Our mission and our values

Helping everyone make sense of the world with data, together.

We’re building a place to create, collaborate, and learn with data.

Observable’s approach

We believe thinking with data is an essential skill for the future.

It shouldn’t be relegated to a specialized role, siloed or constrained by point-and-click tools. To make better decisions, everyone needs to participate. Everyone can think better if they are able to explore and visualize data without limits.

We’ve been inspired by the transformative power of open source: code sharing, open collaboration, and transparent design are now the norm for great software. Those same principles guide the core experience of building visualizations on our platform, creating a community where people can build on and learn from each other.

Observable reimagines how we can come together to make sense of data for this modern, connected world. We make working with data more collaborative, approachable, interactive, and social — maybe even joyful.

A growing community of data practitioners

Observable’s community is made up of hundreds of thousands of data practitioners: data analysts, data scientists, front-end developers, students, teachers, and other humans working with data. Together, they’re creating and sharing their work with more than 5 million visitors and contributing to the largest collection of data visualization examples in the world.

Explore the community

A collaborative data canvas built for and powered by community where everyone can come together to make sense of the world with data.

2011
First release of D3.js, an open-source data visualization tool
2016
Observable founded and development begins
2018
Preview at OpenVis Conf. Public launch. First 50,000 notebooks
2020
Observable Teams and Enterprise
2021
Observable Plot
2022+
Collaborate in Community Teams

Data complexity requires greater transparency
and finding insights more quickly

The growing complexity of the world’s data demands new ways of understanding. The development of libraries like D3 created a community around powerful tools for building dynamic data visualizations — a renaissance in informational visualizations for the web.

We’re building on that foundation, reimagining how people work with data together.

Observable is the best place to explore, analyze and explain data. It’s where you can discover and learn data analysis and communication techniques from a vibrant community.

With a global library of reusable examples, point and click interfaces that can be used alongside custom code, templates, and Observable Plot, built into the platform, Observable makes it easy to get started for anyone, with the ability to follow the story their data is telling them.

Observable makes working with data more approachable, interactive, transparent and collaborative — it’s where everyone can make sense of the data in the world.

Our team

We’re visualization enthusiasts. We’re chart connoisseurs. We’re open source developers. We’re map geeks, spreadsheet lovers, and color palette fiends.

We love helping people understand the world better and we want you to join us in helping the world make sense of data.

If you want to get a feel for what it’s like to work at Observable, check out some of our public notes about our company culture and equality work.

Our Values