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A Return to Fun

I disappeared off the face of the earth, no notice, no goodbye. I was in the middle of weekly chronicles, a series on D3.js - and suddenly I was just…

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March 2025

The slow cartography movement and a bearded cajun grandma

A four-year map projection, a no-AI org chart study, and a New Orleans chef who cooked the same meal for decades.

Mar 2, 2025 • Mattias Petter Johansson (MPJ)

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February 2025

Datavis spoken word and how to build a developer AI

Two new videos: a spoken-word ode to line plots and a guide to building a developer-focused AI.

Feb 23, 2025 • Mattias Petter Johansson (MPJ)

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7 wonderful things MPJ ran across this week

Dishonest charts, crypto detectives, space-filling curves, shadow libraries, and a map of every book ever written.

Feb 16, 2025 • Mattias Petter Johansson (MPJ)

The Peculiar Triangle of Positivity, Negativity, and Optimism

Positivity and optimism are not the same thing, and the difference changes how you see nearly everything.

Feb 9, 2025 • Mattias Petter Johansson (MPJ)

Sleep, Graphs and Gut Feelings

On sleep trackers, gut feelings, and why your wearable might be making you less self-aware

Feb 2, 2025 • Mattias Petter Johansson (MPJ)

January 2025

MPJs list of 14 best data visualization inspiration resources

14 curated sources where working data viz practitioners actually go for ideas, now collected in a public GitHub repo.

Jan 26, 2025 • Mattias Petter Johansson (MPJ)

Data physicality, materialization and Four-Byte Burger

On turning data into tactile artifacts, papercraft habit trackers, and why physical beats digital for behavior change.

Jan 19, 2025 • Mattias Petter Johansson (MPJ)

Dirty D3: Making 2025 about embracing mess

Why D3.js is unavoidable for serious dataviz, and what a messy, low-stakes video format has to do with it.

Jan 12, 2025 • Mattias Petter Johansson (MPJ)

December 2024

California is finally beheading the duck

How California's grid finally flattened the duck curve — and what it teaches us about memorable data visualizations.

Dec 22, 2024 • Mattias Petter Johansson (MPJ)

If you are born in 1983, you viscerally understand GPU Heat

Growing up with the GeForce 256 ruined free AI tiers for me — and that instinct turns out to be correct.

Dec 15, 2024 • Mattias Petter Johansson (MPJ)

Let darkness take you: Hygge, Superpoetry & The Causality of Unwantedness

On embracing Swedish winter darkness, three-hour workdays, and the small rituals that make life feel decent.

Dec 8, 2024 • Mattias Petter Johansson (MPJ)