Seeking your dream job & why artistry and creativity are not the same (Cartoon Q&A with Alli Torban)

Welcome to episode 003 of my cartoon Q&A series.

Technology and the web have really changed what it means to be a modern data professional. The way forward is mostly uncharted. Through these chats with a wide range of creative data professionals, I hope to share a vision of what’s possible.

In today’s conversation I chat with Alli Torban, who is an information designer, a podcaster at dataviz today, and a data literacy advocate. Alli is also the author of Chart Spark, a book that will show you how to harness your creativity in data communication to stand out & innovate.

Among other things, we talk about the difference between artistry and creativity, how podcasts can act as a conversation lifeline, how to go about teaching yourself to illustrate, and why pursuing your dream job might just lead you to a surprising destination. It was a fun conversation that inspired the set of 8 new comics, which you’ll see below (and appear throughout the video).

You can learn more out Chart Spark (Alli’s book) here:
https://www.chartsparkbook.com/

You can check out Data VIZ Today (Alli’s podcast) here:
https://dataviztoday.com/

The Comics from the Q&A

Beyond a valuable button pusher.

Getting chart input from the next generation.

Podcasting to learn.

Artistry and creativity are not the same thing.

Libraries are for learning.

Taking the first imperfect step.

Dream destination plot twist.

Complicated was the point.