9 Astonishing Data Visualization Projects You Can Replicate [2024]

Mastering the art of data Visualisation demands patience, effort, and time. As an expert in the field, I‘ve found that engaging in data Visualisation projects is a crucial step to becoming proficient. In this discussion, I’m excited to share some of the most stunning data Visualisation projects. These examples showcase incredible ways to represent data and offer creative inspiration for your projects visually. The variety of sectors in these project ideas means you can find something that aligns with your interests and experience. I hope you find these examples as inspiring and informative as I do, providing a solid foundation for practicing and enhancing your data Visualisation skills. If you are a beginner and interested in learning more about data science, check out our data science online courses from top universities. 

Let’s get started!

No Coding Experience Required. 360° Career support. PG Diploma in Machine Learning & AI from IIIT-B and upGrad.

What is a Data Visualisation Project? 

Data visualisation turns complex datasets into interactive and aesthetically pleasing graphics for easy understanding and insights. Visualisation tools such as graphs, charts, maps, and other visual elements simplify the understanding of complex information, thus making it easier for a larger group of people to understand. The best data visualisation projects seek to get out the sensible patterns, trends, and connections from raw data, through which the information is transferred into actionable knowledge in various fields. 

 They advocate the use of customized software to make visualisations that are active and interactive to improve the practice of data exploration and analysis. Fundamentally, data visualisation projects for beginners can be practiced to represent powerful tools for communication, storytelling, and creating actionable insights from data. 

Excellent Data Visualization Projects

1. Create a Viz on Cricket Stadiums

Source: England’s Cricket Stadiums (BBC Sports)

Cricket is a passion for many people. In this project, a group of cricket enthusiasts and Google Maps worked together to show the different shapes of cricket stadiums in England. The above visualization is a product of BBC Sports Edition and Google. The best thing about this visualization is its level of detail and simplicity. It is based on a straightforward premise yet shares a lot of detail with the viewer. 

You can create a similar data visualization on other scenic locations and reflect the difference between their views. Such data visualization would help you experiment with video content and explore how you can incorporate it better in your skillset. For starters, you can create a similar viz for cricket stadiums in the Indian subcontinent or Australia. 

Our learners also read: Python online course free!

2. An Astronomical Viz

Source: The Atlas of Moons (National Geographic)

National Geographic has always been a leader in photography. They are also innovators in the field of data visualization. The above display, The Atlas of Moons, shows the various moons present in our solar system and it starts with our moon. The visualization is scrollable, which makes it more immersive and enjoyable. You can navigate every moon and their orbits, finding out more information about them. 

This visualization is the perfect combination of art and data. You can try to imitate this project and create a scrollable visualization yourself. You can pick a similar topic, such as the planets in our solar system. This project can help you try out unique methods of showing data and understanding how you can represent comparisons between multiple objects.

3. Show the Wilderness of Australia

Source: Where the Wild Things Glow (Jonni Walker)

Nature is beautiful in itself, but in the above visualization, Jonni Walker has shown its beauty in the form of data visualization. The above viz indicates the location and extent of bioluminescence present on the coast of Australia. All the relevant data and legend is present on the map, making it easy to read and comprehend. Jonni had created it on Tableau.

You can create a similar visualization for bioluminescence on other coasts of the world (there are many). Or, you can simply try to replicate this visualization with your tools and see how it turns out. If you’re interested in nature studies and want to use your data visualization skills in this sector, then this project will help you get ahead. This project would help you in understanding how you can use data visualization to study nature and relevant topics. Try mimicking this project.

4. Show Our Advances in Space

Source: Leaps in Space (Bureau Oberhauser)

There’s a profound relationship between space and data visualizations. Maybe it’s the level of detail and expanse in both of these things that causes people to combine the two so often. 

The data visualization we’ve shared above is called Leaps in Space, and it’s a product of Bureau Oberhauser. The visualization shows the numerous things humans planned to do in 2021 alone. You can create a similar visualization to show the things humans have done in some other year. Or, you can take this approach to show the achievements of India in space.

Not only will this project put your creative skills to test, but it will also give you experience in uniquely showing calendar visualizations. On a side note, you can use this visualization as a wallpaper or a poster too.

upGrad’s Exclusive Data Science Webinar for you –

ODE Thought Leadership Presentation

5. A Project for Culture and Art

Source: Symbolikon (Michela Graziani)

Are you a culture enthusiast? If you are, then this is a great project inspiration. Sybolikon is a collection of various ancient symbols of different cultures. All of these symbols are artistically rendered and belong to different sections of history. If you have a designer friend who might want to use these symbols, then they can buy access to it on their website. 

You can build a similar visualization collection. As the creator of this project has used symbols in this project, you can use another cultural artwork (such as flags or emblems). It’s a great visualization project to show your knowledge of design and research. Currently, Symbolikon has more than 800 symbols in its collection. You can start with 50 or a few hundred.

6. Create a Visualisation on a Book

Source: If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler (Hanna Piotrowska)

This visualization is stellar! In 1979, Italo Calvino, an Italian writer, had written a conceptual book that discusses reading another book (interesting topic indeed). Since its release, it has become a cult book for readers, writers, and conceptual artists.

Data visualization artist Hanna Piotrowska, in 2019, used this book to create a mesmerizing data visualization project. In her work, the original text shines while her collection of data visualizations enhances its beauty further. You can take inspiration from this project and create a mesmerizing data visualization for a book. You can find other interesting conceptual books and show off your data visualization skills. A great thing about this project is you have a lot of leeway in choosing the kind of book you want to work on. In the example we shared, the creator of this project chose a book on writing. You can choose a book on another subject (such as physics or something else) to create this project.

7. Visualize History with Data

Source: Napoleon’s 1812 March (Charles Minard)

This project is for history lovers. Charles Minard created the above visualization, and it shows that tools aren’t crucial for communicating information effectively. Why is that so? 

Well, Charles had created this lithograph in 1869, way before HTML or Tableau existed. It shows Napoleon’s Russian army, the temperatures they faced, and their movements. The level of detail in this visualization is fantastic, and you can take a lot of inspiration from it to create beautiful visualizations yourself. This project also highlights the value of practical communication skills and knowledge of datasets. 

You can try to imitate this project and create a history-based visualization yourself. You can focus on a historical event like this (such as the Battle of Panipat). Moreover, you can highlight the instances of that event like the one in this project we’ve shared. Or, you can try to mimic this visualization by using the tools present in your arsenal. After you’ve created this visualization with your tools, try to figure out how Charles Minard would’ve kept this lithograph accurate.

8. Show the Possibility of Life in Space

Source: Goldilocks Exoplanets (National Geographic)

Have you always wondered if there’s extraterrestrial life? Do you think there are living beings on another planet? Well, this visualization explores just that.

It’s a product of National Geographic, and even though we have one from them, we couldn’t resist adding this one in the list too. This visualization shows the planets in our solar system and beyond which have suitable conditions to support life. They used data from the Planetary Habitability Lab of the University of Puerto Rico. Their exciting way of showing the habitability of different planets is admirable. 

You can create a similar visualization based on a similar topic. For example, you can create a small visualization for the habitability of the planets in our solar system. It’s undoubtedly one of the best data visualization project ideas for space enthusiasts. 

Read: Data Visualization Tools

9. Highlight Migration Patterns

Source: US Migration Patterns (NYTimes)

Here is a data visualization on The New York Times where they have shown the moving patterns of Americans from 1990 to 2012. The flow of data in this viz is mesmerizing and unique. It explores where people living in a particular state were born and where they moved. You can take a similar approach to create a smaller version of this visualization yourself. The best thing about this project is, you can use it for many subjects. For example, you can show the migration pattern of birds, or, you can show the migration pattern of people living in a specific state (such as Maharashtra or Uttar Pradesh). 

Nonetheless, this is a great project to get inspiration from. You’d learn a lot about representing such data by working on this one. 

Also Read: Top 10 Data Visualization Types

Programming Languages & Tools used for Data Visualisation project 

Visualisation of data is carried out using a variety of programming languages and tools to transform the data into meaningful visualisations. Python is a popular choice because of its built-in and extensive libraries, such as Matplotlib, Seaborn, and Plotly, which provide it with high flexibility, ease of use, and the ability to create a plethora of static and interactive plots. R, another widely-used language, is also known for its great visualisation libraries, such as ggplot2 and plotly, which are unbeatable for statistical data analysis. You can use these tools to get data visualisation project ideas and start your journey with them. 

 The JavaScript frameworks like D3.js and Chart.js make it easy to create web-based visualisations with dynamic, excellent interactivity. Tableau and Power BI are the leading visualisation tools that provide users with an intuitive interface for developing interactive dashboards and reports. The users can be technical or non-technical. These languages and tools are the major tools used by data scientists to extract important information from complicated data sets, thereby improving decision-making and interpretation of results. 

Importance of Data Visualisation Projects 

Data visualisation projects are a significant constituent of contemporary data-driven decision-making processes across domains. Here’s why they are essential:  

1. Enhanced Understanding: Graphical representations of data provide easy access to information and understand its complexity even to non-technical readers. Through visual data presentation via charts, graphs, and maps –  the patterns, trends, and relationships are more recognizable and comprehensive. You can also visit multiple data visualisation projects with source code to deepen your understanding on the topic.
2. Insight Discovery: Human-readable visualisations of data help uncover the hidden gems of value present amidst giant data sets. Data can be visualised to reveal the correlations, outliers, and patterns that may not be obvious in raw data. The implications of these insights can be utilised to develop strategic decisions and solve problems.
3. Effective Communication: Visualisation is a very effective communication tool that helps stakeholders quickly get a gist of the key messages and insights. When visualising data for executives, clients, or team members, visualisations aid in conveying information in an orderly, cohesive way, teaching higher levels of understanding and shared goals.
4. Identifying Trends and Patterns: Data visualisation makes it possible to spot the trends and patterns that occur through time so that organizations can foresee upcoming developments and take preventive action. Whether analysing sales trends, market fluctuations, or customer behavior, visualisations assist in recognizing opportunities and risks. You can get a few of the best data visualisation project examples in the blog below.
5. Storytelling with Data: Good data visualisations narrate a story, signing audiences onto the data interpretation process and conveying a message that sticks. Storytellers can build compelling tales that motivate action and make a change using the data, context, and visuals. 

Challenges in Data Visualisation Projects 

Despite the advantages of data visualisation projects, they also have some disadvantages. Here are some common problems encountered: 

1.  Data Quality Issues: A main difficulty in implementing data visualisation projects is managing the issue of bad data quality. Approximations, incompleteness, or inconsistency of the data can give synthetic charts and wrong conclusions. Achieving data quality jumps hurdles with data cleaning and verification.
2. Overplotting and Clutter: Overplotting is a problem that happens when a chart is too crowded with too much data and consequently turns into untidy and unreadable graphics. Finding a proper ratio of data on display and preventing too much clutter is significant when creating valuable visualisations.
3. Choosing the Right Visualisation: It is, however, daunting to pick the most appropriate visualisation type when given a particular dataset and analysis aims. The same data visualisation projects with datasets might call for a different kind of chart or graph, depending on which one you choose. Also, it is important to select the right visualisation that can ensure insights are not obscured, or data is misrepresented.
4. Interpretation Bias: Interpretation bias is a situation where perceivers arrive at a wrong interpretation or inference from a given visualisation. This may occur due to opaque labels, misleading scales, or unconscious biases. The inclusion of clear labels, giving contextual information, and eliminating misdirection cues would reduce interpretation bias.
5. Performance and Scalability: Increasing data sizes becomes a problem for the visualisation tools and platforms in terms of performance and scalability. Creating and drawing visually rich visualisations in contexts of high speed and efficiency demands optimization techniques and scalable architectures. 

Time to Visualise Some Data

We’ve now reached the end of this fantastic list of data visualization projects. I must say, the projects we’ve shared here are some of the best works ever done by teams of experts. That’s why we’ve mentioned imitating them or taking inspiration from them. But now that you have some motivation to work with, we’re positive that you can build some astonishing visualizations yourself.

If you want to learn more about data visualization and relevant tools, I recommend heading to our blog. There, you’ll find many valuable resources on Tableau, best practices, and other projects. Plus, we’re continually adding new posts there so you can find great resources like this one!

If you are curious to learn about data science, I strongly recommend to check out IIIT-B & upGrad’s Executive PG Programme in in Data Science which is created for working professionals and offers 10+ case studies & projects, practical hands-on workshops, mentorship with industry experts, 1-on-1 with industry mentors, 400+ hours of learning and job assistance with top firms.