Flourish: An Interactive Data Storytelling Platform

Introduction

Data visualization is a powerful means of communicating information. However, static charts alone sometimes struggle to effectively convey temporal changes or complex stories.

Flourish is a platform that enables data storytelling through animation and interaction. It makes it easy to create dynamic visualizations such as race charts (bar chart races) and animated maps. It is used by organizations including BBC, Google, and the World Bank, and offers a free plan.

Key Features of Flourish

30+ Templates

Flourish provides over 30 visualization templates. In addition to basic charts like bar and line graphs, it offers distinctive templates including:

• Bar chart race: Animated ranking changes over time series data
• Animated maps: Dynamic visualization of geographic data changes over time
• Interactive stories: Step-by-step data explanations in slide format
• Network diagrams: Visualization of node and edge relationships
• Sankey diagrams: Flow representation
• 3D maps: Three-dimensional map visualization

Data Storytelling

Flourish’s “Story” feature allows you to combine multiple visualizations like slides to create stories that explain data step by step. Within presentations or articles, you can guide readers progressively toward data understanding.

No Coding Required

All visualizations can be created through a browser-based GUI. Simply enter or upload data in spreadsheet format, select a template, and customize. No programming knowledge is required at all.

Embedding and Sharing

Created visualizations can be embedded on any website via iframe. Direct link sharing and social media sharing are also supported.

Use Cases in DH Research

Animated Historical Data Visualization

Using bar chart races, you can animate historical data transitions. For example, dynamically visualizing city population ranking changes across eras or trade volume trends helps provide intuitive understanding of historical flows.

Cultural Network Visualization

Using the network diagram template, you can visualize citation relationships between authors, cultural influence propagation, and intellectual networks. Data weight can be expressed through node size and edge thickness, and the visualization can be explored interactively.

Storytelling for Digital Exhibitions

In museum and library digital exhibitions, Flourish’s story feature can be used to create exhibition content that introduces collection data step by step. It provides visitors with interactive experiences where they explore exhibitions through scrolling and clicking.

Presenting Text Analysis Results

Text mining and natural language processing results can be effectively presented using diverse charts and animations. This enables creating impactful presentation materials for conference talks and workshops.

Basic Workflow

1. Select a template: Choose a template that matches your purpose
2. Enter data: Enter data in spreadsheet format or upload a CSV file
3. Customize: Adjust colors, fonts, labels, animation speed, and more
4. Preview: Review the created visualization in preview mode
5. Publish: Publish to obtain a URL or generate an embed code

Pricing Plans

Flourish offers a free Public plan that allows unlimited public projects. However, all visualizations created on the free plan are public. A paid plan is required for private projects.

Comparison with Datawrapper

Flourish excels in animation and storytelling, while Datawrapper is superior in accessibility and simplicity. Using them according to your specific needs is the most effective approach.

Conclusion

Flourish is an interactive visualization platform specialized in data storytelling. In DH research, it excels in scenarios where you want to incorporate dynamic expressions, such as animated historical data representation, network visualization, and building digital exhibitions. Since you can start with the free plan, we recommend trying out the templates first.

Reference Links

• Flourish Official Site
• Flourish Templates
• Flourish Help