2026-08-11 20:08:32
Earlier this summer I embarked on an outside-of-work project to bring a bit of colour to a blank garden wall. Other than brightening up a part of the garden that spends most of the day in shade, it was also a nice opportunity for some analogue creativity and to briefly, if not entirely, get away from tech.
Here’s the wall in question in its original state.
Since we moved into our new house in December I’d been thinking about what to do with this wall.
It was such a tempting blank canvas, rich in potential to have something creative done to it. I knew it was unlikely to be a place where we grew stuff up it (there’s an opposite white wall in full sun where that can happen) but I knew just whitewashing it wouldn’t be enough.
That said, whitewashing was the first stage, along with some filling and removing of some wall fixtures. Here’s the before-and-after shot…
…but I know you probably want the timelapse of the whitewashing. Of course you do, its always very satisfying. This was done on Bank Holiday Monday, May 4th.
The canvas was prepared, but what to do with it?
In my previous apartment in Dublin city centre I lived near an amazing stretch of street art on South Dock Road, along the River Dodder. I’ve always fancied having a go at spray painting and seeing the artists down there doing what they do was simultaneously inspiring but also cautioning. As much as I’d like to give it a go, without the talent and experience I knew it would be the wrong thing to try for this project. Another time maybe.
Beyond the choice of material, in terms of the creative ‘subject’ I also knew that to attempt something figurative would be high-risk: unless it was perfectly executed it would look rubbish and would be misaligned stylistically with the garden setting. Sure, I could always CTRL-Z by whitewashing but I didn’t want to waste my time.
Although I flirted with the idea, I quickly rejected any pursuit of a data-driven creation. I wanted to be a bit freer than that would afford and I also sought some clear water with the day job.
I settled on pursuing something that would be abstract and geometric in nature. I let my brain relax into waiting for something compelling to come to mind and one night I had a vision of a rectangular grid of squares overlaid with concentric rings. I don’t know why, it just popped up in my mind. I wrote down my idea on my phone’s Notes app then drew it out in Illustrator in the morning. I immediately had that inner feeling that here was something I could work with.
The dimensions of the wall space were approx 6 metres in length and 2 metres in height, which was a neat aspect to work within. I adjusted the initial outline sketch to match those dimensions making the overall pattern more rectangular. I also adjusted the layout to find the right harmony for the numbers of rings, the most elegant positioning of each circle’s origin, and the ideal grid-cell dimensions.
But what would I do with this outline pattern? How would I fill it? With what colours would I paint it?
I initially considered a blend of filling isolated cells and then combining others into continuous shapes. I wanted to use a range of colours but I needed some theme to work towards and maybe some rules to work within.
To help experiment with different options I exported from Illustrator an SVG of my final pattern and then used Claude AI to build a little tool to isolate all the pattern’s individual cell regions and fill them with different colours, drawing from a set of predefined palettes as well as the flexibility to customise my own.
I was getting closer to finding the answer. I extended the tool to allow modifications to the pattern’s stroke colour and width and, above all, introduced an optimised layout rule whereby no cell would be filled in the same colour as a directly adjacent cell. This would help me determine the required number of distinct colours. I added a feature to save generated custom palettes and to export the resulting patterns as png/svg images. With that I also included the option to add a numeric colour label so that I would be able to follow a ‘paint by numbers’ approach when executing it on the wall.
Although I had liked the burst of bright rich colours offered by some of the palettes, the choice of these colours was arbitrary. I wanted something a bit more meaningful, or at least a bit more deliberate.
As I was thinking more about the pattern, I started seeing it as being an abstract depiction of ripples in water. Maybe the movement of water when you are in a swimming pool looking down at its tiled floor. This ‘water’ theme was also relevant given about 600m (as the crow flies) beyond the wall I was painting on are the waters of Dublin bay.
I liked this idea, focusing on different variations of one primary hue (blue) with a single accent colour (gold). I was still unsure whether to actively paint the outline strokes of each region but I was clear that, though the tool was generating patterns based on a full rectangle, I was going to ignore the corners and have rounded edges.
Having worked out the design wireframe and paint-filling approach, I had to choose my paint material. I did some research into the most robust exterior paint types (the wall is exposed to Ireland’s climate, after all) as well as considered which range would offer me the widest variety of colour options AND be available in the right volume quantities. I didn’t want to invest in huge 2L/5L tubs of different paint colours if I was only going to need to use small amounts of each.
The best option came with B&Q’s ‘Valspar’ paints, specifically their exterior masonry range. Not only could I pick from a huge range of colours I could also get 236ml tester pots of my chosen colours for €7. Having established I would need six different colour paints, I calculated how much surface area each colour was expected to cover. I ordered two tester pots for each (the ‘gold’ colour was sourced from another paint specialist), giving me just enough to do one coat with a bit of spare paint leftover for future touch-ups.
It was time to start. With my pattern guide printed I plotted out the design’s real-world dimensions and got to work on drawing it up on to the wall.
With the wall’s surface being far more lumpy-and-bumpy than I’d realised I decided to use a dry-wipe marker pen to draw out the pattern (this was a mistake as it turns out dry-wipe pen plus rain equals goodbye drawing. Who knew?). With a metre rule, set square, and spirit level I created the outline grid.
To form the circles I used a simple method of string attached to the circle origin at one end and to the pen at the other and drew out the arcs, extending the string length by a grid’s-width each time.
I then marked out all the cells that would be taking the first of my blue colours, using my paint-by-numbers guide to put little blobs of colour in each relevant region.
The most challenging aspect of doing the painting was coping with the wall’s uneven nature. Not only was the wall not uniformly flat or straight throughout, the surface would be best described as being akin to painting on a giant poppadom. Because of this it took far longer and far more effort to complete each cell as accurately as I could manage without losing my marbles. This was made harder by the deteriorating outlines of the pattern during what was becoming quite a wet month of May.
Despite that, progress continued…
By the end of May I had managed to get through filling in all the regions for all four of the blues.
Next up, the hugely satisfying addition of the gold paint. The final colour to add.
Until finally, belatedly after a few weeks break due to bad weather and holidays, by mid-June I applied the final touches using a gold-ink pen for the tiny little regions that were too fiddly for the paint brush.
And there we have it. Took a few weeks in the end because it was only possible to make occasional progress. I reckon if I’d been working on it continuously and without weather interruptions it would have taken a full working week. I’m not sure I would have had the patience though to do it so relentlessly like that.
The post My summer side quest appeared first on Data Viz Excellence, Everywhere.
2026-07-20 23:41:46
The World Cup is over!! And wow…
I know people have had mixed feelings about the tournament, but one thing no one can deny is that it has been full of memorable moments. From Cabo Verde coming out of nowhere and stealing everyone’s hearts, to England and France battling it out for bronze, and of course, the final itself. It’s been one incredible tournament.
But while the players have been putting their hearts on the line, another battle has been taking place in the background: the battle between football fans and technology.
I don’t know how many people I’ve heard say that the thing they dislike most about the modern game is VAR and all the technology now involved in football. I mean, in one match, there were even arguments about whether the ball had hit a drone before coming back down! Whether you love it or hate it, technology is now deeply woven into the game.
And where there are drones, AI and controversy… There must be data.
Data In The Wild
Welcome back to another edition of Data in the Wild, the series where we investigate how data is formed, collected and used to influence the world around us. Today, we’re going to explore three ways data and technology are shaping modern football: the ball, the game and the culture.
Let’s do it.
Data & Technology in Football Isn’t New
This may seem obvious to some, but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded. As much as it feels like technology in football is a recent phenomenon, it’s actually been evolving for decades.
For most of football’s history, the game relied almost entirely on human judgment. Referees made decisions based on what they saw, coaches relied on memory and handwritten notes, and fans debated controversial moments for years because there simply wasn’t a way to know for certain what had happened.
Technology slowly began changing that.
During the 1980s, video analysis gave coaches the ability to replay matches repeatedly, transforming how teams prepared, learned and developed tactics. Then, throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, sports science became increasingly important. Heart rate monitors, GPS trackers and performance data helped clubs understand how hard players were working, reduce injuries and tailor training to individual athletes.
But the biggest shift came during the last decade.
Rather than simply helping players perform better, technology began helping officials make decisions. Goal-line technology, introduced at the highest level in 2012, could instantly determine whether the whole ball had crossed the line. A few years later came Video Assistant Referees (VAR), giving officials access to multiple camera angles to review game-changing incidents.
As much as people claim technology is taking the thrill out of football, I have to admit that if a “Hand of God” moment happened in today’s game and nobody could prove what really happened, the corruption allegations would probably be on another level.
So, let’s get into the tech.
The Ball: The Smartest Thing on the Pitch
Let’s start with something I genuinely didn’t know until a few weeks ago.
Believe it or not, one of the smartest things on the pitch isn’t actually one of the twenty-two players or even the coaches standing on the sidelines.
It’s the football.
Inside the official match ball is something called an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), and it’s actually something you’ve encountered before.
In fact, if you’re reading this on your phone, you’re probably holding one right now.
Think about what your phone can do. It knows when you rotate it, which is why the screen flips between portrait and landscape. It knows when you’ve dropped it (hopefully not too many times), and it can even count your steps while you’re walking around.
The football works using a very similar idea.
Instead of measuring your movement, however, it spends the entire match measuring its own.
Inside the ball are tiny motion sensors that monitor changes in movement around 500 times every second. Every kick, every header, every deflection and every tiny touch changes the way the ball moves. Those changes are detected almost instantly, allowing the system to identify the exact moment the ball has been played.
At first, I didn’t think that sounded particularly impressive.
I mean… surely we can already see when someone kicks a football?
Well… yes and no.
Imagine trying to work out the exact moment someone kicks the ball using only television footage. Most broadcast cameras record around 50 images every second, which sounds like a lot until you compare it to the sensor inside the football. While the camera captures around 50 snapshots during a second of play, the ball is quietly collecting around 500 measurements over that same period.
That means the sensor can provide a much more precise timestamp for when the ball was actually touched. We’re talking about differences measured in milliseconds, but in football, a few milliseconds can be the difference between a player being onside or offside.
Of course, the football can only tell us when it was touched.
It can’t tell us who touched it.
For that, the stadium needs another pair of eyes entirely.
The Game: The Stadium Has Eyes
So, if the football can tell us when it was touched, how does the system know who touched it?
That’s where the stadium comes in.
Hidden high above the pitch is a network of dedicated tracking cameras whose only job is to watch the game. They’re not there to create the television broadcast or capture dramatic slow-motion replays. They’re there to measure movement.
Imagine watching a football match through sixteen pairs of eyes that never blink, never get distracted and can remember exactly where every player has been for the last ninety minutes.
That’s essentially what these cameras do.
They continuously track the players and the ball, collecting positional information around fifty times every second. Rather than simply recognising that “there’s a footballer over there”, the system tracks different parts of each player’s body using computer vision, creating a constantly updating digital representation of the match.
And this is what powers semi-automated offside.
If you’ve ever watched a VAR offside check, you’ve probably seen those 3D animations with players frozen in place and coloured lines appearing across the pitch. For the longest time, I assumed the computer was simply drawing lines on top of the television footage.
It turns out it’s much cleverer than that.
To decide whether a player is offside, the system needs to answer two questions:
Where was everybody?
And…
Exactly when was the ball played?
The cameras answer the first question by tracking the positions of the players.
The sensor inside the ball answers the second by detecting the exact moment the pass was made.
Artificial intelligence then combines those two streams of information, creating an automated offside alert for the video officials. They review the recommendation before passing the final decision back to the referee on the pitch.
That’s why FIFA calls it semi-automated offside rather than fully automated. The technology speeds up the process, but a human is still responsible for making the final decision.
Whether you love VAR or absolutely cannot stand it, I have to admit… that’s a pretty incredible piece of engineering.
The Culture: Commentary and Stats Merchants
Of course, what we’ve talked about today is only a small part of the story.
Once I understood how the technology worked, I suddenly looked at football statistics very differently. It made me realise that all the numbers commentators casually throw around during a match aren’t just random facts they’re built on carefully collected measurements, sound methodologies and statistical analysis.
The statistics we see on television are really just the final product.
Passing maps are built from tracking where the ball has travelled around the pitch. Shot maps reveal where players tend to shoot from and which areas are most dangerous. Heat maps show where players spend most of their time during a match. Possession statistics, sprint speeds and distance covered all begin with thousands of tiny measurements collected throughout the game.
Behind the scenes, clubs take this even further. Coaches, analysts and sports scientists use performance data to monitor player workload, fatigue, recovery and overall well-being, helping players stay fit and perform at their best throughout a long season.
Perhaps what fascinated me most, though, wasn’t the technology itself.
It was how quickly football culture has embraced data.
During the World Cup final, my WhatsApp chats were full of screenshots of passing networks, expected goals charts, shot maps and player comparisons. It honestly threw me off.
People often say data is difficult to understand, but I think context makes all the difference. Put a chart in a report and some people switch off. Put that same chart next to a football match and suddenly millions of people are analysing it, debating it and sharing it with their friends.
Maybe data isn’t as inaccessible as we sometimes think.
Maybe people just need a story they already care about.
Looking at Football Differently
Similar to many other industries and sectors, we need to be honest: technology, AI and all of the innovations we’ve talked about today aren’t going to decrease. They’re only going to become even more integrated into our lives and, undoubtedly, into football.
Learning about the current uses of these technologies alone has blown my mind, so I can’t wait to see what new innovations emerge over the next few years.
One of my favourite things about writing this series is that it completely changes how I look at everyday things.
I can’t turn on my phone’s GPS without thinking about satellites.
I can’t walk through London without wondering how much location data is quietly being created around me.
And now…
I don’t think I’ll ever watch football in quite the same way again.
The next time I hear a commentator mention a player’s sprint speed or see an offside graphic appear on my screen, I’ll know there’s an invisible network of cameras, sensors and algorithms working behind the scenes to make that information possible.
So, if you’re interested in learning more about how technology is being used to shape the way we experience the world around us, I look forward to seeing you next time as we uncover more data…
…in the wild.
Football is no longer just a game played on the pitch; it’s also a game of data. From sensors hidden inside the ball to AI-powered offside decisions and the statistics we see every match day, discover the invisible technology transforming how football is played, analysed and experienced around the world.
Smart motorways are quietly shaping how we drive. That sudden drop from 70 to 50? It’s not random. Sensors and systems are predicting traffic before it happens, slowing everyone down to prevent jams. It’s data controlling the road in real time… the question is, do we actually trust it?
In this edition of Data in the Wild, I explore what it really means to “share your location.” From GPS and Wi-Fi to ship tracking and TfL demand modelling, this piece unpacks how geolocation works, where it shows up in everyday life, and what we can build when movement becomes data.
The post Data in the wild #18: The Hidden Data Behind Football appeared first on Data Viz Excellence, Everywhere.
2026-07-20 21:53:18
Welcome to episode 9 of season 6 of Explore Explain, a long-form video and podcast series all about data visualisation design. Or, at least, it was…
This isn’t just the final episode of the season, it is the final episode of the show! I will post more about my reasons for this in due course, but let me thank right here every guest, listener and/or viewer for engaging with the 54 episodes we’ve pulled together, featuring 80 guests across six seasons and over the past six years.
And so, for this grand finale, I indulge in a bit of self-promotion by spending time exploring and explaining the creative process behind my new project: ‘The Seinfeld Chronicle: Digital Edition’, a rebooted and reimagined version of this long-term analytical investigation I’ve been doing about the popular US sitcom. To serve as a quick intro, you can read a bit more about the project by visiting the launch post.
The conversation was recorded as a live webinar episode featuring myself, as host and as a guest, alongside my multi-talented collaborators including data visualization designer and developer, Anne-Marie Dufour, as well as sonification superstars Miriam Quick and Duncan Geere (Loud Numbers). (Sadly, due to laryngitis, you won’t be able to hear Miriam, but you’ll certainly hear about her contributions to this project!).
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.
You can watch this episode using the embedded player below or over on the dedicated Explore Explain Youtube channel, where you’ll find all the other video-based episodes and curated playlists.
To listen directly, visit this link or use the embedded podcast player below. The audio podcast is published across all common platforms (such as Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music etc.), so you will find this series listed in their respective directories by searching for ‘Explore Explain’ or by manually entering – or copying/pasting – this url to your subscriptions – https://feed.pod.co/exploreexplain.
The post Explore Explain S6E9 – The Final Episode! appeared first on Data Viz Excellence, Everywhere.
2026-06-29 16:17:30
I’m delighted to finally launch my latest and largest project to date. ‘The Seinfeld Chronicles: Digital Edition‘ is a rebooted digital version of my long-term visual investigation of the patterns of laughter, the interactions of characters, and the use of locations across every episode of ‘Seinfeld’.
This passion project/side quest originated in late 2016 with a curiosity about the possibilities of analysing the qualitative and subjective nature of situation comedy. Roll forward four years, in 2020 I produced a limited-edition self-printed book compiling all my analysis, with 176 copies (matching the number of written episodes of the show) made available on a pay-what-you-can-afford basis. These copies were snapped up within 2 weeks, far quicker than I could have ever imagined, and with such generosity: After covering the shipping costs, the net proceeds were donated to two charities, with Samaritans and Rainforest Trust each receiving £2500+.
With the work winning a coveted Malofiej-silver-medal, and with no desire to compromise the exclusivity of the product people had paid to obtain through a further print run, the project felt like it was done…
…except, I always had a nagging sense that it hadn’t quite fulfilled its ‘format’ potential having not been developed as a digital product for the web and therefore making it more widely accessible to different audiences.
That’s where my approaching of the mega-talented data visualization designer and developer, Anne-Marie Dufour -and subsequent calling on the help of sonification superstars, Miriam Quick and Duncan Geere (from Loud Numbers) – has now led to a fresh, more ambitious digital reboot for this highly unnecessary data exploration.
The work is the consequence of a long term fascination with the creative process behind sitcoms and specifically Seinfeld. It was the ‘musicality’ of the show that I found particularly intriguing, orchestrated by the comedic talents of co-creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David.
Like music, situation comedy has rhythm and it has texture: rhythm is shaped by a show’s timing, its scene-structures, and its pacing; textures are created by the ‘instruments’ of characters and their locations, which amalgamate to create the situations from which the comedy manifests.
In this digital version we fully explore every possible avenue and level of visual analysis, from the macro trends of character, location and laughter patterns, right down to specific moments in each episode.
PROLOGUE
The project opens with my personal history with the show and the timeline of it being broadcast in different places on TV. We introduce the show, explaining its unique qualities, and also visually establishing the symbolic mapping system of characters and locations. We then move on to explain the motivating curiosity for this work – as well its print-version predecessor.
THE SHOW
After the title page we introduce the shape, size and dimensions of the show with a timeline plotting ‘the when’ of the 180 broadcast episodes across 9 seasons. This sets the context for the scale of the data gathering that took place, the methodology behind which – especially in relation to the subjectivity of laughter – is then explained and illustrated with a worked-up scene.
EPISODE CATALOGUE
Having unveiled the components of the episode compositions, the centre-piece of the work, visitors can at this point explore a browsable gallery of all episode compositions with each offering a sonified representation of every scene, using instruments and sounds synonymous with the show to form unique jazz vignettes.
LEAD CHARACTERS
Focusing on the four main characters, we visually explore their patterns of screen time and laughter-causing across all episodes and seasons, with summary trends and observations of their potential peak performances.
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Switching to all the other non-lead character groups, we again visually explore their patterns of screen time and laughter-causing across all episodes and seasons, with summary trends in the context of the leads.
LOCATIONS
After characters, its the locations we examine to see their trends and patterns of usage as the setting of scenes through all the episodes.
COMBINATIONS AND FINDINGS
Bringing it all together, here you’ll find an interactive tool to find out how often and when were different combinations of lead characters, supporting characters, and locations used across every episode. Supplementing this are some final written summary reflections offering general insights or notable factoids.
CREDITS & METHODOLOGY
Wrapping up the work is an appendix with remaining expanded details about aspects of the data gathering methodology, including established counting rules, assumptions made, and acknowledgements of accuracy. There are also final details of the sources of any video, audio, or image files used.
Want to know more about the behind-the-scenes development and creative process?
To coincide with the launch of this project, on Monday 29th June at 1pm UTC, I will host the final ever episode of my ‘Explore Explain‘ video and podcast series.
This will take the form of a live webinar, open to anyone to register to attend, and will be a detailed conversation between me and the team behind the work as we talk through and show our creative journey behind this long-term development.
Due to attendee limits I’ve set up a simple pre-registration using the following Eventbrite page where you can sign up for free. Once you do register you will be sent a confirmation by Eventbrite including a link to view tickets. 30 minutes before the event starts the webinar link will be revealed to enable you to join the session which will open at 1pm (UTC) and commence around 5 mins later. The conversation will last around 1 hour, with scope for audience Q&A.
I hope some of you can join us for this live session and participate in this final episode!
The post New Project: ‘The Seinfeld Chronicles: Digital Edition’ appeared first on Data Viz Excellence, Everywhere.
2026-06-10 23:32:44
My May newsletter, issue number 24 that was sent out to subscribers a couple of weeks ago, is now open for all to read.
You can also access this issue, as well as visit the full catalogue of previous issues, via the Newsletter page.
If you’re not already a subscriber, its time to change that! To receive this free monthly newsletter straight into your inbox you can sign up here or visit the Newsletter page to get a bit more background information and instructions.
Thank you as always to everyone who subscribes, reads, shares, visits and responds to this newsletter. But above all thank you to all the people doing ace work that I’m able to curate and share through these issues.
The post The May 2026 newsletter is now open to all appeared first on Data Viz Excellence, Everywhere.
2026-06-09 21:30:07
On Monday 29th June I will be hosting and recording a live episode of my ‘Explore Explain‘ video and podcast series. This will be the final episode of season 6. It will also be the final episode ever!
After six seasons across six years, comprising (what will be) 54 episodes and featuring 80 guests, I’ve decided to leave the show before the show leaves me. I’ll write more about the rationale behind this decision and reflections of the brilliant experiences I’ve had doing it in due course.
For this finale I will be indulging in a bit of self-promotion by spending time exploring and explaining the creative process behind my new project: the imminently-launching ‘Seinfeld Chronicle: Digital Edition’.
This is a refreshed and enhanced visual investigation looking at the patterns of laughs, the interactions of characters, and the use of locations – or as I term it an exploration of ‘the rhythm and texture’ – across every episode of Seinfeld. What was previously published as a limited-edition print edition, with the help of some of the best talents in the field, we’ve now created a new version that fully exploits the digital possibilities of visually – and sonically – experiencing data. The project will be publicly launched the week before the webinar.
This episode will be delivered as a Zoom webinar running for 75 minutes based around a ~60 minutes conversation between the team behind the work followed by ~15 minutes of Q&A time with the live audience.
I will be hosting the session, asking questions as well as sharing my own experiences on the project. Joining me on the episode will be multi-talented data visualization designer and developer, Anne-Marie Dufour, alongside sonification superstars Miriam Quick and Duncan Geere (Loud Numbers).
The webinar will be open to join from 2pm (BST) with the conversation commencing about 5 minutes later, to give time for all the panellists to get in place as well as the audience to join. As there are audience-size limits, if you would like to attend please visit this Eventbrite page to register for free. The session will be recorded and then published as an audio and video episode.
When you sign up you will be sent a confirmation by Eventbrite including a link to view tickets. 30 minutes before the event starts this will reveal the webinar link to join the session.
The post Explore Explain Final Episode: Live Webinar! appeared first on Data Viz Excellence, Everywhere.
