Dear Data

Dear Data was a year-long project (2014-2015) in which Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec — two information designers who had never met in person — exchanged hand-drawn data visualizations on postcards every week. Each week had a different theme: times they looked at clocks, complaints, phone usage, laughter.

The project redefined what data visualization could be. By making it personal, hand-crafted, and intimate, Lupi and Posavec showed that data visualization is not just an analytical tool but an expressive medium. The postcards were beautiful, idiosyncratic, and deeply human.

Dear Data was acquired by MoMA’s permanent collection in 2016 and published as a book. It inspired the “data humanism” movement — the idea that data visualization should embrace subjectivity, imperfection, and personal storytelling alongside rigor and precision.