Plastic Ocean Infographics

This is the story of how I designed my first data infographic — one that ended up reaching the top of r/dataisbeautiful.

The topic: mismanaged plastic waste flowing into the world’s oceans. I started with rough sketches, explored the data in Observable and D3, then finalized the visual in Illustrator.

The process taught me that good data visualization is less about the tool and more about the story you want to tell. Every design decision — color, shape, hierarchy — should serve the narrative.