Yes, I used D3 directly everyday for four or five years as did the whole graphics team of the Financial Times where I worked. Most of the print edition charts w

Yes, I used D3 directly everyday for four or five years as did the whole graphics team of the Financial Times where I worked. Most of the print edition charts were created via D3 at some point in the process too. If you're making datavis everyday there's not much to compare (ggplot is good but much of the time the visual quality of the output is not quite there). "Higher level" libraries i.e. those that impose a taxonomic view of visualisation tend lack the necessary flexibility and expressiveness.