YiweiWang_dataviz_portfolio

home page data viz examples critique by design final project I final project II final project III

Telling Stories with Data

Portfolio

This is my public portfolio for Telling Stories with Data at Carnegie Mellon University. Here, I’ll be sharing the projects and assignments I create throughout the semester.

As the course progresses, this portfolio will include my weekly assignments, critiques, workshop design, and a final project. My goal is to build a collection that not only demonstrates technical skills, but also highlights creativity and thoughtful communication through data visualization.

About me

Hello! My name is Yiwei Wang, and I’m currently pursuing the Master of Information Systems Management – Business Intelligence & Data Analytics (MISM-BIDA) program at Carnegie Mellon University. My academic background is in mathematics and analytics, which has trained me to think logically, work with data rigorously, and build models that uncover patterns. At the same time, I’ve always been drawn to the creative side of problem solving—whether it’s through design, storytelling, or finding new ways to communicate complex ideas.

This mix of analytical training and creative curiosity is what makes me especially interested in data visualization. I see visualization as a bridge: it connects the technical world of data with the human need for understanding and storytelling. I enjoy experimenting with different visual formats to highlight trends, comparisons, and narratives that might otherwise remain hidden in spreadsheets or statistical models.

Outside of coursework, I like exploring design and art, which often inspire the way I approach my projects. I believe that the best visualizations are not just accurate but also engaging, accessible, and memorable. In my work, I hope to create visual stories that support better decision-making and make data feel more approachable to everyone.

What I hope to learn

This semester, I want to push myself to:

  1. Make design choices that feel intentional, not random—so the use of color, layout, and labels actually helps people understand the data
  2. Get better at spotting the strengths and weaknesses in visualizations, both mine and others’, and using that feedback to improve
  3. Try out new tools and formats for telling stories with data, not just default charts
  4. Build visuals that don’t just look nice, but also highlight the so what behind the data

I also see this class as a place to experiment and figure out my own “voice” in visualization—how I balance being analytical with being creative.

After graduation, I’d like to work in areas where I can use data not only to analyze but also to communicate and influence, whether in product, consulting, or strategy roles. I believe the skills from this course will help me stand out—by taking complex data and turning it into clear, engaging visuals that people can actually understand.

Portfolio

(This section is still in progress and will be refined as the course goes on.）

Data Visualization Critique

Critique 1: Valentine’s Day Candy Map

A fun but cluttered Valentine’s Day candy map—my critique highlights missing context and suggests clearer labels, categories, and data transparency.

Critique 2: Critique by Design

I critiqued a data visualization about “How popular your birthday is” and then created a redesigned version.

Visualization Examples

Assignment/Examples/Workshop

Final project

Part I Part II Part III

Assignment: Visualizing government Debt

For this assignment, make sure you set up and link to a new page. This page is linking to a new Markdown document called visualizing-government-debt.md. For links to Markdown files in your repository, you can just include the name of the page without the .md extension.

Assignment 3&4: Critique by Design

For this assignment, make sure you set up and link to a new page. This page is linking to a new Markdown document called critique-by-design.md.

Changing text

You can change text, like this:

Here’s some bold text. Here’s some italic text. Here’s some strikethrough text.

Creating tables

You can build tables like this:

Name Type of pet Favority activity 1 FA 2 FA 3 FA 4
Eli cat Sleeping Eating Being pet Plotting to overthow dog empire
Howard dog You You You Eating
Frankenstein fish Swimming Eating Blowing bubbles Forgetting

An easy-to-use template generator tool can be found here

You can use different headings, like this:

Here’s a large title (H1)

Here’s a subtitle (H2)

…and so on (H3)

You get the idea - just don’t forget the space between the # and your title. #Title won’t work, but # Title will.

Adding images

Here’s an example of how to add an image to my portfolio.

funny dog picture

Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

Alternately, you can set the size of the image using just a bit of HTML:

Remember that you’ll need to upload the image into your repository, or include a link to the image somewhere else.

Setting up a separate page

So here’s the code you’ll need to add to your own site to create a second page.

  1. First, create a new page in your repository (for example, dataviz1.md)
  2. Next, add a link to that page by inserting the following into your readme.md page:

[title](dataviz) or [dataviz](https://cmustudent.github.io/portfolio/dataviz.html) or [CMU](https://www.cmu.edu)

Any of those formats will work. Here’s some examples of working links:

[title](dataviz) = title
[dataviz](https://cmustudent.github.io/portfolio/dataviz.html) = dataviz
[CMU](https://www.cmu.edu) = CMU

Make sure to check these from your publicly accessible URL to make sure they’re working correctly (not from the preview tab).

Looking for more? A nice Markdown guide can be found here

References

List any references you used here.

AI acknowledgements

If you used AI to help you complete this assignment (within the parameters of the instruction and course guidelines), detail your use of AI for this assignment here.