September 8, 2026 Smashing Newsletter: Issue #575

Editorial

Data visualization always has quite a bit of mystery and ambiguity around it. How do you choose the right chart, actually? And then how do you design charts to make sure that they convey proper meaning and understanding, rather than obscuring, confusing, or skewing the data?

In this newsletter, we look at some little helpers to learn and get better at data visualization — from a whole set of free lessons on visualization to a design system focused on data viz to data and analytics songbooks and... birds!

Today, the Smashing team is in Freiburg, Germany, for the annual SmashingConf Freiburg 🇩🇪 (running strong since 2012!). We also have front-end & UX workshops taking place online in the very same smashing spirit:

• Live UX Training UX
  with Vitaly Friedman. Sep 11 – Oct 12
• Figma MCP Masterclass Design
  with Christine Vallaure. Sep 14
• Accessibility For Designers UX
  with Stéphanie Walter. Sep 21–29
• Live Accessibility Testing Free
  with Manuel Matuzović. Sep 24
• Resilient And Maintainable CSS Dev
  with Miriam Suzanne. Oct 1–15
• Designing Websites That Convert UX
  with Paul Boag. Oct 7
• Accessible Frontend Patterns Dev
  with Manuel Matuzović. Oct 12 – Nov 2
• How To Measure UX and Design Impact UX
  with Vitaly Friedman. Oct 20 – Nov 3
• Jump to all online workshops →

We had such an amazing time at SmashingConf Amsterdam 2026 that we can’t wait to do it all over again. We’re thrilled to announce that SmashingConf is returning to Amsterdam in 2027! Dates, speakers, workshops, and tickets are coming soon.

Now, without further ado, let’s dive into all things data visualization!

— Vitaly

1. Open Visualization Academy

Whether you’re new to information design and data visualization or looking to enhance your skills, the Open Visualization Academy has got your back. Created by Alberto Cairo, the platform currently features 15 video courses taught by top experts. They cover everything from the fundamentals of visualizing data to accessibility, storytelling, cartography, generative AI, and more. A treasure chest of knowledge.

2. Searching For Birds

Do you have a soft spot for birds? Nadieh Bremer created a wonderful project that not only captures the hearts of bird lovers but also leaves everyone interested in data visualization, illustration, or storytelling awe-inspired. “Searching for Birds” is an interactive, dataviz-driven story that connects humans with birds by exploring how we search for them.

3. Data & Analytics Songbooks

A fantastic overview of data visualization guidelines and best practices is the Data & Analytics Songbooks Miro board. The board summarizes the wonderful work that Lisa Charlotte Muth, Aurélien Vautier, and Piotr Czarnas share on all things data visualization — from color choice and color scale to color blindness, text and data requirements.

4. How To Choose The Right Chart

We all know how tricky it can be to choose a chart type for a given situation. Uber’s Base Design System breaks the decision down into a standardized approach based on the concepts users are trying to understand, the number of variables, and whether seeing the data change is important. Once you’re clear about these three key factors, making decisions on how to visualize the data becomes more straightforward.

If you want to dive deeper into finding the best chart type to get your message across, Vitaly compiled some useful resources, as well as design systems and Figma kits for data visualization.

5. Visa Product Design System

To make it easier for product teams to craft insightful, inclusive, and accessible data experiences, the Visa Product Design System dedicates an entire section to the topic. It includes principles and techniques for visualizing and communicating insights, helpful tips for choosing the most effective chart, as well as usage, code, and accessibility guidance for data visualization components.

6. Accessible UX Research, Now Shipping 📚

We’ve got exciting news! Our newest Smashing book, Accessible UX Research by Michele A. Williams, is finally shipping worldwide! Get the book right away or order the eBook for instant download.

Accessible UX Research is your practical guide to making UX research more inclusive of participants with different needs — from planning and recruiting to facilitation, asking better questions, avoiding bias, and building trust. Download a free sample (PDF, 2.3MB) or get the book right away.

olks!

That’s All, Folks!

Thank you so much for reading and for your support in helping us keep the web dev and design community strong with our newsletter. See you next time!

This newsletter issue was written and edited by Geoff Graham (gg), Cosima Mielke (cm), Vitaly Friedman (vf), and Iris Lješnjanin (il).