10 steps to data vizardry

Zach GemignaniCEO + founderJuice [email protected]

10 Steps toData Vizardry

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

What is a Data Vizard?

How do I become one?

What is a Data Vizard?Someone with the ability to tell clear, compelling stories with data.

How do I become one?

What is a Data Vizard?Someone with the ability to tell clear, compelling stories with data.

How do I become one?By consistently applying a set of straightforward skills and principles

What level are you?

What level are you?

beginner

What level are you?

beginner intermediate

What level are you?

beginner intermediate advanced

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNERACHIEVE SIMPLICITYGO BEYOND THE BASICSCHOOSE THE RIGHT CHARTBE A DATA GOURMETKNOW YOUR AUDIENCELEARN YOUR TOOLSLEARN FROM THE BEST

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNERACHIEVE SIMPLICITYGO BEYOND THE BASICSCHOOSE THE RIGHT CHARTBE A DATA GOURMETKNOW YOUR AUDIENCELEARN YOUR TOOLSLEARN FROM THE BESTDATA VIZARDS...

what’s right

less

more

what’s right

less

more

what’s possiblestatus quo inspiring

what’s right

less

more

what’s possiblestatus quo inspiring

Jonathan Harris

New York TimesStephen Few

“eloquence through simplicity”

www.perceptualedge.com/blogStephen Few

Business Objects is a leading business intelligence vendor (based on sales), but its products consistently demonstrate that they don’t understand analytics and haven’t a clue about data visualization. A vendor that claims to be the best, which Business Objects unabashedly claims (just like every other major BI vendor), should be ashamed of selling such moronic products. Don’t reward them for irresponsible work—products that assume their customers are halfwits...

“

”

http://www.perceptualedge.com/blog/




data visualization as artJonathan Harris

www.number27.orgwww.wefeelfine.org







New York Times

New York Timeswww.smallmeans.com/new-york-times-infographics/



FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNERACHIEVE SIMPLICITYGO BEYOND THE BASICSCHOOSE THE RIGHT CHARTBE A DATA GOURMETKNOW YOUR AUDIENCELEARN YOUR TOOLSLEARN FROM THE BEST

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNERACHIEVE SIMPLICITYGO BEYOND THE BASICSCHOOSE THE RIGHT CHARTBE A DATA GOURMETKNOW YOUR AUDIENCELEARN YOUR TOOLSLEARN FROM THE BESTDATA VIZARDS...

The more technique you have, the less you have to worry about it.

“”» Pablo Picasso

I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.

“”» Pablo Picasso

New York Times (Flash)

Juice Analytics (Excel)

New York Times (Flash)

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNERACHIEVE SIMPLICITYGO BEYOND THE BASICSCHOOSE THE RIGHT CHARTBE A DATA GOURMETKNOW YOUR AUDIENCELEARN YOUR TOOLS

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNERACHIEVE SIMPLICITYGO BEYOND THE BASICSCHOOSE THE RIGHT CHARTBE A DATA GOURMETKNOW YOUR AUDIENCELEARN FROM THE BESTDATA VIZARDS...

Chief Marketing OfficerMarketing Analyst

goingtorain.com



FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNERACHIEVE SIMPLICITYGO BEYOND THE BASICSCHOOSE THE RIGHT CHARTBE A DATA GOURMETKNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNERACHIEVE SIMPLICITYGO BEYOND THE BASICSCHOOSE THE RIGHT CHARTBE A DATA GOURMETLEARN FROM THE BESTDATA VIZARDS...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSoHkadTAxc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wVQPY4LlbJ4


Data Gourmet Data Gourmand

Data isn’t like your kids. You don’t have to pretend to love them equally.

“ ”» Amanda Cox, New York Times

Data Gourmet Data Gourmand

Interesting < Useful < Actionable

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNERACHIEVE SIMPLICITYGO BEYOND THE BASICSCHOOSE THE RIGHT CHARTBE A DATA GOURMET

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNERACHIEVE SIMPLICITYGO BEYOND THE BASICSCHOOSE THE RIGHT CHARTLEARN FROM THE BESTDATA VIZARDS...

Question

Data parametersChart category

Mapping of data to chart elements

How do my sales break down by visitor type?


value/metric

sales


value/metric

sales

attribute/ dimension

visitor type


value/metric

sales

chart category

break down


visitor type


value/metric

sales

chart category

break down


visitor type

What is the trend in visitors across time?


value/metric

sales

chart category

break down


visitor type

What is the trend in visitors across time?

visitors


value/metric

sales

chart category

break down


visitor type

What is the trend in visitors across time?time

visitors


value/metric

sales

chart category

break down


visitor type

What is the trend in visitors across time?time

visitorstrend

Chart categoriesDistribution

Comparison

Composition

Relationship

Trend

www.chartchooser.com

www.extremepresentation.com/design/charts/







People perceive...

People perceive...Accurately Length of a line

Position in 2D space

Semi-accurately AreaColor intensityRadial distancePosition in 3D space

Not accurately at all Odds of winning in Vegas

Back Palin

Back Huckabee

Back Romney 60%

63%

70%

IntelMicrosoftSamsung

MercuryZeus

ReebokAdidas

LGNike

AppleGoogle

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNERACHIEVE SIMPLICITYGO BEYOND THE BASICSCHOOSE THE RIGHT CHART

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNERACHIEVE SIMPLICITYGO BEYOND THE BASICSEARN FROM THE BESTDATA VIZARDS...

Good visualization techniques...

easy to understand

solve common problems

reproducable

Good visualization techniques...

small multiples

ffctn.com/a/expensevisualizer/



treemap

www.juiceanalytics.com/demos/airline/



unit chart

visualization.geblogs.com/visualization/health_visualizer/



animated bubble chart

www.gapminder.org/world



lava lamp chart

www.juiceanalytics.com/gallery/tv-top-earner/



FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNERACHIEVE SIMPLICITYGO BEYOND THE BASICS

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNERACHIEVE SIMPLICITYRN FROM THE BESTDATA VIZARDS...

A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.

“”» Herbert Simon, Nobel

Laureate Economist

Distracting graphical elements


Complex, jargon-y labels


Complex, jargon-y labels

Chart deciphering

Distracting elements

Fundamental rules of chart design

Reduce chartjunk(remove chart elements that are decorative or ornamental)

Increase data-ink ratio(make every pixel tell a story about your data)

Images courtesy of Tim Bray: http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/03/13/Data-Ink

http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/03/13/Data-Ink

http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/03/13/Data-Ink

Reduce tablejunk

Increase data-ink ratio

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNERACHIEVE SIMPLICITY

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNERTHE BESTDATA VIZARDS...

looks matter

Data + Design

data junkies designers

http://www.fusion41.com/visuals/

http://www.perceptualedge.com/blog/?p=774

http://www.perceptualedge.com/blog/?p=774

WebTrends 10

restrained

meaningful

Color schemes for data

SequentialColors can be ordered from low to high

Low High



Low High

DivergingTwo sequential schemes extended out from a critical midpoint value

Low HighCritical midpoint


CategoricalLots of contrast between each adjacent color


Low High

DivergingTwo sequential schemes extended out from a critical midpoint value

Low HighCritical midpoint

colorbrewer2.org


http://colorbrewer2.org

http://colorbrewer2.org

Use contrast to support your message

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North South East West

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Region 1Region 2Region 3


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History of Medicine

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam,

Fonts - Juice’s Simple Font Framework


History of Medicine



History of Medicine


Body TextClean readable text, 50-80% of your text will look like this.

•10-16pt•Arial or Georgia


History of Medicine



History of Medicine


HeaderUse to separate and name sections

•150%-200% of body


History of Medicine



History of Medicine


NotesAdditional things a user should be aware of

•85% of body•Lower contrast


History of Medicine



History of Medicine


EmphasisDraw the eye to key points

•Same size as body•High-impact color/bold/italic


History of Medicine


FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYACT LIKE A DESIGNER

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORYBESTDATA VIZARDS...

settingexpositioncharacterssequence

conflictresolution

scope of analysisbackgroundpoint of viewflowquestionsanswers

Be a salesman




What does this tell me?

Process

Drill-down workflow

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONTELL A STORY

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTIONDATA VIZARDS...

form paper Excel online app e-mail large screen

timeliness

aesthetic

mobility

connectivity

data detail

data density

interactivity

collaboration

functionform paper Excel online app e-mail large

screen

LEARN FROM THE BESTLEARN YOUR TOOLSKNOW YOUR AUDIENCEBE A DATA GOURMETCHOOSE THE RIGHT CHARTGO BEYOND THE BASICSACHIEVE SIMPLICITYACT LIKE A DESIGNERTELL A STORYFORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION

List of resourcesSkill Resources

Learn from the bestwww.smallmeans.com/new-york-times-infographics/www.perceptualedge.com/bloginfographics.alltop.com

Learn your tools www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/excel-training-worksheet/

Know your audience

Be a data gourmet www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/being-a-data-gourmet/

Choose the right chartwww.chartchooser.comwww.extremepresentation.com/design/charts/www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/chart-selection-art-and-science/

Go beyond the basics A Tour of the Visualization Zoo (queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1805128)

Achieve simplicity Edward Tufte Q&A (www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a?topic_id=1)

Act like a designer colorbrewer2.orgwww.juiceanalytics.com/writing/simple-font-framework/

Tell a story www.duarte.com/books/resonate/www/

Form follow function

http://www.smallmeans.com/new-york-times-infographics/

http://www.smallmeans.com/new-york-times-infographics/



http://www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/excel-training-worksheet/

http://www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/excel-training-worksheet/

http://www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/being-a-data-gourmet/

http://www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/being-a-data-gourmet/

http://www.chartchooser.com

http://www.chartchooser.com



http://www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/chart-selection-art-and-science/

http://www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/chart-selection-art-and-science/

http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1805128

http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1805128

http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a?topic_id=1

http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a?topic_id=1

http://www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/simple-font-framework/




http://www.duarte.com/books/resonate/www/

http://www.duarte.com/books/resonate/www/

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