OBSERVE, COLLECT, DRAW! - A Visual Journal
Big announcement for the little data collector in you! We made a very special journal just for you, and it’s out now!
OBSERVE, COLLECT, DRAW! - A Visual Journal for obsessive and curious minds
It’s always thrilling to look back on your life and see how often it’s the smallest of interactions that completely change your life’s direction and set you on a new path.
For our project Dear Data, each week, over the course of a year Stefanie Posavec and I collected and measured different types of personal data relating to our lives and then visualized them as a drawing on a postcard which we then sent to the other person as a type of “slow data” transmission of our personalities and our days to the other person.
As we’ve written extensively on Medium, this personal documentation deeply changed us both, turned into a book that is now in its second edition, has been exhibited around the world, and then, to our joy and surprise, has found the most exciting home: the original set of our cards and our sketchbooks have been acquired as part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
But there is much more to this story, at least for us.
The most unexpected and heartwarming reward for us is how our project resonated with an incredibly wide and diverse range of people. Since the project was made public, we have seen hundreds of postcards made by people who, after hearing our story, wanted to try the process for themselves - many seeking out their own data “pen pals” and even setting their own yearly challenges to draw their data.
We are also touched at how many young children are reading their parents’ Dear Data book and are excitedly drawing their own data. And, even more incredibly, teachers from grade school to university and beyond are using the Dear Data format to teach their students the world of data: an amazing (and humbling) result of what started as a side project.
This is why our second book is a visual journal that teaches a general audience how to collect and draw their own personal data. It's a guided diary to learn how to notice and record the minutiae of our lives, and how to use data as a material for our creations.
OBSERVE, COLLECT, DRAW! is published by Princeton Architectural Press, and is available on Amazon and at your local independent bookstore.
If you are you interested in self-improvement, curious about personal data collection, looking to expand your creative outlets, or interested in a different way of drawing, THIS JOURNAL IS FOR YOU!
You will harness your skills of observation, document the world around you, discover more about yourself and your life, and unlock your creativity in data and drawings!
