Flourish
Animated bar chart races, scrollytelling and story maps built from a spreadsheet without writing any code.
Opens in a new tab. We do not control this site and it may have changed since we catalogued it.
How to get the most from it
Flourish sits in Data Visualisation under Learn, filed as coffee break.
- Set aside five to fifteen minutes and give it your proper attention.
- Use a laptop or desktop computer — we file it as desktop only.
- It works with the sound off, so it is fine on a train or in a quiet office.
- Expect to create an account before you get far.
- Go in expecting something beautiful and useful.
About this category: Visual journalism and open data done properly — charts you can interrogate rather than just look at. The argument is in the interaction.
Good for
- Filling a coffee break properly
- Looking at something lovely
- Getting something practical done
- A quiet break at your desk
Flourish: quick answers
Is Flourish free?
Yes. Flourish is free to use, though it asks you to sign up.
Do I need an account to use Flourish?
Yes. Flourish asks you to create an account before you get far.
Does Flourish work on a phone?
Not well. We file Flourish as desktop only, so open it on a laptop or desktop computer.
Is Flourish safe for work?
Yes, we file it as safe for work. It also works muted.
How long does Flourish take?
We file it as "Coffee break": Five to fifteen minutes of proper attention.
More in Data Visualisation
All 15 in Data VisualisationNathan Yau's long-running blog on charts done well and badly, plus his own studies of how a day gets spent.
- 10 min
Hans Rosling's animated bubble chart of the world, still the fastest cure for being wrong about global development.
- 10 min
- Desktop
David McCandless's poster-grade infographics on everything from relative drug harms to the meanings of colours.
- 10 min
Every open source project plotted as a landmass, with related repositories clustering into continents you can pan across.
- 2 min
- Desktop
Same mood: beautiful
All beautiful sitesPaint with thick wet oils that pile up, smear and catch the light exactly like the real thing, entirely in a browser tab.
- <1 min
- Desktop
Variable font sandbox where you drag the axes and watch weight, width and optical size move in real time.
- 10 min
- Desktop
Suggests font pairings from a model trained on type, with locks so you can hold one face and reroll the other.
- <1 min
- Desktop
Long-form expeditions into Japan's abandoned mines, hotels and theme parks, written by somebody who actually climbed in.
- 1 hr+
Keep exploring
Have a site of your own? Suggest it for Detour or browse the AltFTool backlinks hub.