Honoring Kelly Martin | Zen Master Hall of Fame

Tableau is immensely proud to be part of the most vibrant technology community on the planet. Our #DataFam amazes us every day. We are forever indebted to the early community pioneers who set the tone and led by example. One of those people was Kelly Martin, who passed away recently after living with cancer since 2016. The outpouring of support and affection for Kelly is a wonderful representation of the impact she had. From our perspective, Kelly inspired us all by bringing a new aesthetic approach to data and design. And right to the end, she was a passionate, community-minded analyst: I recommend you read her final blog post, written in her last days, along with help from her friend Bridget Cogley.

Kelly was one of our original Tableau Zen Masters and was in the program for four years. She stepped back from contributing to the community when she was diagnosed with cancer.

At Tableau, we will remember not only her skills but also her humility, one of the fundamental tenets of a successful community: Kelly shared ideas with the purpose of helping others, not for the sake of herself. In honour of Kelly’s many contributions, we are adding her to the Zen Master Hall of Fame.

We send our best wishes to her family and friends. She will be missed.

"I believe that data visualization is a mix of science and art, and the best visualizations use both. Kelly Martin’s Bird Strike Redoux viz used design principles to instantly & immediately redefine the art of the possible in Tableau for so many people, including me! One of Kelly’s practices was to start out dashboard design with everything on a white background & light grey color and then consciously choose hue & saturation for each & every element. In this viz the only non white/grey/black colors are the splatter shapes based on the impact and time of day so the experience of the visualization is made all the more visceral. My heart goes out to Kelly’s family and her community, and I’m glad that Tableau has chosen to honor her memory in this way."
– Jonathan Drummey, Hall of Fame Zen Master