Junaid Rehman

I’m a designer and treat data as evidence, not decoration, to find the story inside it

What I love most about this work is how much it still teaches me. I did not always see it this way. It took time, and a fair amount of getting it wrong, to understand what a single visual can carry.

Every dataset is a story hidden in numbers, waiting for someone to read it properly and give it shape. Visualisation is what turns numbers into evidence. Poorly designed, that evidence is a lost opportunity. Well designed, it is a winning argument.

I apply one test to every visual I make, asking whether it answers the question “so what?” If it does, the visual earns its place and helps the reader see what matters. If not, it is noise I’d rather not add to the page.

My work pulls from design and data in equal measure. I build interactive visualisations in D3.js, the Flourish SDK, and Python, and design static infographics for print and PDF. At M&G I work alongside investment writers, portfolio managers, and strategists, turning the complexity they live in every day into stories a wider audience can follow. That work spans investment publications, dashboards, explanatory graphics, and long-form features.

How the work found its shape

I trained as a computer engineer, but my interest pulled me toward graphic design. After a few years working with advertising agencies, I joined what was then SNL Financial. That’s where I discovered my true passion and realised that numbers could tell a story when designed and presented thoughtfully. That was my aha moment, the turn that steered my career into the world of infographics and data-driven design.

A move to Singapore, with S&P Global Energy, sharpened everything. I produced reports, infographics, and newsletters across the APAC region. When Insight magazine won the SOPA Award for Excellence in Magazine Design, the judges singled out the work I made:

Clean, tight data graphics with the Hin Leong and Asia’s Oil recovery as standout graphical presentations.

— SOPA Awards judges, 2021

Leading a team across India and the UK was a craft of its own. It taught me to build people up, to shape how a group works, and to carry the weight of more than my own output.

I mentor through the Data Visualization Society, have taken that experience into classrooms at Bahria University Islamabad, and work with individual mentees when the fit is right. If you are working through data visualisation and would find a conversation useful, reach out.

On this site

This site is where the work lives, alongside the opinions that come out of it. If any of that interests you, I’d be glad if you stayed a while.

The best way to reach me is through LinkedIn. You’ll find my other social channels in the footer. I’m based in London and I’d love to meet in person if you are around.