A Family Data Portrait on a Coffee Mug

Who says data visualization only belongs in dashboards? For my mom’s birthday, we all went to a ceramic painting workshop as a family activity. Of course, I could not resist the chance to turn it into a little data experiment.

While everyone was busy painting plates and bowls, I grabbed a mug and decided to create a family data portrait. The concept was simple: one rectangle for each family member, colored according to the clothes they were wearing that day. No fancy charts, no complex tools, just brushes, paint, and a bit of creativity.

The final design was fun, minimal, and surprisingly meaningful. It was like a tiny abstract dataset on a cup, showing who we were at that moment in time.

It reminded me that data visualization can happen anywhere, even in a ceramic studio surrounded by laughter, paint, and birthday cake. It was a playful, hands-on way to capture a family memory in a completely different format.

And yes, my mom loved the mug.