Designing with Data: Creating Visualizations to Tell Your Story
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Transcript of Designing with Data: Creating Visualizations to Tell Your Story
Welcome to the presentation on Designing with Data. I hope you’re excited to learn.
Dominic Prestifilippo | andCulture | Design Methods Training | December 4, 2013
AGENDA
• Intro
• General Theories
• Quantitative
• Qualitative
• Details
• Critique
introductionPeople are visual learners
Visualizations help everyone
INTroDuCTIoN
People are visual learners.
http://www.vision1to1.com/EN/HomePage.asp?BGColor=1&Category=6&Article=122
“… 80% of the information we take in is provided by
our eyesight.”
INTroDuCTIoN
Visualizations help everyone.
1. Making them provides further insight into the information
2. Visualizations invite comments and inspired discussion
3. Enable presentations that aren’t reliant on scripts or memorization
Dan Roam, Back of the Napkin, pg 11
General TheoriesStorytelling
Levels of Information
Layer Information
Proportions
Sanity Check
GENErAl ThEorIEs | SToRyTELLING
Tell a story.
Provide context.
Don’t let data lie.
have intent.
GENErAl ThEorIEs | SToRyTELLING
Tell a story.
Have a point to make when creating an infographic and let that guide your decisions.
http://visual.ly/most-popular-baby-names-girls
GENErAl ThEorIEs | SToRyTELLING
Tell a story.
Have a point to make when creating an infographic and let that guide your decisions.
My interpretation is, anyone with these names should hope they have interesting middle names. Is that the intent?
http://visual.ly/most-popular-baby-names-girls
GENErAl ThEorIEs | SToRyTELLING
provide context.
Information without context is un-relatable. People don’t know what it means or what to do with it.
http://issuu.com/dpresto/docs/remas_book
WesternUnion
380,000
Num
ber O
f Loc
atio
ns W
orld
wid
e
GENErAl ThEorIEs | SToRyTELLING
provide context.
Information without context is un-relatable. People don’t know what it means or what to do with it.
http://issuu.com/dpresto/docs/remas_book
WesternUnion
380,000
Num
ber O
f Loc
atio
ns W
orld
wid
e
Wal-Mart Starbucks McDonalds
31,00016,7008,500
Sure it seemed like a lot before, but you may have also thought there was a lot of these other locations. This helps highlight the differences in perception of “a lot.”
GENErAl ThEorIEs | SToRyTELLING
http://visual.ly/most-popular-content-management-systems-2013
Don’t let Data lie.
Percentages hide absolute values, skewing real scale.
GENErAl ThEorIEs | SToRyTELLING
Don’t let Data lie.
Percentages hide absolute values, skewing real scale.
Earlier in the graphic, we’re told Wordpress has 50.07% of the CMS market while Joomla only has 6.44%
http://visual.ly/most-popular-content-management-systems-2013
GENErAl ThEorIEs | SToRyTELLING
have intent.
Treat each decision as if it is crucial to the entire piece, because it is.
http://visual.ly/knife-skills
GENErAl ThEorIEs | SToRyTELLING
have intent.
Treat each decision as if it is crucial to the entire piece, because it is.
http://visual.ly/knife-skills
I assume the decision to illustrate this as a sketch is to make something potentially scary and dangerous seem more approachable.
GENErAl ThEorIEs | LEVELS of INfo
VEry sPECIfIC DETAIls. visible from less than 1’
Broad Points. Visible from 4’ or more
GENErAl ThEorIEs | LEVELS of INfo
4 feet 12 inches
http://visual.ly/how-startup-funding-works
GENErAl ThEorIEs | LAyER INfoRMATIoN
Juxtaposing relevant data can produce even more interesting results, highlighting potential relationships and making both data sets more valuable.
Average wait times
http://visual.ly/waiting-time-week
GENErAl ThEorIEs | LAyER INfoRMATIoN
Average wait times per day is much more interesting
http://visual.ly/waiting-time-week
GENErAl ThEorIEs | PRoPoRTIoNS
The Golden ratio.
The fibonacci sequence.
The Golden ratio.
a/b = (a+b)/a ≈ 1.618033988
sample Pattern.
GENErAl ThEorIEs | PRoPoRTIoNS
a
b
The fibonacci sequence. 1 0+1=1
1+1=2
1+2=3 2+3=5 3+5=8 5+8=13 8+13=21 13+21=34
GENErAl ThEorIEs | PRoPoRTIoNS
•••
•••
sample Pattern.
GENErAl ThEorIEs | SANITy CHECk
• Is this important?
• Does this provide value?
• Does this make sense?
• Can this be done better?
• Does this help convey my message?•••
QuantitativeGraph Types
Statistics
GrAPh TyPEs | BASIC BAR CHARTS
bar chart
histogram
stacked bar chart
whiskers candlestick
bar chart
histogram
stacked bar chart
whiskers candlestick
bar chart
histogram
stacked bar chart
whiskers candlestick
Bar Chart.
“The biggest benefit of bar charts is that different tems of data can easily be compared visually.”
stacked Bar Chart.
“Stacked bar charts describe totals while allowing a degree of internal breakdown of the data.”
histogram.
“…in a histogram it is important to retain and display the empty space. It contributes to the picture of the data as a whole.”
Brian Suda, A Practical Guide to Designing with Data, pg 114, 119, 120
bar chart
histogram
stacked bar chart
whiskers candlestick
bar chart
histogram
stacked bar chart
whiskers candlestick
GrAPh TyPEs | ADVANCED BAR CHARTS
Whiskers.
“…whisker is a small vertical line representing plus or minus two per cent from the value, with some horizontal lines to make the ends easier to see and measure.”
Candlestick chart.
“The whiskers, or wicks, that extend up and down do not measure margin of error, but the maximum and minimum…” where the bar represents the starting and finishing points.
Brian Suda, A Practical Guide to Designing with Data, pg 121, 122
GrAPh TyPEs | PIE CHART
“…a pie chart can only represent relative amounts.”
“The most effective pie charts comprise only two items, such as the percentage of male or female customers.”
“The total value of the information must add up to one hundred per cent…”
Brian Suda, A Practical Guide to Designing with Data, pg 132
Unknown
Male
female
GrAPh TyPEs | oTHERS
line graph.
“Line graphs work best when the data is continuous.”
“one of most common variables used in line graphs is time…”
scatter plot.
“Scatter plots are a useful tool to reveal relationships between any amount of independent values. …The data points are placed in a grid in an attempt to build a larger picture.”
Brian Suda, A Practical Guide to Designing with Data, pg 111, 161
sTATIsTICs | AVERAGE
Σ( )= M= M = M#of elements in the series
Σ( )= M= M = M#of elements in the series
Σ( )= M= M = M#of elements in the series
MEan.
“We add together all of our test results and then divide it by the sum of the total number of marks there are.”
MEdian.
“The Median is the ‘middle value’ in your list.”
Mode.
“The mode in a list of numbers refers to the list of numbers that occur most frequently.”
http://math.about.com/od/statistics/a/MeanMedian.htm
qualitativeStatements
Relationships
sTATEMENTs | BoLD STATEMENTS
Make Bold statements
sTATEMENTs | HIGHLIGHTING
http://www.plantbasedpeople.com/misc.php?do=bbcode
“Use this to highlight a piece of a quote you would like cited.”
sTATEMENTs | ICoNoGRAPHy
http://pictos.cc/
Include relevant iconography to help with wayfinding and make the written
content more memorable
rElATIoNshIPs | MIND MAP
Mind Map
Idea 1Idea 3
Idea 2
Sub-idea 1
Sub-idea 2Sub-idea 1
Sub-idea 2
Sub-idea 1
Sub-idea 2
Sub-idea 3
It is an unstructured visual outline that allows people to move through the related content in any order they choose.
Connected information logically as its produced so that train-of-thoughts and conversations can be easily documented by topic.
rElATIoNshIPs | AffINITy MAP
Using proximity and position to indicate relationships between statements.
These clusters develop organically depending on the content under review.
rElATIoNshIPs | fLoW CHARTS
Decision Decision
action
Start
Stop
action
flow charts are a very detailed, standardized way of mapping processes.
DetailsData to Pixel Ratio
Chart Junk
Resolution
Color
Legends
DETAIls | DATA To PIxEL RATIo
Brian Suda, A Practical Guide to Designing with Data, pg 25, 27
“the amount of ink representing the data divided by the total ink on the graph”
Don’t be confused; the data–ink ratio is not advocating the use of as little ink as possible, but only as much ink as needed to convey the data
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4
6
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10
DETAIls | CHART JUNk
“…if you remove something from the chart and it doesn’t change the meaning, it’s chart junk “
Brian Suda, A Practical Guide to Designing with Data, pg 25, 27
DETAIls | RESoLUTIoN
DPI Dots per Inch
for Print Media.
It is preferable that documents are at least 300dpi.
for Digital Media.
It is preferable that documents are at least 72dpi.
DETAIls | CoLoR
Color can do a lot to help clarify information on a chart. However, mis-use and it will only add to the confusion.
Be mindful of how you use color. It can easily be overdone.
Try starting with black and white, then adding color later.
DETAIls | LEGENDS
As nice as it can be to have a very “clean” visualization or chart, if it doesn’t convey the necessary information it is useless.
Make sure, if you do use distinctions such as color, shape, size, etc. to differentiate data, make sure it is labeled and clear.
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Further ReferencesA Practical Guide to Designing with Data by Brian Suda
The Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte
Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte
Visual Explanations by Edward Tufte
Visual and Statistical Thinking: Displays of Evidence for Making Decisions by Eward Tufte
AGENDA
• Intro
• General Theories
• Quantitative
• Qualitative
• Details
• Critique
Thank you for learning more about Designing with Data. Do
you have any questions?
Dominic Prestifilippo | andCulture | Design Methods Training | December 4, 2013
Critiquehttp://visual.ly/