Every click, weather pattern, border crossing, and blood test is tracked and fed into systems that increasingly inform our daily behaviors. Data, however, is not knowledge. Before it can be put to use, it must first be translated—through design.

While the practice of mapping information is as ancient as abstract thought—stretching back to cosmological charts and cave drawings—computer logic, algorithms, machine learning, and artificial intelligence have upended the field of data visualization. Today’s practitioners create dynamic networks and animated narratives, expanding far beyond traditional charts and graphs. At a time when public confidence in big data and institutions has frayed, data visualization deals in trust as much as in truth, rendering design choices and sources ever more vital.