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Posts

Welcome to my blog! Its original title, “pars pas les mains vides!” which translates as “don’t leave empty-handed!”, conveys what I’m aiming to do: capture things I’ve picked up along the way in the weird and wonderful worlds of #rstats, data science and dataviz, and share them with others who may find them useful for their own adventures.

This is a mix of blog posts, “tweetorials” and LinkedIn posts I wrote as I was discovering fun things, and talks. It’s fully searchable through the search function in the nav bar.

Feel free to pinch the best bits and reuse them for your own purposes - that’s what these articles are here for! And if you want to say hello, get in touch!

Creating compelling visualisations in R with ggplot2

r-how-to
data-visualisation
storytelling
annotations
ggplot2

A code-along workshop for AFBI, exploring principles of dataviz design and applying them using ggplot2 and a few extra packages

Sep 30, 2025

On-brand accessible dataviz

data-visualisation
r-how-to
dataviz-design-system

My contribution to the RSS panel on Accessibility at the 2025 RSS Conference in Edinburgh.

Sep 4, 2025

A colour photo of seven spoons on a popularity scale. Six of the spoons are at the unpopular end of the scale with one spoon at the very popular end. The six sponns at the unpopular end are typical stainless steel spoons whilst the one spoon at the popular end is coloured in white with a funny character face on the scoop of the spoon.

Here’s one last #unpluggedViz from the summer holidays

data-visualisation
data-art
misc

First day back at work after a much needed break. Here’s one last #unpluggedViz from the summer holidays before I resume normal service of posting coding solutions to interesting dataviz challenges.

Aug 13, 2025
Cara Thompson
 

Every day a school day when creating custom R packages!

misc

Today, I’m making maps and a documentation how-to about maps, because… the client makes maps and needs to see how to apply the colours we’ve created to them! Tomorrow, it will be a swimmer plot for a different client.

Jul 29, 2025
Cara Thompson

Gif of a quick run through of my visualise, optimise, parameterise workshop presentation.

Visualise, Optimise, Parameterise! New code-along workshop video

data-visualisation
ggplot2
parameterised-plots

In the workshop, we worked through the traps I’ve typically encountered in creating these parameterised plotting functions, and how to avoid them. There was even one that came up in the workshop preparation!

Jul 17, 2025
Cara Thompson

A pencil drawing of the different sounds at the Paris underground showing the difference in trains departing and the trains arriving. titled 'Musicians brains'. The top graph, for trains departing, has an upward trajectory whereas the bottom graph, for trains arriving, has a downward trajectory. Different symbols depict the noises and announcements that we hear in these moments.

Yesterday’s #unpluggedViz was a collaborative effort between me and dad

data-visualisation
data-art

Mapping out what we hear when a train leaves / arrives at a métro station.

Jul 16, 2025
Cara Thompson

A hand drawn line graph in pencil depicting the difference in time it took to run 21km ten years apart. The top line graph depicts the most recent run which finished four minutes faster than the run 10 years ago, the bottom line graph.

Yesterday’s #unpluggedViz reflecting on its own Yesterday (the race!)

data-visualisation
data-art

… and a comparison with running the same distance 10 years ago. Pretty chuffed!

Jul 6, 2025
Cara Thompson

Pencil drawing of the timeline running up to the race. The key shows that the race was not on the day I thought it was on, but the day after the day I checked - phew!

Today’s #unpluggedViz. A calendar check just in time.

data-visualisation
data-art

I did chuckle when I picked up my race number!

Jul 5, 2025
Cara Thompson

A side by side before and after look at the same data presented in a different type of graph making more effective use of space.

A dataviz re-do from the Nordic Society of Human Genetics and Precision Medicine conference

data-visualisation
annotations

One of the highlights of preparing workshops for different groups is that I get to have a go at reworking plots that are relevant to them, to see how the principles we’re discussing could work on real dataviz challenges they face.

Jul 4, 2025
Cara Thompson

Gif showing how to used monochromeR blending pink and BHF red.

Picking semantic colours, then making them accessible and on-brand

data-visualisation
r-how-to

The other thing we talked about in Monday’s workshop was how to pick a semantically-meaningful colour that’s also on brand, when your brand guidelines don’t include that colour.

Jul 3, 2025
Cara Thompson

Colourful wooden beads used in the form of a bar graph to represent how my time has been used up between April and June 2025.

Today’s hashtag#unpluggedViz, reflecting on the quarter that has just ended

data-visualisation
data-art
misc

A helpful excercise in advance of tomorrow’s board meeting. It’s been a bit mad, and we can clearly see why I needed to take on a project manager!

Jul 2, 2025
Cara Thompson

Two data sets on one line graph. One line in yellow the other in burgundy. A section of the background of the graph is marked out in pink.

In-house dataviz workshop for the British Heart Foundation

data-visualisation

This morning, I joined the analysts from the British Heart Foundation online for a dataviz workshop. I set up a silly mission: let’s imagine that the BHF is hosting the next Great British Bake Off…

Jun 30, 2025
Cara Thompson
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