Services · Dataviz design systems

Dataviz design systems

A design system for your charts, from how axes are labelled to how captions are written, built for every medium your data appears in.

  • Tool-agnostic
  • Built around your mediums
  • Accessible by design
Talk to us about a design system Meet Pier

More than chart rules

A design system is not a list of dos and don'ts

Most chart guidance stops at rules like this. A dataviz design system is a strategy for building data visualisations, for insights and experiences, designed for the medium they're seen in.

Where most guidance stops

"Use line charts instead of bar charts"

  • Chart selection

    Which charts from the 85 in our catalogue you use, for which questions, and which you don't.

  • Titles and subtitles

    Titles that state the finding. Subtitles that carry units, scope and time period.

  • Axes and labels

    Direct labels or legends, number formats, units, tick density and when an axis starts at zero.

  • Captions and sources

    What a caption says, how notes and sources are written, and where they sit.

  • Colour

    Categorical, sequential and highlight palettes, tested for contrast and colour vision.

  • Annotation

    How you call out the moment that matters, consistently, chart after chart.

  • Accessibility

    Alt text, data tables, keyboard and screen reader behaviour, checked against POUR-CAF.

  • Medium

    How every decision above changes for each place people meet your data.

Medium is part of the system

The same chart can't work everywhere

A chart in a deck is seen for seconds. A chart in a data portal is checked line by line. Your design system decides what changes for each.

  • Conversation

    Charts dropped into chat, email and AI assistants. Seen small and out of context, so the title and caption carry the whole message.

  • Software

    Charts inside your product. Rules must be precise enough for developers to build, and work with a keyboard and screen reader.

  • Data portal

    Statistical releases and open data. Readers want to check and reuse, so every chart comes with its table, download and source.

  • Website

    Articles and web pages, mostly read on phones. Charts reflow down to 320px and annotate the story, not just the numbers.

  • Report

    PDF and print. Static and read slowly, with numbered figures, full captions and tagged alt text.

  • Dashboard

    Checked again and again by the same people. Same positions, colours and scales every visit, so change means change.

  • Deck

    Presented in a room or on a call and seen for seconds. One message per chart, written as the slide title.

One system, every tool

Tool-agnostic, with tool-specific decisions inside

Your analysts use Excel and Power BI, your designers use Figma, your developers use a charting library. The design system is the same for all of them. Where a tool needs its own answer, the system makes that decision too.

Across your business

  • Which chart answers which question
  • How titles, captions and sources are written
  • Colour, type and annotation
  • Accessibility standards, against POUR-CAF
  • What changes for each medium

Inside each tool

  • Themes and templates for the tools you already use
  • What each tool can't do, and the agreed workaround
  • Export settings for decks, reports and the web
  • Specs your developers can build from

How it works

From scattered charts to one system

  1. Audit

    We gather the charts you publish, across every medium, and see where they disagree.

  2. Define

    We build the system with your designers, analysts and developers, so it fits how you work.

  3. Build

    Written guidance plus tool-specific themes, templates and specs.

  4. Embed

    A workshop with your team, so the system gets used, not filed.

Built by people, powered by Foundry

Design it once. Keep every chart on-system.

Today · Design system service

We build it with you

Every design system is built by people who have worked in dataviz since 2012, with Pier's catalogue of 85 charts behind every decision.

Next · Foundry

Craft your brand into a dataviz design system

Foundry is the studio in Pier for building and running your dataviz design system, so every chart your team makes starts on-system.

Meet Pier Get early access

Let's talk about your charts

Get in touch at hello@visibledata.io or use the form below. We promise we'll be honest about how and if we can work with you.