Formerly the Information Design Academy.
Design Like a Professional
Are you worried that your design skills will make you look like an amateur? Let me help.
DiY Data Design is a virtual workshop and learning community designed to help program evaluators, researchers, and data analysts like you go from creating amateur designs to professional quality work.
The three steps to creating professional quality work.
- Learn the Process: Professional design is a process that can be taught.
- Learn the Software: New software exists to make your designs better, faster.
- Get the Support: Get access to regular office hours and quarterly one on one calls.
What Success Looks Like
A successful academy participant will be able to use modern tools to design professional style charts, micrographics, infographics, and other modern reporting content.
They will also learn how to respond to modern design challenges, tell persuasive data stories, and leverage these newly developed skills in the modern workplace.
What sets DiY Data Design apart from other online information design workshops and data visualization academies?
Bespoke curriculum design.
Instruction is tailored to meet the needs of individual workshop members, so the lessons are always changing. We focus heavily on the practical. Some of our core topic areas include human centered and UX design methods, data journalism tools, and digital content strategy.
Not just another tutorial factory.
We follow a blended learning approach mixing live sessions, email lessons, and a collection of guided self-paced learning modules. And why reinvent the wheel? There are tons of amazing resources out in the world, you just need to know where to look.
Community Powered
The best thing you can give a data designer is another data designer. With this workshop you don’t have to go it alone. Not only do you get personal access to Chris, you also get to meet and learn alongside a community of your peers.
Led by a working professional information designer.
When I’m not teaching this virtual workshop, I’m designing things for clients. I know firsthand what it takes to create something unique while working together with a team of data professionals inside of slow moving bureaucratic organizations.
The kind of fun you would expect from a cartoonist.
Just because something is important, doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. Learning is the kind of serious work that is better when there is a light atmosphere full of laughter and smiles.
Who should join?
- Designed with program evaluators, researchers, data analysts, and other members of the global M&E community in mind. But all sorts of data people are welcome to join.
- People who are okay with a training program that adapts to their challenges and is never quite the same tomorrow as it was yesterday (but often better).
- People willing to help make the program better by sharing both their struggles and their ideas.
- People who give a sh*t about their work, enough that they want to share it with others and are willing to put in the effort to make that happen.
What the virtual workshop looks like today.
- We meet weekly, Wednesdays at 3 PM Eastern. We also meet at other time slots based on participant needs and requests.
- Everyone gets a 1 on 1 coaching call with me (Chris Lysy) once a quarter that is included as part of the membership.
- Full unlimited access to a growing collection of self-paced courses.
- I send out a weekly newsletter with a lesson and resources just for workshop members.
- There is a private circle community site where you can connect with other members, ask me questions directly, and share your work.
But what about…
I know you have your concerns but I bet I can guess a few. Here are some of the concerns your evaluation and research peers have brought up over the years.
- Worried that you don’t have the technical skills?
The tools we use in this workshop are web-based and easier to use than Excel and PowerPoint. They are modern tools used by news rooms, social media communicators, and UX designers. - Don’t have a budget for new software?
No worries, the tools I teach (and use professionally) are also FREE. They all have premium versions, but the free plans are high quality and all you need to start doing professional work. - Can’t code?
No problem, there is no coding required. - Really busy?
This is a low commitment workshop. Join when you can, and no guilt when you can’t. I promise to make this workshop as easy as possible, just show up and learn. - Can’t afford full price?
I offer a discount (16.7% off) and a scholarship (33.4% off) for anyone who needs it. - Can’t make the main weekly session?
I record it all. And if you can’t make the regular Wednesday session, let me know and I’ll do my best to accommodate. - Already taking another data visualization course?
Neat, but that’s not a reason not to join this workshop. I teach different tools and different approaches compared to the vast majority of my peers. - Worried that your clients or organization is too “old school” for you to get value out of this workshop?
I have spent a career doing innovative work inside “old school” slow moving organizations. Bringing change is always a bit difficult, but these are often the organizations that need the most help.
My Philosophy
If you want to effectively build your information design skills you need inspiration, encouragement, and support. You don’t need expensive tools, lots of time, or guilt.
- Show up and learn. No prep necessary, just come to sessions when you can.
- You are more creative than you know, but probably out of practice. We have to stretch those creative muscles.
- You get more out when you put more in. Ask questions. Share your work. Make requests.
- The tools exist that let us create better designs, faster. And they’re FREE.
Pricing
Save 16% (that’s two months free!) with annual billing
You decide if you need a discount or scholarship. It is available to everyone who needs it, no proof necessary.
What participants are saying…
I’m sure these could be further improved (the project is finished so there’s no need to) but this got noticed because the standard across the organization is still the bullet point slide. The presentations with new slides got substantially more engagement (questions, comments etc.) than the old ones. It’s working.
Chris has gone the extra length to help me with an annual report and gave feedback on an article I wrote. Our weekly sessions are informative and practical and helping me moving forward in my data and design journey!
I listened to a couple of your recordings yesterday and I was saying to my partner that my investment is already paying off!
The best thing about this group is meeting other people with a similar interest in using data for quality improvement but with expertise and insight from different fields!
These are the first steps and I’m sure I will get better at information design as I practice and get feedback. However, even this was enough to get asked to teach this internally next year. After I showed a few examples to a friend from my university who also runs a small consultancy that provides services mostly to government agencies he invited me to teach this to his staff (which I’ll get paid for). I seriously didn’t expect that when I started learning how to make writing/data easier to read.
My Guarantee
If you join the workshop and within the first 30 days decide it’s not for you, send me an email saying so and you’ll get a full refund. I created this workshop because I believe I can help you design like a pro. NOT to hoodwink or bamboozle. If it’s not working for you just reach out.
Have Questions?
Just send me an email > chris @ freshspectrum.com
Who is Chris Lysy?
I am an independent information designer currently doing work for large organizations such as the CDC and Habitat for Humanity International. As a cartoonist you will find my work scattered across the web and inside prominent evaluation textbooks.
But before all of that, at the start of my career, I was just a data analyst and evaluator disillusioned by how our field was failing to keep up with the times. I hated, and still hate, when tons of work goes into an evaluation project only to end up with a restricted use dataset and a dusty shelf report.
I was in my 30s before I rediscovered my creativity. I have also worked with students of all ages in rediscovering their own. It’s never too late.
Only one thing left for you to do…