hello@datalabsagency.com
logo
Datalabs Agency
En
  • De
  • Ar
0
logo
  • Data Viz
    • Power BI Dashboards Designs
    • Tableau Dashboards Designs
    • Style Guides
      • Power BI Style Guides
      • Tableau Style Guides
    • Infographic Reports
    • Animated Data Videos
    • Interactive Data Visualizations
    • Maps & Cartography
    • Digital Annual Reports & Microsites
  • Workshops
    • Our Six Main Workshops
      • Introduction to Data Visualization: Tools & Techniques Workshop
      • Designing Great Business Dashboards Workshop
      • Infographic & Report Design Workshop
      • Creative Data Presentations with PowerPoint
      • Visual Storytelling for Government Workshop
      • Creative Power BI Dashboard Design
    • Online Courses
      • An Introduction to Data Visualization & Storytelling
      • Designing Great Dashboards
  • Case Studies
  • Shop
    • Ecommerce Products
      • Power BI Templates
      • Power BI Theme and Style Guide
      • An Introduction to Data Visualization and Storytelling Course
      • Designing Great Dashboards Course
      • Data Visualization Consultant
    • Login
      • My account
  • About
    • Blog
    • Otto Ottinger
  • Contact

Otto Ottinger Speaker Managing Director & Data Visualizer Visualizer Artist

Founder & Managing Director of the Datalabs Agency

Otto Ottinger

John “Otto” Ottinger is a data visualizer, specializing in the visual design of complex data systems. The founder and Managing Director of the Datalabs Agency, a data visualization & consultancy firm, Otto works at the intersection of user experience (UX) design, visual analytics, and storytelling. He started his career as an editor and interactive designer at National Geographic, in Washington, DC.

There he learned the same information design and storytelling techniques that he teaches in his workshops. Now in his role at Datalabs, Otto has gone on to design software, dashboards, infographics, and data tools for clients like Nestlé, Mercedes-Benz, Bupa, BlackRock, Adidas, eBay, Marriott, CommBank, and HCF, among others.

Power BI Responsive Report on a Tablet - World Map
Image of a Power BI Sales Report Design
Image of an PowerBI Energy Report on an iPad
Image of our Marketing Analytics Report in Microsoft Power BI
Designed Dashboard for Power BI
Image of an Example Dashboard in PowerBI on a Tablet
Image of a Tablet, an Ecommerce Dashboard for Developed in Power BI
A photo of our dashboard design consultant, Otto Ottinger

Some of the notable brands Otto has worked with...

Otto Ottinger’s Clients of Note

Data agency client of Datalabs, the United Nations
Adidas Logo - Data Visualization Client in Europe
Data agency client of Datalabs, Mercedes-Benz
Data agency client of Datalabs, Intel in San Francisco

Australia, Europe, & the U.S.A.

KEYNOTES & SPEECHES

Always start off with a humblebrag...

A Keynote Speaker with Humor and Awesome Design

First off, let’s get this out of the way — I’m writing this. This page will now be in the first person. Otherwise, reading this would become unbearable.

As for my delivery of keynote addresses and company workshops, I think I do a few key things well.

• The design of the presentation is top-notch. I can’t help but love design;

• The story that forms the speech or workshop agenda is well-thought-out. Often it’s only after

my third or fourth draft is written that I declare, “Eureka! That’s the story!”

• The information is what the audience is craving. I listen to my clients, understanding what they need to know and most importantly what they don’t know they need to know comes from years of experience and an empathetic ear;

• The entertainment factor is high. I enjoy what I do when I’m presenting. My speeches and workshops are visual feasts, well-paced, and personable.

Examples of Past...

KEYNOTE SPEECHES

Visualising Economic Data
Reserve Bank of Australia
Cover image of Otto Ottinger's speech at the Reserve Bank of Australia
Sydney, Australia
Data Viz & Storytelling
Rabobank
Slide presentation for Otto Ottinger's Data Visualization & Storytelling speech in Hong Kong
Hong Kong, SAR
Power Of Infographic Design
Australian Academy of Science
Guest Speaker Otto Ottinger's cover slide for a speech about infographics
Canberra, Australia
Visualising Big Data
Big Data & Analytics Summit
Opening slide of Otto Ottinger's Big Data speech in Sydney, Australia
Sydney, Australia

Examples of Past...

Workshops at Company Retreats

Data Journalism
Al Jazeera
Data journalism class teaching infographic design for media professionals
Doha, Qatar
Data Viz & Storytelling
Toyota Australia
Keynote speaker Otto Ottinger's opening slide for a Toyota after sales presentation in Australia
Melbourne, Australia
Data Visualization in Finance
Macquarie Bank
Finance guest speaker Otto Ottinger's speech on banking data
Hong Kong, SAR
Data Viz & Storytelling
Lockheed Martin
Training workshop with the defence industry, opening slide in a presentation by Datalabs
Washington, DC
Interested?

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Call me whatever...

Public, Guest, or Keynote Speaker

As you can see from the topics and speech titles above, what I do is interesting to a wide range of industries. Everyone uses and communicates data. And I love to customize my work, blend my thinking with the expertise that sits on my client’s side. I get to be a jack-of-all-trades, working (however briefly) in very technical areas of expertise and learning new skills as I go. 

I can then convert those new skills back into the training and presentations that I give at conferences, company off-sites, or corporate retreats. A typical brief that I often receive from a client for this line of work goes like this: 

Otto Ottinger's Chief Marketing Officer Presentation Keynote Conference Presentation Slide
I want to reward my employees, have them learn something new. I want it to be incredibly useful to what they do on a day-to-basis. I want them to have fun learning it — after all, this is a reward for a long year or a successful quarter
Image of a client who hires a guest or keynote speaker

CXO or Senior Manager

Perspective on the need for a guest speaker or workshop facilitator at a company off-site or annual retreat

Two things that I value when I’m hired to come to speak:

•  Access. I love to understand the context of why I’m showing up in your company’s lobby or swanky retreat. Let me know what the challenges are and I’m keen to hear the aspirational reasons. So access to information is key for a curious person, like myself. And access to data is nice, as well. I want my time in front of your staff to be hyper-relevant to their current experiences. If we can work through a data problem collaboratively in a facilitated workshop or I can design custom data visualizations using your division’s KPIs — all the better!

• Out-of-the-box thinking. Solving big problems, visualizing fast-moving changes, or changing the way employees think and see data are what I like to tackle. My thinking is concentrated on design and visual communication. And I have extensive experience in visualizing and presenting business data. Out-of-the-box thinking is utilizing a skillset foreign to your team’s experience, like data visualization & storytelling, and trusting it can give you that quantum leap in the areas that you need it.

Training & Workshops
Healthcare infographic design by a data agency

Team Workshop: Infographics & Report Design

Learn the methods to designing professional infographics.

Step by step instructions for great infographic design.
Data agency image of a radar chart, street art

Team Workshop: Intro to Data Viz & Storytelling

Learn the fundamentals and advance to the next level.

Our introductory workshop is perfect for all skill sets.

The Design of Visual Analytics & Complex Systems

DATA VISUALIZER

Establishing a Data Design Philosophy with the Datalabs Agency

Australian/American Data Visualizer

The best part about running a data agency is the breadth of clients and industry challenges to work with. By “breadth of clients” I mean it runs the gamut of Fortune 500, NASDAQ, and ASX 200 (Australia’s equivalent). Plus, this agency takes me to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. This leads me to my second favorite part: “Industry challenges.” These same companies — no matter if they work in banking, energy, manufacturing, or education — have similar problems.

The data couldn’t be more different. However, what gets put to me is always a similar challenge.

This one challenge I classify and place into three “buckets”: lack of simplicity, lack of creativity, or inability to communicate visually.

So over my 16+ years as a data visualizer, I’ve developed what could be called a data design philosophy and methodology to tackle these three challenges. To me, data visualization paired with visual communication is a human-to-human art form. Along with my data visualization style, this is what gives a Datalabs Agency piece of work a distinct look and feel.

This same philosophy is also why clients around the globe come to me.

3d Map Design of Doha, Qatar
Image of a Smartphone Showing Map Distance Calculations in the United States & Canada
Mobile App Showing 3d Globe & Ocean Topography
Atlas Design on a Mobile, Showing Europe & African Countries
Cartographic App Showing Sydney Shoreline & Ocean Currents
Image of a Mobile Development of a Cartogaphic Journey Planner

Examples of Past...

DATA VISUALIZATION DESIGN

Global Sales Analytics
Mercedes-Benz
Image of a car, symbol of the sales dashboards the data visualizer Otto Ottinger designed
Stuttgart, Germany
Revenue Dashboards, APAC
Mariott Hotels
Image of luxury hotel landscape design
Hong Kong, SAR
Silicon Chip Manufacturing
Intel
Visualization of a silicon chip design from San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
Visualizing Procurement Data
Adidas
Photograph of women's athletic shoes from Adidas
Herzogenrauch, Germany
Interested?

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

From the Perspective of an Industry Veteran...

“Inventions” in Data Visualization Throughout the Years

I started visualizing data back at the National Geographic Society back in the late 1990s. A lot has changed since then. I took what I learned there — visual storytelling and infographic design — and applied it to my new world and new company Down Under.

I was one of the first to bring infographics to Australia. The problem was it was too early. No one at that time understood the power of that type of visual data and storytelling. Believe it or not, “What is an infographic?” was a typical question.

Fast forward to the present day, infographics are everywhere. And infographics are everywhere in terms of quality and sophistication. Bad ones outnumber the good.

Long ago, I moved up the “food chain” and stopped selling and designing infographics for clients. I like to learn and challenge myself for the ‘next thing.’
This came with the massive growth of business intelligence and dashboards.

I was at the first Tableau roadshow in Melbourne, Australia. The speaker from Tableau asked the audience of a thousand or so attendees, “Who here is currently using our product?” Roughly one in ten hands went up. I spent the rest of that presentation changing my generic dashboard design page, sprinkling the keyword “Tableau” liberally about it.

Since then, Microsoft Power BI has overtaken Tableau, both in client interest and in functionality. I now design in both.

In the early days of the BI revolution when I was consulting with Marriott Hotels in Hong Kong, I saw a need for data visualization style guides. Too many dashboards are created without a design philosophy, without a common design language, and without the proper attention to color theory, typography, grid systems, and user experience (UX) design. Since then,  my data visualization style guides are in operation inside great companies such as Mercedes-Benz in Germany, Intel in San Francisco, BlackRock in New York, and Telstra in Australia. I do more every year, expanding the range and depth of what they cover.

What’s next in data visualization? I think you know where this is going: Artificial intelligence or A.I.

Where am I going with the Datalabs Agency? Yep. Same answer.

Image of an infographic with an array of numbers
A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be. I have determined that the puck has a 93% chance of being at coordinates -23.796, 1.038 in exactly 3 seconds.
Portrait of a hockey player,

ChatGPT & A.I. Wayne Gretzky

The future of attributable quotes on the Internet
Some of My Favorite Data Products
Data Visualization Style Guide Infographic

Data Visualization Style Guides

Want to work with professionals on your company’s data?

Data visualization comes in many forms, so do our style guides.
Image

Animated Data Videos

Make a motion graphic with your report data.

Give an old report a new life as a video explainer.

2006

ART & ILLUSTRATION

Pseudonyms aplenty...

Otto Ottinger or Oddtoe

Since 1996, I’ve been running my illustration, animations, and comedic writing under the pseudonym, Oddtoe. I thought to keep this link between my various identities (John Ottinger vs. Otto Ottinger vs. Oddtoe) a secret — kinda like a Banksy situation. Truth is I’m too lazy to keep up a ruse like that. So consider this my unmasking.

Since the pandemic in 2020, Oddtoe has taken on new forms. Gone is my pen-and-ink style of illustration.

I picked up an iPad Pro and experimented heavily with digital caricature and imaging compositing. I’m loving the result and the new tools in this new pipeline of work.

Oddtoe as a business pairs up nicely alongside my agency, Datalabs. As part of my parent company, Data Arts, Oddtoe is taking on studio animation and 3d design projects.

And of course, my interest in storytelling is across both brands.

Power BI Responsive Report on a Tablet - World Map
Image of a Power BI Sales Report Design
Image of an PowerBI Energy Report on an iPad
Image of our Marketing Analytics Report in Microsoft Power BI
Designed Dashboard for Power BI
Image of an Example Dashboard in PowerBI on a Tablet
Image of a Tablet, an Ecommerce Dashboard for Developed in Power BI

Examples of Past...

KEYNOTE SPEECHES

Babbling to Baobabs
International Comedy Festival
Advertising for the kids comedy show, Babbling for Baobabs, by Oddtoe at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Melbourne, Australia
Tucker Tick Comic
National Geographic
Cartoon portrait of Tucker Tick by the cartoonist Oddtoe
Washington, DC
Oddtoe Comic Panel
Instagram
Comic strip panel from the cartoonist Oddtoe showing a young woman's face, close-up
Melbourne, Australia
Oddtoe TV
YouTube
Animation still from Oddtoe TV's animation series Wire Taps
Los Angeles, California
Interested?

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The Oddtoe Sweet Spot

Humor, 3d, & Characters

Three-dimensional modeling is what sets up the imagery and animation I create as Oddtoe. Dimensional data is the underlying and reusable asset for character designs and background art.

From an OBJ or FBX model, the value proposition of the studio I run is that visual stories can be told at scale. Generative AI is certainly taking a role in ideation. And with a background in data, I’m able to run a full-scale animation and design firm with limited overhead. You’ll see in the spread of art and design that I can do, a near-full range of what I’ve always been itching to produce, but doesn’t fit as neatly in a data visualization agency.

The Top 100 Comedians of All Time Will Be Bots. What do I mean by that? In terms of my personal preference, I'm curious to see what generative A.I. will come up with. A million more comedians cracking jokes. More jokes, more laughter. And more laughter in the world isn't a bad thing.
Avatar of an infographic numbers designer

Oddtoe

About the role of generative AI in comedy
Entertainment & 3d Design
Image for the AI animation studio, Oddtoe, showing a still from a TV series pilot

AI Animation Studio

Generative AI animator and comedic writer

Take a look at the possibilities of AI in animation.
Avatar of an infographic numbers designer

Creative Roboticist

3d design & prototyping for the R&D & entertainment industries

Our metal friends will need some designing.
Otto Ottinger is adata visualizer.digital cartographer.data animator.3d artist.

Data Visualization, A.I., & All Things Visually Creative

Articles by Otto Ottinger

Image of an infographic with an array of numbers

Infographic Numbers

The Beauty at the Intersection of Design & Data Science
Infographic numbers are just numbers without a story and an audience to explain them to. First and foremost, it’s essential to understand the story behind the numbers. Numbers alone may seem dry and detached, but when imbued with context and meaning, they become powerful storytelling tools.

So get inspired and get curious about this ever-evolving art form.

Read more
Data Viz Instagram
Articles

Data Viz Instagram

September 15, 2023 by Datalabs in Articles

10 Data Viz Guys & Gals to Follow on Instagram Want constant #inspo on your #insta? Follow these awesome data visualizers to keep you motivated.   1. Mona Chalabi Mona Chalabi

More
Share
Examples of Information Visualization: 6 of the Best
Examples of Information Visualization: 6 of the Best
August 31, 2023 by Datalabs in Articles
Infographic Designer Freelance
Infographic Designer Freelance
July 27, 2023 by Datalabs in Jobs at Datalabs
Case-study: Victoria University Dashboards & Infographic Reports
Case-study: Victoria University Dashboards & Infographic Reports
July 22, 2023 by Datalabs in Articles
Department of Education and Training Child Care Subsidy Estimator
Department of Education and Training Child Care Subsidy Estimator
July 17, 2023 by Datalabs in Articles
Interactive Map Project – A Case Study
Interactive Map Project – A Case Study
July 17, 2023 by Datalabs in Articles
  • Data Visualization Training
  • Brand Guidelines for Data
  • Online Courses & Products
© 2023 Data Arts Pty Ltd
logo