Baru Obračajová

The following is inspired by a random yet deeply cherished find from Papercut: the Illustration Idea Book.

It was in this book that I discovered Dear Data. Two artists across the Atlantic sending each other postcards with hand drawn data vxtisualisations of their lives. Definitely an interesting way of getting to know someone.

I have been intending to do my own hand drawn chart ever since (while I eagerly wait for the release of the Observe, Collect, Draw journal from the authors). It also plays well with my little project of sending people watercolored postcards.

OOTD Project

What I own x what I wore

For this project, I did two data gathering exercises:

• First, I logged everything that I own into a database by colour (luckily I never wear patterns, so there was no confusion), type, brand, and material
• Then, over the course of one week, I noted which pieces I wore and how often

The observed week was not too cold, not too hot, which meant that I did not wear any dresses, skirts, shorts, or jumpers, and stayed mostly in the middle lane of t-shirts, pants, and sweatshirts.

I took into consideration neither PJs and undergarments (too personal to post online), nor socks (mostly too colourful to capture).

I was very happy to find out that I actually wear my clothes! I don’t own too many pieces of clothing, and I think that 28% is a pretty decent utilisation for one week (especially given the weather).

Turns out that the best investment is… black pants.

Hand drawn data viz

Making data viz by hand is HARD. You can see that the lines are squiggly, and perhaps watercolor was not the best tool of choice. Also, how to you draw white?!

Overall, I had fun and I think I am somewhat satisfied with the result – but as with every watercolor postcard, I would do it again and better.

Final Remarks

On the other side of the viz, it is still a postcard. I just haven’t decided whom to send it to – yet. Not sure what is the etiquette behind sending someone a random data viz, especially since my watercolor postcards usually look more like this:

So until next time (I shall be circling around the local post office until then).

Baru