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Duncan Swain
Professional Background
Duncan Swain is an award-winning Creative Director, entrepreneur, lecturer, and speaker with a rich background in editorial, design, and digital technology. With a specific focus on data visualization and information design, Swain has dedicated his career to transforming complex data into elegant, accessible formats. As a journalist at heart, he leverages digital technologies to tell compelling human stories that resonate with audiences across various platforms.
Swain's impressive career includes notable achievements such as the successful launch of several BBC.com brands, including the globally recognized BBC News, iPlayer, Good Food, and Top Gear. His experiences at the BBC have equipped him with a unique perspective into the intersection of storytelling and technology, allowing him to thrive in fast-paced, high-pressure environments while maintaining a keen focus on audience engagement and satisfaction.
Duncan's entrepreneurial spirit led him to co-found Information is Beautiful Studio alongside David McCandless and Rebecca Conroy, where they explored innovative ways to visualize data and tell stories. He later established Beyond Words Studio with Conroy, which focuses on developing engaging narratives from complex data sets. As the Creative Director at Beyond Words, Duncan directs the editorial and creative vision, ensuring that each project reflects a rigorous journalistic approach combined with cutting-edge creative techniques. This combination has attracted high-profile clients such as the United Nations, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Visa, and the BBC, all of whom value Duncan's ability to distill complex information into meaningful insights.
Education and Achievements
Duncan Swain is not only an industry expert but also a passionate educator. He regularly lectures at the Bachelor's and Master's levels, focusing on data visualization, visual communication, and information design. His dedication to education extends to conducting data visualization workshops at prestigious organizations such as Google and the European Commission in Brussels, imparting essential skills and knowledge to future generations of designers and storytellers.
As a Visiting Fellow at the University of the Arts London and a Visiting Lecturer at Hyper Island in Sweden, Duncan's influence in the academic realm is notable. He is dedicated to fostering talent and promoting best practices in design and editorial standards across digital platforms. Through his comprehensive approach to teaching, he not only educates but also inspires the next wave of creative leaders in the field.
Duncan Swain's contributions to the industry have been recognized through various awards and honors. He is a proud member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which selects nominees and winners for the prestigious Webby Awards. His judging experience includes roles in several esteemed awards programs, such as the D&AD Awards, Information is Beautiful Awards, and the Lovies, further showcasing his expertise and respected reputation within the field.
Skills and Interests
Duncan possesses a diverse skill set that reflects his extensive background in data visualization and creative leadership. His proficiency spans multiple platforms, including interactive media, motion graphics, digital, print, and installations. This versatility allows him to approach each project with fresh perspectives and innovative solutions, ensuring that information is both engaging and accessible to its intended audience.
In addition to his design capabilities, Duncan champions editorial and creative leadership by implementing best practices and fostering the development of design and editorial teams. His expertise in user experience and design direction encompasses product design, information architecture, interaction design, and mobile applications, making him a valuable asset to any organization looking to improve usability and engagement.
His commitment to education is evident through his ongoing engagement in teaching and mentoring. Duncan's workshops at Google and the European Commission not only highlight his expertise in data visualization but also his desire to share knowledge with others and contribute to the development of the field. Furthermore, his work as a Visiting Fellow and lecturer demonstrates his dedication to academia and the importance of cultivating young talent in the creative industries.
Achievements
Throughout his impressive career, Duncan Swain has garnered a host of notable achievements that underscore his expertise and commitment to excellence:
- Instrumental in launching major BBC brands like BBC News and iPlayer.
- Co-founded Information is Beautiful Studio and beyond it, Beyond Words Studio, working on compelling data-driven storytelling projects.
- Developed rigorous journalistic approaches to data visualization, securing partnerships with renowned organizations such as the Uni
Highlights
How can a tiny pill leave a giant carbon footprint? And how do we go about reducing it?
We loved tackling these questions in these two visuals for Unitaid’s new climate change report.
In the first visual, we meddled with magnitudes to walk back up the supply chain of the HIV drug dolutegravir.
We were dealing with brain stretching numbers, so we used snippets of storytelling to help them feel approachable – like the number of swimming pools a year’s worth of solvents could fill, or how manufacturing emissions were on par with the city of Geneva (the home of Unitaid).
The second visualization turned to solutions. How close could green technology and efficiency improvements get dolutegravir manufacturing to net zero by 2040 – and how much would they cost/save?
Surprisingly, we learned that reducing the first 40% of emissions would actually save money, as well as our atmosphere.
#Climate #Emissions #GreenTechnology #ClimateChange #ClimateVisualization #NetZero #CarbonFootprint #Visualization #Visualisation #DataViz #DataVis #Design #DataDesign #Infographics
Sketching became our key to understanding in a recent project with European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), where we used visualization to explain their complex AI-driven weather forecasting system.
Through a series of sketch sessions with ECMWF's scientists, we captured the inner details of how machine learning powers in their new AI Integrated Forecasting System (AIFS). We then iterated and polished these sketches into clear, smart, understandable visualizations.
We always say ‘You can’t design what you can’t understand’, and working with the scientists closely really helped us get the understanding we needed. Our work with ECMWF shows how sketching, collaboration and an iterative process can communicate complex information through accessible design.
#InformationDesign #MachineLearning #Sketching
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.
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