Natalia Kiseleva
Friends
The process of creating the project
I have long been fascinated by the field of data art, drawing inspiration from the works of amazing Shirley Wu, Federica Fragapane, Giorgia Lupi, and Nadieh Bremer!
Specifically, Giorgia Lupi and her wonderful collaborative project with Stefanie Posavec, Dear Data, had the most significant influence on this project. This magical book comprises a year-long correspondence between two designers who collected data about themselves on a particular theme each week and sent each other postcards featuring data art on that theme. The data art was hand-drawn on these postcards using pencils, liners, and markers.
I have other data art projects executed in traditional techniques, but this one is one of the early ones (2020) and addresses a very important topic for me - Friendship.
Specifically, Giorgia Lupi and her wonderful collaborative project with Stefanie Posavec, Dear Data, had the most significant influence on this project. This magical book comprises a year-long correspondence between two designers who collected data about themselves on a particular theme each week and sent each other postcards featuring data art on that theme. The data art was hand-drawn on these postcards using pencils, liners, and markers.
I have other data art projects executed in traditional techniques, but this one is one of the early ones (2020) and addresses a very important topic for me - Friendship.
At first, I pondered what data to collect about my friends. It seemed to me that, because friends are so different during various periods of life, different interests or themes unite us. I couldn't help but think that the hobbies or situations that connect us might also influence the duration of our friendships.
For instance, how many friends do we lose after graduating from school or university? When changing jobs, how many colleagues continue to remain our friends? On one hand, changes test the strength of friendships; on the other, it's always sad when friendships come to an end.
For instance, how many friends do we lose after graduating from school or university? When changing jobs, how many colleagues continue to remain our friends? On one hand, changes test the strength of friendships; on the other, it's always sad when friendships come to an end.
While I was compiling the dataset (just in a notebook, without any complex tables), I reminisced about all my relationships with friends, our shared hobbies, wonderful moments, and sad goodbyes.
Data collected here includes:
- Friend's name (hidden)
- Gender
- Alive/deceased (yes, I had to add such a variable)
- How long since we last communicated?
- Duration of friendship
- Type of acquaintance (place, situation). Examples: school, parents, kindergarten, work
- Older or younger than me?
- Lives far or near?
- Are the relations positive or strained?
- Full list of shared interests we had. And the interest that influenced the beginning of the friendship.
Additionally, I connected some friends with each other with a line - if they were friends with each other before me (oh my, I'm terribly jealous friend!)
Data collected here includes:
- Friend's name (hidden)
- Gender
- Alive/deceased (yes, I had to add such a variable)
- How long since we last communicated?
- Duration of friendship
- Type of acquaintance (place, situation). Examples: school, parents, kindergarten, work
- Older or younger than me?
- Lives far or near?
- Are the relations positive or strained?
- Full list of shared interests we had. And the interest that influenced the beginning of the friendship.
Additionally, I connected some friends with each other with a line - if they were friends with each other before me (oh my, I'm terribly jealous friend!)
Why I chose such a form of encoding - some kind of squiggles or droplets? - I struggle to answer. I suppose I was influenced by the elegant illustrations of Giorgia Lupi, who often draws such delicate little details - I really love her style.
So I hope it was indeed her style that influenced me. Although, I wish it had a stronger influence! It's just so cool!
So I hope it was indeed her style that influenced me. Although, I wish it had a stronger influence! It's just so cool!
The fragment about the project Giorgia Lupi & Stefanie Posavec - Dear Data
Here's the data art experiment I ended up with. And I was extremely satisfied - not only was the process incredibly engaging, but the result allowed me to contemplate friendship and think about old friends for many years to come. And about new ones who aren't in the project! Perhaps it's time for an update?
That's how the project turned out!
That's how the project turned out!
If you're interested in trying to create a similar project based on your own data but lack some knowledge or skills in working with data and visualization, feel free to reach out—I'll be happy to help.
- Personal consultation - message me on my Telegram @eolay13
- You can sign up for the waiting list (with a 20% discount) for the group data art workshop here: Waiting List for Courses and Workshops.
- Personal consultation - message me on my Telegram @eolay13
- You can sign up for the waiting list (with a 20% discount) for the group data art workshop here: Waiting List for Courses and Workshops.
My Other Projects
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Climate bracelet!I used the Warming Stripes diagram principle to encode data on global warming in my homeland - in the Arkhangelsk region.Check!
This data art is tangible - I wove it from beads!
2024 -
Data-portraits of the D&D CommunityHere are the data portraits of our local Dungeons & Dragons community. Player preferences and their experience are encoded here. 2024Check! -
Diary of EmotionsThe Emotion Diary is a project that combines data from two diaries - the Sketch Calendar and the Emotion Diary - for one month. I decided to overlay these two projects on each other - in one part encoding emotions with color, and in the other leaving sketches.Read!
This way, even on the hardest day, there was something amusing.
2024 -
"Flowers and Numbers" Data Art CommunityIn 2024, I founded the data art community "Flowers and Numbers" - and based on the dataset from the group members, we visualized the community portrait using various methods. You can learn more about the community at the link below.Read!
2024 -
Data badges 'Moms, Folder, and Kids StuffCreated data portraits of moms from the local parenting community based on Kimley Scott's project.Soon
2024
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The Data Ink projectMy new small challenge project.Check!
As part of my practice, I decided to draw small graphic data-arts by hand on personal data.
I draw with a black fountain pen in a cute notebook. -
My travelsIn this project, I gathered my travels over many years. This project, resembling the music of the winds, is done on paper, but in the process, it's a tangible version.Read!
2023 -
Data-art: Mortality caused by road traffic injuryThe theme of this data art is Mortality caused by road traffic injury. In the form of an ornate plant motif, data on deaths from road accidents in different European countries are encrypted, and other features of these countries are also hidden there. Details about the project can be found at the link!Read!
2022
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Data-art "Family tree. The Mezen folk painting"The theme of this data art is my small family tree. Patterns and symbols were taken from the Northern folk painting - Mezen. Each element in this work represents one of the closest family members. For more information about the decryption and description of the work, follow the link!Read!
2020 -
FriendsIn this project, I gathered all my friends throughout my life up to 2020 and depicted them in these curls, trying to enrich the images with data about shared interests, frequency of communication, etc.Check!
One of my first data arts.
2020
I love data art, I study this direction, collect a collection of world projects, and classify them. I host live streams on the topic of data art, where we analyze various interesting directions of data art with guests.
I teach courses on data art, have a Telegram channel on Data Art, and a data art practice group called 'Flowers and Figures'.
Drop by sometime!
If you want to learn more about this direction, check out my articles and videos on data art:
I teach courses on data art, have a Telegram channel on Data Art, and a data art practice group called 'Flowers and Figures'.
Drop by sometime!
If you want to learn more about this direction, check out my articles and videos on data art:
Lectures and Workshops
I teach data visualization, dashboard design, data art, and working with data visualization tools (BI products) Power BI, and Tableau. I give lectures and conduct workshops.
I collaborate as a lecturer and trainer with:
- A. Kolokolov Institute of Business Analytics (2019-...).
- Data Visualization Society (2022-2023).
- MSU Moscow State University (2022).
- HSE Higher School of Economics (2022).
- MGPU Moscow City Teacher Training University (2022).
- EU SPb European University at Saint Petersburg (2022).
If you're interested in attending my workshop or training on data art or data visualization, you can find the list of courses and waiting list here: Workshops & Trainings.
If you are interested in collaboration or need a personal consultation, feel free to reach out via LinkedIn, Telegram, or by email eolay@inbox.ru.
If you are interested in these and my other projects - please subscribe to my page on social networks for regular updates! I'll be glad!
