Datawrapper is a tool that lets users create charts and maps they can embed into other websites.

I started working on Datawrapper in summer 2012. At that time, Nicolas Kayser-Bril and Mirko Lorenz had launched a first public beta, and my task was to build the version 1.0.

One of my decisions at the time was to replace the third-party charting library we had used in the beta with hand-crafted visualization templates written in Raphaël.js. This allowed me to divert from the “standard” look and feel of the typical off-the-shelv charts and turn best-practices into rendering code.

Over ten years later, Datawrapper is now a self-sustaining software company employing 20+ people!