R/dataisbeautiful

Last updated
r/dataisbeautiful
DataIsBeautiful.png
Type of site
Subreddit
Available inEnglish
Founder(s) u/zanycaswell
URL www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful
CommercialYes
Users 22 million (as of August 2025)
LaunchedFebruary 14, 2012;13 years ago (2012-02-14) [1]

r/dataisbeautiful, also known as Data Is Beautiful, is a subreddit dedicated to aesthetically pleasing works of data visualization. [2] [3] [4] It was created in 2012; as of January 2022, it has over 20 million members. [5]

Contents

Rules

The r/dataisbeautiful subreddit requires users submitting visualizations to clearly credit both the individual who created the visualization and the source of the data on which it is based. If someone submits a visualization they created themselves, the rules require them to put "[OC]" in the title of the submission, and to identify the source of data and software tool they used to create it. [6] "OC" is a standard Reddit acronym for "Original Content".

Media attention

A 2014 VentureBeat article noted that r/dataisbeautiful "...aims to collect the best of the Web in a daily rounded up of gorgeous data visualizations." The article also stated that the subreddit has been "unearthing the best ways to visualization thought-provoking and topical stories." [4]

In November 2019, the decision of moderators at r/dataisbeautiful to temporarily ban animated bar chart graphs showing the relative position of entities on a list over time – so-called bar chart races – received attention from The Next Web. [7] [8]

In January 2020, Eleanor Peake noted that, because the subreddit had received so many submissions by Tinder users plotting their experiences on the app, one Reddit user set up a separate subreddit dedicated entirely to Tinder-related data visualizations. [5]

Individual posts in the subreddit have also been reported on by the National Post [9] and Vice . [10]

References

  1. "r/dataisbeautiful". reddit . Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  2. Nield, David (2019-09-03). "21 Sneakily Useful Subreddits That You Might Not Have Heard About". Gizmodo Australia . Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  3. Kopf, Dan (2017-12-28). "The five most popular charts of 2017, according to Reddit". Quartz . Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  4. 1 2 Ferenstein, Gregory (2014-08-09). "Data Is Beautiful is a hidden gem for gorgeous data visualizations". VentureBeat . Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  5. 1 2 Peake, Eleanor (2020-01-10). "How she ghosted me: the men being radicalised by Tinder data". New Statesman . Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  6. Campbell, Mary Pat (November 2016). "The Where of Data Visualization". CompAct .
  7. "The Most Popular Subreddits You Should Know & How To Find Them" . Retrieved 2023-03-08.
  8. Mix (2019-11-28). "Reddit's DataIsBeautiful is sick of bar chart races — so it's banning them". The Next Web . Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  9. "A Reddit user posted a graph of her heart rate during sex and was accused of faking her orgasm". National Post . 2015-08-12. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  10. Rogers, Kaleigh (2018-11-09). "This Word Appears in More Reddit Post Titles Than Any Other". Vice . Retrieved 2020-03-08.