In the last few years Mohamad Waked has emerged as a most promising and creative visualization designer. His approach is unique, combining the journalistic, the illustrative, and the automated and programmatic. His projects merge handcrafted drawings with intricate graphs, charts, and maps, woven into narratives about topics both important or lighthearted. Having developed a project with Mohamad, I can also say that he’s a pleasure to work with.

In tech, we call unicorns those with a broad skill set. Mohamad Waked is, without a doubt, one of these rare specimens. He creates and designs stunning visualizations, brings them to life with code, and makes them relatable with delightful storytelling. And most importantly, his professionalism makes being in contact with him always a pleasure.

I became aware of Mohamad Waked’s work through Alberto Cairo’s The Art of Insight book project. We’re “chapter neighbors” in the book, and I immediately started reading his chapter and became interested in learning more about his work. I love how Mohamad balances storytelling with data visualization. His work addressing the migrant crisis, The Unwelcomed, is haunting and solemn at the same time. You can clearly see that Mohamad has built upon his career progression—from mechanical design engineer to data scientist to data visualization designer to data journalist. Make sure to check out his portfolio.