TL;DR: Leverage Data andGraphics To Make Your Long

Stories ShortMike Sweeney, CPSM

SMPS Virginia Annual Conference2/24/2017

Happy Throwback Thursday!

#tbt 2013

Happy Throwback Thursday!

#tbt 2015

“[INFOGRAPHIC]”

• Overused, Underwhelming• “[INFOGRAPHIC]” can be

anything – Infographic != Data Visualization– Clickbait and “visual wallpaper”

• They’re laborious to produce even when they fail

• Not always worth the expense! (we’ll show you when)

Focus Of This Presentation

• 2 case studies that show various problems and pitfalls

• Specifically using infographics to market ideas, products, approaches

• Not tool-centered, data-centered, or graphics-centered

• Storytelling-centered

Context and Purpose

Context: Who, Where, etc.

Purpose: Why An Infographic?

Original -> Redesign

Past Masters

Three Famous Infographics And How They Got Made

“Figurative Map…Russian Campaign of 1812”Charles Joseph Minard, 1869

(This is the “Free Bird” of Infographics!)

“Coxcomb Diagrams”Florence Nightingale, 1869

Periodic Table Of The ElementsModern1929: Deming (Merck & Co.)

Original1862: De Chancourtois

“The properties of bodies are the properties of numbers.”

- A. E. B. De Chancourtois

“Vis Tellurique”De Chancourtois

“Coxcombs”F. Nightingale

“Free Bird!”C. J. Minard

Context, Purpose, and Passion• Minard

– Remind France of the cost of its wars• Nightingale

– Show that more soldiers were dying in hospital than in combat

– Agitate for hospital funding• De Chancourtois

– Demonstrate periodic function of known elements’ properties; present a system to guide search for new elements

Interlude #1: Data

• With a partner, in 90 seconds:

• Describe a problem you need to communicate visually– Who is your intended audience?

(e.g. mgmt, team, public, client) – What data exists? – What format is the data in? – Is it complete or in progress?

Case 1: Show The Current State of A/E/C

Marketing AbilityHow Do You Get An Entire Industry To Up Its Game?

Use An Infographic To:

• Appeal to architects, marketers, and visual types• Show that A/E/C firms were slow or ineffective in

marketing their projects on their website• Show the current state of normal• Show an alarming statistic• Show disproportionality and explain significance• Show all our data in an appealing way• Showcase the good actors, shame the bad actors

– And encourage non-actors to participate!

Research QuestionHow effective are A/E/C firms at

marketing their newer work?

To find out, Find information about recently completed

and reported projects on member firm websites

Source: Boston Society of Architects/AIAChapter Letter Mar/Apr

132 projects : 42 member firms

Research Method – Variables

• Recorded for each project– firm name – home page URL – type of firm

– date website was reviewed– Project Status (category)

• Completed• Not Completed• Other

– project name– project page URL

(if present)

– Did a project photograph appear in the publication?

• (Y/N)

Infographic Showed –Variables

• Firm– firm (name withheld)– type of firm discipline (color)

– Membership (2 categories)• Core, Affiliate

• Project– Completion Status

• (3 categories)

– Online Status (Y/N)

– Agility (…)

– Firms relative to peers

– Between disciplines

– Between membership groups

Results – Projects

Projects Online Firms Reporting

Projects Reported Yes No Total Percent

11 Other (Award) 10 6 16 12.1% 25 Not Completed 3 82 85 64.4% 19 Completed 10 21 31 23.5% Total 23 109 132 Percent 17.42% 82.58%

• 132 projects : 42 member firms – 31 completed : 19 firms

• 10 online : 7 firms

Results - Projects Online (All)

10

3

10

82

6

21

0 20 40 60 80 100

Other (Award)

Not Completed

Completed

Online Not Completed Other Completed

Results – Projects Onlineby Membership Type

1

0

2

50

1

10

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Affiliate (Others)

9

3

8

32

5

11

0 10 20 30 40

Core (Architecture)

Architecture Landscape Architecture Construction Specifications Environmental Graphics Engineering

Infographic 1.0

Architecture Landscape Architecture Construction Specifications Environmental Graphics Engineering

Infographic 1.0

Architecture Landscape Architecture Construction Specifications Environmental Graphics Engineering

Results - Projects OnlineAFFILIATE MEMBERS

OtherNot CompletedCompleted Online

Signal Quality – An Abstraction

• Loosely based on proportion and count of Not Completed projects to all other statuses

• Abstraction to Suggest (Incentive) a path to improvement

• Introducing Signal Quality– Static– Low Signal– Medium Signal– Clear

Signal Quality by Group

Signal Quality by Company

Signal Quality by Company

Issues Encountered• Majority Bad Obscures

Minority Good• Sizing hurt readability• Very small, very large

numbers; all significant• No branding• Display conditions not

known or chosen• Lengthy descriptions of

categories, groupings, etc.

Redesign Resolved• Sizing and Siting• Focused attention on

– Reporting Disproportionality

– Differences in Quality (Agility)

• Revealed two approaches to reporting/strategies

Infographic 2.0

What Did The Infographic Achieve?

• V1.0 -- Small Practice Owners (Architects)?– Healthy discussion, lively debate– “So What”– Lowering barrier didn’t change participation

• V2.0 -- Chapter Letter Publisher (BSA)– Quantified their expectations about participation– Contract to bring this function from print to digital

part of content strategy for website– Post implementation, print publication ceased

What Did The Infographic Achieve?

0123456789

Huh? A-ha! So What?! Wow!Architects BSA

Interlude #2: Story

• With a partner, in 60 seconds:

• With the problem you defined;– What is the story you need to tell?– What will your audience be hooked by?– What is their disposition toward you?– What should they take away?– How will they take action?

Case 2: Show Improvements Made On A

Clinical Research Study

How a 3-chair dentalresearch clinic saw 3X its typical study

population in a few weeks

Use an Infographic To• Balance Out (or Reduce) a long text• Link improved outcomes to process changes• Show the severity of the challenge overcome• Quantify Project Manager’s value-add to a non-

industry audience/reviewer

• How a 3-chair dentalresearch clinic saw 3X its typical study population in a few weeks

Abstracting The Data

020406080100120140160180

Weeks 1-3 Weeks 4-6 Weeks 7-9

Clinic Capacity Available Schedule CapacityClinic Capacity Utilized Completed

0

10

20

30

40

50

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Appointments by Week

Optimizing Patient Flow To Triple Study Team

Performance

020406080

100120140160180

Weeks 1-3 Weeks 4-6 Weeks 7-9Clinic Capacity Available Schedule CapacityClinic Capacity Utilized Completed

To conduct more subject visits per day, we used clinic chairs for sample collection only, and led subjects through a series of stations where study paperwork was completed

An alarming no-show rate put us behind our weekly completed appointment quota several weeks in a row. With capacity increased, we successfully overbooked the schedule to increase throughput

These steps boosted our utilization from 47% to 78%.

More subjects completed the protocol in the last three weeks than in the first six.

Issues Encountered• Data contained too many anomalies• Readability of text in siting• Limitations of Tools• Space constraints limited scope of infographic to only a

portion of the entire case• Missing data, disparate data; could not connect data together

to present a case in numbers• Numerals vs. object counts?• How to show proportions, percent growth, percent difference • Showing/highlighting statistics (KPIs) that were both dramatic

and universal• Portability and useful in multiple places

Revision: Success In 6 Lines!

Chair Session Length(% of Appt Length)

Actual Capacity (% of Target Capacity)

Utilization (% of Actual Capacity)

Booked Capacity (% of Target Capacity

Subjects Acquired (% of Target Population)

Chair Usage (% of Appt Length)

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

125%

150%

175%

1‐3 4‐6 7‐9Weeks

Appt. Length~90 minutes

Target Capacity45 Appts/Wk

Target Population 300 Subjects

Redesign Resolved

• Focus - Improving Clinic Operations• Showing Clearly Improving/Increasing

Numbers• Focus reduced extraneous details from

text narrative• Focuses, structures, and guides attention• Extensible• Issue: Sizing and siting affect readability

Interlude #3: Design• With a partner, in 60 seconds:

• With the problem you defined;– Where will your audience view it?

• List all known parameters– What will your audience be hooked by?– What is the most significant statistic, comparison,

or relationship – and why?– Are there graphical languages or visual

metaphors your audience will understand?– What are your data, story, design resources?

Sizing and Siting:The Two Banana Peels Of Infographic Design

Use Infographics For…

• Hero Image on Blog• Thumbnail Image• Social Share (Meme)• Internal Presentation• Branded Reference Guide• Top Sheet/Cover Page• Lead Magnet• Process Map

BrandedReferenceGuide

InternalPresentation

Shareable(Meme)

Shareable(Meme)

Process Guide/ Lead Magnet

Process Guide/ Lead Magnet

Start

Gray triangles = email addresses

Directional Arrows For Clarity

Pulley armatureIs not a flow path

Too literal design;Obscures relevant details

to the message

When To Use An Infographic?

DO If:• You’re challenging conventional

wisdom or “If-Then” logic

• The data is behaving unexpectedly

• You want to compare disparate data sets side-by-side

• You want to establish that a pattern or relationship exists – or doesn’t

• You want to show change or its lack

• Traditional presentations don’t scale, require too much space, or don’t translate well to general audiences

DON’T If:• You want to show everything• You don’t know what you’re trying

to say with the infographic• A simple or short presentation is

already possible• Data you’re trying to chart is close

to each other (same table, database, etc.)

• You’re illustrating familiar or obvious information

• You don’t know the display constraints

• Your tools aren’t up to the task• You can say it in under 300 words

Resources

• “Do You Really NEED An Infographic?”– Full Report

• “From ‘So What!’ To ‘Wow!’”– Article and Case Study

• Checklist of Do’s and Don’ts– Available by email:

info@designproductsystems.com• The Infographic Marketing Plan

– Coming Soon!

Thank You!

Mike Sweeney, CPSMinfo@DesignProductSystems.com

LinkedInIn/michaelpsweeney

Twitter@michaelpsweeney

www.DesignProductSystems.com