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No.243 · Analytics

Sankey Flow

Where visitors come from, where they go and how it ends, as flows whose width is the number of people; point at a band to follow just those people.

The prompt

The design brief behind this component — reuse it to regenerate, remix, or explain it.

Build a three-column Sankey diagram in SVG with no chart library: sources (Search, Social, Direct, Email) → pages (Destinations, Deals, Guides) → outcomes (Booked, Saved, Left). Scale every node and band to the number of people (all columns share one scale; 14px gaps between nodes; columns vertically centred). Stack each node's bands in the order of the nodes at their other end, so bands don't cross needlessly; each band is a filled shape between two cubic curves (control points at the horizontal midpoint). Colour carries meaning only where it's true: first-stage bands take their source's colour (a fixed series order from a colour-blind-checked palette); later bands are neutral grey, and bands into the goal (Booked) are drawn darker. Bands are translucent (32%, 50% into the goal). The headline is the takeaway — "28% of 19,600 visitors booked". Nodes are thin rounded bars with the name and value beside them (inside the frame, right-aligned for the last column). Pointing at a band shows "Search → Deals: 2,400 visitors (26% of Search)" and dims everything else; pointing at a node keeps only its bands. The first time it scrolls into view the bands draw in from the left, column by column (clip-path, 900ms, 220ms per column). A Table button swaps in a from/to/visitors table.

Notes

Interaction
Point at a band or a node to isolate those visitors; use Table for exact numbers.
Motion
Bands draw in from the left on first view (900ms, staggered by column); highlights fade in 220ms.
Accessibility
The SVG has a summary label, the hint line is a polite live region, and a full table view is available. Colour is never the only key: every node is labelled. Reduced motion shows the bands immediately.
Responsive
The diagram scales with its width; labels sit inside the frame at every size.
On touch
Tap a band or node to isolate it; the table covers precise reading.

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