We are makers in our work. Whether designing a marketing campaign, creating a presentation, or building a spreadsheet, information workers spend a lot of time creating stuff. And we want better tools to do all that making.

How far have these tools come?

In some cases, the complex desktop tools have been replaced by nimble, web-based (and often less feature-rich) options. For example, consider how easy it has become to make a promotional webpage with Wix or Squarespace. These platforms are easy to get started, come with professionally-designed starter templates, and require no technical expertise. Or think about the process to create a top-quality survey with the elegant interface of Typeform.

It is interesting to look across common maker activities, and consider how far we’ve come in moving toward a next generation of solutions. We can also see where the old generation continues to maintain a foothold.

What about data presentations? You know: all those data-dense PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets that are used for quarterly business reviews, investor reports, research summaries, financial updates, marketing and sales reporting. It is the dark matter of data in your organization.

What’s going to make that stuff easy, in the same way that Squarespace made websites easy and Canva is making visual design accessible to anyone?