--- title: Arvind Satyanarayan talk at VizChitra 2026 date: 2026-06-24T09:29:20+08:00 categories: - visualization - llms --- ![](https://files.s-anand.net/images/2026-06-24-arvind-satyanarayan-talk-at-vizchitra-2026.avif) On Sat 4 July at Bangalore, [Arvind Satyanarayan](https://arvindsatya.com/) is speaking at [VizChitra 2026](https://vizchitra.com/2026) - a talk I'm keenly looking forward to. I've been following Arvind's work since [Vega-Lite](https://vega.github.io/vega-lite/). It's a grammar of graphics - something that makes data visualizations (charts) more structured. I tried switching to it our default at [Gramener](https://gramener.com/) - but most felt it was too much to learn (they already knew Excel/Power BI) or too limiting (D3 can do more). With AI coding agents, the learning is less relevant - AI will write the code. So, do grammars have less relevance? Arvind's talk is about how they might actually be more important - maybe like a structured way to prompt. Quite looking forward to this. Do attend if you're interested in the cutting edge of AI-driven chart generation. Here are some questions I hope to ask Arvind: - When someone hits the limit of a visualization grammar, but they know _exactly_ what they want, what "escape" or extension mechanisms have you found most intuitive and useful? - With [GoFish](https://gofish.graphics/), you re-built a grammar rather than updating one. Why? I mean, what smells or gaps in existing grammars made you decide that way? - When _YOU_ find a grammar limiting you, what tool(s) do you turn to today - and how do you work with them?