“Every artist gets asked the question: ‘Where do you get your ideas?’ The honest artist answers, ‘I steal them.’ . . . What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before.” —Austin Kleon in Steal Like An Artist.
Today’s tip is to steal ideas from other data visualizations. Here’s a viz I recently came across in the Tableau Public Gallery:
Source: Jacqui Moore on Tableau Public
I’ve stacked the four squares below so that you can see it close up. And here’s what I suggest you steal from this viz:
Simple charts. The viz has only two types of charts: bar charts and line graphs. And they are so simple to read. Distracting elements (like axes and gridlines) are eliminated so that you can easily compare the world to North America, both now and over time.
Repetition of charts. The same charts are repeated for each of four categories, making comparison among categories quite easy.
Images. The simple images relating to mountains, terrestrial, freshwater, and marine help us to distinguish among the four categories and add visual appeal.
Controlled color palette. The viz focuses attention on the four categories by diverging from the monochromatic color scheme only in the images.
I look forward to sharing other steal-worthy data visualizations with you in future data tips! To see past data tips, click HERE.
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Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.
