-save-icon-visual-language-of-an-era-long-gone-93f74efc9f9
Image of a ChatGPT conversation. The user asks: "Is 2024 a leap year?" ChatGPT answers: "No, 2024 is not a leap year. Leap years occur every four years to adjust for the fact that a year is actually about 365.25 days. The last leap year was 2020, and the next one will be 2024."
picture of two books in a shelf, alongside two wooden maniquins. Books: The Art of Insight by Alberto Cairo and Encyclopedia Infographica by Valentina D'Efilippo, Andrew Pettie and Conrad Quilty-Harper
Infographic about how much and what I wrote in 2023.
Book cover of The Data Storyteller's Handbook by Kat Greenbrook
two wooden manikins posing with a business card in front of a painting
gif of a dashboard going from black and white, to poor use of colour, to better use of colour.