简体中文
EnglishWebsite review
This review may include AI-generated content and is not individually verified. Domain, certificate and other facts come from the observed data on this page.
What is Richard Westenra?
Richard Westenra is the personal portfolio and blog of a Christchurch-based front-end developer and web designer with more than twelve years of experience. The site presents him as a specialist in interactive data visualisation and responsive, performant web applications, often built with React and D3, with stated interests in accessibility, open web standards and usability.
What the site covers
- Profile and experience. The introduction notes an alumnus background at McKinsey, former involvement as a codebar organiser, and a decade spent in London before returning to New Zealand. It also states he is currently looking for remote work.
- Client and project work. The page lists interactive data-driven pieces for organisations such as PayPal, Fleximize, Totally Money, Somfy, Michael Page, Photoworld, Concert Hotels, Simply Business, Travelex, Rasmussen College and others, mostly dated 2013–2016. These are largely editorial visualisations and quizzes, which is a useful signal of the kind of work shown.
- Articles and a linkblog. A section of writing and curated links sits alongside the portfolio, covering topics such as design and analytics, technology and current affairs.
- Testimonials. Short quotes from The Huffington Post, a fellow front-end developer and a flatmate appear as endorsements.
Who it is for
This is not a product or a service you sign up for. It serves two main audiences: people evaluating Richard Westenra for front-end or data-visualisation work, and developers or designers interested in his writing and linked reading. If you are hiring for an interactive chart, dashboard or data-driven story, the client list is the most relevant evidence to review first.
A practical next step
Start with the client work rather than the bio if you are assessing fit. Pick two or three projects closest to your own needs, for example a data-heavy editorial visualisation, and look at how the data is handled and how the interface behaves. If you are there for the writing, the articles and linkblog are the more useful section, though the curated links reflect personal interests rather than a structured resource.
What types of data visualization projects has Richard Westenra completed?
Richard Westenra's portfolio shows a clear focus on editorial and interactive data-visualisation work: large public-interest datasets turned into browsable, responsive web pieces rather than static charts. The recurring pattern is a single big question ("How big is Snapchat?", "If the UK were 100 businesses") answered through scrollable or interactive graphics, often built with React and D3.
Recurring subject areas
- Money and personal finance — the minimum payment trap, very British attitudes to money, what we really value (Totally Money); the minimum payment trap and similar consumer-finance explainers.
- Business and startups — ventures of the PayPal Mafia (Fleximize); the world's top startup ecosystems (Simply Business); how big is Snapchat? (Photoworld).
- Work, careers and pay — the gender pay gap (Michael Page); career-choice and aptitude quizzes (Rasmussen College); "What career is right for me?"
- Culture, music and media — charting the careers of music's biggest stars, difficult second album syndrome, the minimal music quiz (Concert Hotels); what age great authors published their most famous works (Blinkbox Books); which TV series to watch next (CableTV.com).
- Social and lifestyle data — the food capitals of Instagram and printed Instagram uploads (Photoworld); how adventurous are you? (Travelex); 90's nostalgia quiz (Two Little Fleas); name that uniform (Blue Cotton).
- Physical/visual scale comparisons — the capacity of an iPod visualised as vinyl (Concert Hotels), a good example of making an abstract number tangible.
What the range suggests
The work spans commissioned client pieces for brands, media and agencies rather than one-off personal experiments, and it mixes two formats: data-driven stories (a dataset with a narrative) and interactive quizzes/calculators (the reader supplies input). If you are commissioning similar work, the useful distinction is whether your content needs an explanatory narrative or a self-serve tool — Westenra's portfolio shows both, and the quizzes tend to be lighter and more shareable while the data stories carry more analytical weight.
For a concrete next step, look at two contrasting examples side by side: a scale-comparison piece such as the iPod-as-vinyl visualisation and a quiz such as "Which TV series should I watch next?" That contrast will tell you quickly which style fits your brief. For related editorial data work, The Pudding and Information is Beautiful are useful references for the narrative-visualisation format.
How can I hire Richard Westenra for remote front-end development work?
Reach Richard Westenra through the contact link on his portfolio at Richard Westenra. The site says he is Christchurch-based, has returned to New Zealand after a decade in London, and is currently looking for remote work. It also states he specialises in interactive data-visualisation and responsive, performant web applications, often working with React and D3, with interests in accessibility, open web standards and usability.
What to put in a first message
- Your project type: a data-visualisation piece, dashboard, interactive web app, or performance/accessibility work.
- Scope and stage: new build, redesign, rescue work, or ongoing support.
- Remote setup: time-zone overlap with New Zealand, communication tools, and how you handle code review and handover.
- Stack: whether the work is React and D3, and whether your existing codebase matches.
- Deliverables: prototypes, production components, documentation, or a full application.
- Timeline and budget range: give a range rather than asking for a rate first.
Decide whether he is the right fit
| If your need is… | Fit |
|---|---|
| Interactive charts, maps, or data stories | Strong: the page evidence names data-visualisation as a specialism. |
| A responsive React app with performance constraints | Strong: React and performant web applications are listed. |
| Accessibility and standards review | Relevant: accessibility, open web standards and usability are stated interests. |
| A simple marketing site with no interactive elements | Possible, but less clearly aligned with the stated specialism. |
| On-site work in your city | Weak: he is based in Christchurch and seeking remote work. |
Practical next step
Send a short brief with one or two representative examples of the kind of data visualisation or app you want, plus your time zone and target launch window. Ask whether he is available for the dates and whether he prefers fixed-scope or ongoing work. If you need a second option, compare against other independent data-visualisation developers, but treat this portfolio as the primary evidence of fit.
What technical skills and tools does Richard Westenra specialize in?
Richard Westenra specialises in front-end development for interactive data visualisation and responsive, performant web applications. His own site describes more than twelve years of experience and names React and D3 as the tools he often works with, alongside stated interests in accessibility, open web standards and usability.
Core skill set
- Interactive data visualisation — turning large or complex datasets into charts, maps and explorable graphics.
- Responsive, performant web applications — building interfaces that work across screen sizes without sacrificing speed.
- Front-end development with React — component-based UI work for web apps.
- D3 — the standard toolkit for custom, data-driven graphics on the web.
- Accessibility and usability — designing so that interactive graphics and apps remain usable by a broad audience.
- Open web standards — a stated preference for building on standard browser technology rather than closed platforms.
What the client work suggests
The portfolio lists pieces for organisations including PayPal-adjacent ventures, Totally Money, Michael Page, Simply Business, Travelex and Rasmussen College. The recurring formats are data-driven stories: the gender pay gap, minimum payment traps, startup ecosystems, Instagram upload volumes, music career timelines and quizzes. That pattern points to a practical strength in editorial and marketing data visualisation — work where a client needs a complex dataset turned into something a general audience will actually read and share.
How to judge fit
If you need a bespoke chart, an interactive explainer or a data-heavy marketing page, this profile lines up well: React and D3 are the right tools for custom graphics, and the portfolio shows repeated delivery in that mould. If you need a full-stack product, backend services or native mobile apps, that is outside what the site describes.
A useful next step is to look at one or two portfolio pieces closest to your own project and check how the charts behave on a phone and with a keyboard — that will tell you quickly whether the accessibility and performance claims match your requirements. You can also compare his approach with other data-visualisation specialists, such as Observable, which is widely used for D3-based work, or D3 for the library itself.
What articles and blog posts has Richard Westenra published?
Richard Westenra's site lists a portfolio of client data-visualisation work rather than a dated blog archive, so the "articles" it advertises are mostly interactive pieces he built for agencies and brands, not personal essays. The page presents them as a single "Articles & things" collection covering roughly 2013–2016.
What the collection covers
The work clusters around explainer-style interactives: money and pay comparisons, social-media scale visualisations, quizzes and career-matching tools. Representative entries include:
- Finance and economics — "The minimum payment trap" and "What we really value" (Totally Money), "Very British Attitudes to Money" (Totally Money), "If the UK were 100 Businesses" and "Beyond the Bay: Comparing the world's top startup ecosystems" (Simply Business), "The Gender Pay Gap" (Michael Page).
- Social media and scale — "How big is Snapchat?" and "The Food Capitals of Instagram" (Photoworld), "If You Printed All The Instagram Pics Uploaded in a Year" (Photoworld).
- Culture and music — "Charting the Careers of Music's Biggest Stars," "Difficult Second Album Syndrome," "Got Rhythm?" and "The Minimal Music Quiz" (Concert Hotels), "By the book: What age did the greatest authors publish their most famous works?" (Blinkbox Books).
- Quizzes and tools — "Which TV Series Should I Watch Next?" (CableTV.com), "What Career Is Right For Me?", "The Career Aptitude Test" and "What Career Should I Choose?" (Rasmussen College), "90's Nostalgia Quiz" (Two Little Fleas), "Name That Uniform" (Blue Cotton).
- Other — "The View From Here" (Somfy), "How Adventurous Are You?" (Travelex), "Ventures of the PayPal Mafia" (Fleximize).
How to read the list
The page also shows a "Linkblog" of external links he has shared — items on cultural differences in design and analytics, OpenAI's early history, and the English question — which is curation rather than authorship. If you want his own writing, treat the client interactives as the main body of work and the linkblog as reading recommendations. Start with the finance and social-media pieces if you want to judge his data-visualisation approach, since those best match the interactive, React-and-D3 specialism described on the page.
For comparison, other working front-end and data-visualisation portfolios in the same space include Observable and Distill, though those are platforms rather than individual portfolios.
What is Richard Westenra's professional background and experience?
Richard Westenra is a Christchurch-based front-end developer and web designer with more than twelve years of experience, according to his portfolio at Richard Westenra. His stated specialisms are interactive data visualisation and responsive, high-performance web applications, typically built with React and D3. He also lists accessibility, open web standards and usability among his interests.
What the work history shows
The portfolio describes him as an alumnus of McKinsey and a former organiser of codebar, a group that runs free coding workshops for underrepresented people in tech. After roughly a decade in London, he returned to New Zealand and was, at the time of writing, looking for remote work.
The client list is dominated by editorial-style data stories and interactive quizzes for brands and publishers. Examples include pieces for Totally Money on minimum payments and British attitudes to money, Simply Business on startup ecosystems and UK business statistics, Concert Hotels on music careers and rhythm, and Photoworld on Instagram photo volumes. Earlier work includes career-matching tools for Rasmussen College and a TV-recommendation quiz for CableTV.com.
That mix points to a particular profile: someone who takes a dataset or a survey and turns it into a scrollytelling graphic, calculator or quiz that a general audience can actually use. It is closer to data journalism and marketing content than to product engineering, though the React and performance focus suggests he also builds application-style interfaces rather than static pages.
How to judge the fit
If you need a marketing site with a handful of pages, this background is more specialised than you need. If you need an interactive chart, an explainer built on a large dataset, or an accessible front-end for a data-heavy tool, the portfolio is the relevant evidence — check whether the pieces closest to your project still hold up on mobile and with a keyboard.
As a next step, open two or three of the listed client projects and look at how they behave on a slow connection and a small screen. That will tell you more about the working style than any biography.
Google Cloud DNS
Fastly
Mailgun
User reviews (0)