Data Visualization Innovation - February 7, 2026

Summary: Creative approaches to making complex data more intuitive continue to evolve, with humorous but effective techniques gaining attention from financial analysts.

  • 05:00 — Financial data visualization breakthrough: mapping multivariate portfolio data onto cartoon fish graphics so analysts can intuitively spot outliers by looking for the “weird fish” in the aquarium. Technique leverages brain’s natural pattern recognition for complex financial analysis. (@__paleologo, @lauriewired)

📱 Source Tweets

J.G.: add this to all dashboards ASAP.

@__paleologo

A crazy mental trick is to map complex concepts onto regions the brain is "primed" for (Chernoff). The most hilarious example I've seen is…multivariate portfolio data on cartoon fish. Analysts would thus look for the "weird fish" in the aquarium.

@lauriewired