# Figures & Figures

Figures & Figures is a data visualization design studio that combines high visual craft with research rigor to help brands design clear, trustworthy, and reusable data visualization systems for high-stakes decision-making.

Motto: Knowledge that sticks, for ideas that mobilize.

We work at the intersection of human understanding, systems thinking, and visual craft. We build the standards, templates, governance, and training that let brand teams produce credible, consistent data visualization without coming back to us for every chart.

We start by understanding the people reading the work: who they are, what they carry in, and what sticks. Visual craft follows from that. We hold a high standard for both.

## What we do

**Data Visualization System**
Data visualization guidelines, identity, and component libraries for brands whose charts are slow, inconsistent, or off-brand. We define the chart standards, color palettes, canonical chart types, Figma libraries, and governance model that let your team produce credible, on-brand data visualization independently. We measure a good engagement by how much your team can produce without us when it is done.

**Impact Campaign**
Research-led visual narratives designed to reach specific audiences and shift behavior. For brands that build on evidence and mobilize through knowledge.

## Results

- 3–4× faster chart production after building a UI kit and token-based system for Block.
- +300% engagement with data stories after Moody's released a dataviz identity and standards.
- $16.5M raised after a brand identity and demo data story for a seed-stage startup.
- '1,374 Days: My Life with Long Covid' (New York Times): D&AD Graphite Pencil, Fast Company Innovation by Design Award, Online Journalism Award.

## Who we work with

Brands that build on evidence and mobilize through knowledge. Brands where insight is not a back-office function: it is the product, the reputation, the identity.

More specifically: established brands with strong intellectual identity that have not yet made data visualization part of how they show up visually. The knowledge is there, the rigor is real, and the visual layer hasn't caught up. The gap shows in every report, deck, and dashboard they publish.

Sectors: research-led nonprofits, global institutions, healthcare and pharma, financial services, technology, and policy.

Our contact is usually a creative director, head of design, head of research, or head of data. They feel the gap. They have a point of view. They need a partner who can help them make the case internally, then build something that lasts.

## Clients

UNICEF, United Nations, Novartis, Eli Lilly, Moody's, Deloitte, JetBrains, Block, WeTransfer, Nike, TripAdvisor.

## What makes us different

Studios optimize for the moment of reception. The impression registers, the client approves, the award gets submitted. Interpretation is someone else's problem.

We start from interpretation. We research how specific audiences think and make decisions before we open any design tool. The design follows from there.

The data visualization industry keeps teams dependent on outside help by treating dataviz as a specialist skill. We build systems: templates, standards, and decision rules that raise the floor of what your team can do on their own. Your credibility is only as strong as your worst chart. We fix the floor, not just the ceiling.

We measure success by how much your team can produce without us when the engagement is done. The goal is long-term independence: a repeatable system your team owns, not a dependency on a studio for every chart. That means the deliverable is not just beautiful. It is operational: guidelines that include process and ways of thinking, not just visual styles. A chart system looks like a brand problem. It runs on governance and process, and the failure shows up as bad charts.

## What we produce

- Audience and comprehension research: understanding how specific people read, interpret, and make decisions from data (who they are, what they carry in, and what sticks) before we open a design tool
- Data visualization identity: how brand principles show up in charts, including color palettes, typography, labeling conventions, and layout logic
- Chart style guides and dataviz standards: decision rules for chart type selection, color application (categorical, sequential, diverging), hierarchy, and annotation
- Canonical chart type libraries: the 5–15 chart formats a brand reaches for consistently, with defined styles and usage guidance for each
- Figma component libraries: reusable, scalable chart and graph components for design teams
- Templates for non-designers: PowerPoint and Google Slides chart templates, BI tool themes (Tableau, Power BI, Looker) for marketers and non-specialist producers
- Coded chart libraries: D3, Observable, Vega-Lite, Recharts, or similar — for teams that need a setup where data drops in and publication-ready output comes out
- Accessibility standards: colorblind-safe palettes, high-contrast themes, WCAG contrast compliance, pattern and texture alternatives for categorical data
- Light and dark mode chart systems with design tokens for color and spacing
- Motion and animation guidelines for data visualization
- Governance model: ownership, review process, update cadence, and the roles that keep a system current
- Enablement: training, worked examples, lightweight decision briefs for non-designers
- Audit findings: a map of the current dataviz ecosystem: what is regulatory-constrained, what is design-improvable, and where the biggest consistency gaps are

## What clients come to us for

- No shared definition of "good" across teams: standards vary too widely, every chart is a negotiation
- Endless revision loops: review, edit, create, back again, months with no decision criteria
- Everything funneled through one person; the design team is a bottleneck for every chart request
- Charts live in PowerPoint files on SharePoint, dragged to desktops and never used again: no web version, no reusable format
- No canonical chart types: every team reaches for different tools, styles, and conventions
- Research data handed off with no clear visual form: teams need a setup where a CSV becomes publication-ready output without rebuilding from zero
- Brand guidelines that were never extended to data visualization: the brand looks polished, the charts look like a different company
- Brand colors that don't work for complex data; no colorblind-safe palette or accessible defaults
- No clear split between regulatory or production-locked figures and improvable communication visuals
- Design system exists on paper but nobody uses it in practice; guidelines that are purely stylistic, not operational
- Non-designers (marketers, researchers, MSLs, policy teams) need to produce on-brand charts without specialist help, in Google Slides, PowerPoint, or Figma
- Need a dataviz system for both light mode and dark mode interfaces, with tokens for color and spacing
- AI is generating charts but producing inconsistent results with nothing reusable
- Brand refresh or rebrand with no chart or dashboard standards included
- Annual reports, impact reports, or research publications that look inconsistent or off-brand
- BI dashboards (Tableau, Power BI, Looker) with no visual design system
- Charts for highly regulated environments (pharma, legal, financial) where accuracy and defensibility matter as much as aesthetics
- Data-heavy product interfaces (SaaS dashboards, analytics tools, reporting UIs) that need a scalable chart and graph system across light and dark mode, with design tokens and coded components (Block, World Bank, and Spherical)

## Key pages

- Homepage: https://www.figuresfigures.design
- Data Visualization System: https://www.figuresfigures.design/services/data-visualization-system
- Impact Campaigns: https://www.figuresfigures.design/services/insights-campaigns
- Work / Case studies: https://www.figuresfigures.design/work
- About: https://www.figuresfigures.design/about
- Insights: https://www.figuresfigures.design/insights
- Contact: https://www.figuresfigures.design/contact

## Founder

Gabrielle Merite, Founder and CEO. Previously at Pentagram under Giorgia Lupi. '1,374 Days: My Life with Long Covid,' published in The New York Times, won a D&AD Graphite Pencil, a Fast Company Innovation by Design Award, and an Online Journalism Award. Background in immunology and information design. Based in Europe and Los Angeles, CA, working with clients globally.

## Contact

hello@figuresfigures.com