Finance represents, in many ways, the most powerful and data-intensive human story ever told. A combination of human ambition, fear, greed, skill, ignorance, truth, deception, strategy and dreams are behind every single transaction placed on today's worldwide markets. These millions of transactions live a dual life. They are part of a massive data stream, feeding the tickers and models of the world. Many transactions follow a near-random process that has attracted intensive research and speculation. But the transactions also tell the story of the growth and transformation of industries, of fortunes made and lost, and of many great minds all trying to create value and profit in the same virtual pool.

This bigger picture is easily lost in the deluge of jargon, numbers and mathematics. This is true on a broad social level, as well as for specific financial problems, such as a quantitative trading strategy. This bridge can be crossed by translating the numbers into pictures, whether a simple plot, an interactive information visualization, or a narrative movie. The format and tools depend on the task at hand.

It is important to distinguish, and choose, between approaches that "dumb down" an analysis and approaches that "smarten up" the process. A presentation to a jury about mutual fund late trading may justifiably simplify unnecessary execution details, instead emphasizing the details of who-when-where-how. A presentation of a quantitative trading strategy to a team of traders may leave the formulas and derivations behind, instead showing the dynamics of the strategy in operation, under a number of conditions.

The creation of a truly useful, engaging, entertaining, and correct visualization is a collaborative effort, reaching deeply into the details of the financial and quantitative models, as well as the audience, story, and intended message for the piece.

In almost all cases, the Lineplot development process has resulted in new insights into the problem at hand. The process of translating research papers into graphics typically uncovers multiple new angles, nuances, and possibilities - resulting in improvements to the underlying model, software, or service being represented.