It's Friday, and I thought that for Friday we needed a little levity. For that, I am calling on my good friend Brendan Leonard.

Brendan does a lot of things. He writes, he speaks, he runs, he makes films, and over the last few years, he has invested a lot of time into drawing charts, graphs, and comics (he even turned a bunch of them into a book).

These emotional data visualization charts are both funny and touching, and it's no surprise that they resonate with so many people.

A few years ago Brendan and I wrote a book together called Best Served Wild. It was intended to be a humorous, don't-take-yourself-so-seriously kind of a book, with both recipes and essays. Recipes I can do, but let me tell you, writing humorous essays was much harder than I had anticipated. It gave me a newfound respect for Brendan's work, and quite frankly, anyone who writes satire and manages to produce funny work on a regular basis.

And that is why Brendan is here today: to bring a little humor and lightness to your Friday, and perhaps challenge you to make a chart.

You can see the one that I made above following Brendan's rules. I have a few ideas for other ones too, so thanks to Brendan for getting me out of my personal creativity comfort zone. I hope that he does the same for you!
 

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How I Make an Emotional Data Visualization Chart and You Probably Can Too
by Brendan Leonard

1. Wash the dishes, take the dog for a walk, go for a run, or drive somewhere without outside stimulation (listening to a podcast, texting, reading, scrolling)

 

 

3. Think about the human existence, but not the big picture, but more “small picture.”

 

4. Notice something—could be how the potato masher always jams up the drawer of kitchen utensils, could be how my dog acts toward me when I leave the house without him vs. when I come back, or how lots of current rappers have names beginning with “Lil” but lots of past rappers had names suggesting they were larger people.

 

5. Consider the idea:
    a. Is it something that is true for many people, or just me? If it is probably true for many people, it could work.
    b. Is it likely to stir up negative sentiment, or make people feel worse about the world instead of better? If so, not worth it. If not, proceed.
    c. Is it making fun of a group of people I am not a part of? If so, abort. Making fun of “us” is OK; making fun of “them” is not OK.

 

6. Type a note into Notes app on iPhone, ex. “SELF-EMPLOYMENT: Number of shirts with collars vs. number of shirts with hoods” or “ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES AND MY DOG, SCALE OF ANNOYANCE: Vacuum cleaner —> electric toothbrush”

 

7. How could the idea be presented in a simple chart? i.e. a pie chart, bar chart, XY chart, line graph, etc. If it takes too long for people to figure out or leaves room for a broad range of interpretation, the joke will not land.

 

8. Start drawing. I use an iPad and Apple Pencil with the Procreate app, with a very low level of expertise—i.e. I know how to use one brush and do very basic drawings, with very basic colors and techniques.

 

9. Try to make the lines as straight as possible, but don’t take advantage of Procreate’s ability to make all your lines 100% straight (it’s nice and neat, but takes away any character). If I have drunk too much coffee by this point in the day, my hands shake too much and I have to wait until evening or the next morning. 

[Note: watch Brendan's timelapse video of what this looks like when he created his grocery store chart.] 

 

10. Show drawing to my wife, Hilary, who will not laugh at it, but will give it the thumbs-up or thumbs-down. She is correct about 96 % of the time, and occasionally, if I disagree with her thumbs-down, I will go ahead and post the drawing on social media, in which case it has about a 35% chance of succeeding.