Data TMI? It's A Thing

TMI* is a problem in many realms. It has become a parenting truism to only answer the question asked when our kids ask about sex. “Don't tell the kid every single thing you know about a topic; keep it pretty simple and let them ask you for more detail if they need it,” says  Dr. Carol Queen, a sexologist.

I think the same principle applies to data dashboards. Those of us who create dashboards have a tendency to add too many charts, too many filters, too many measures, too many dimensions. The idea is to anticipate almost any question the user might have and make it answerable with the dashboard. But usually, that’s TMI. We overwhelm the user. It’s not clear why or how to use the dashboard and so it’s not used at all.

So listen to the sexologist. When designing dashboards, focus each one on just a few questions that your intended users have. Then beta test them with a few of those users. If they want more detail, they will ask for it.

Data Viz for Nonprofits help organizations to effectively and beautifully present their data on websites, reports, slide decks, interactive data dashboards and more. Click HERE to learn more about our services and HERE to set up a meeting to discuss how we can meet your particular needs.

* too much information

Details, Details (And When To Include Them)

What I remember most about the movie “Inside Out” is a scene about forgetting. And it has helped to shape my thoughts on presenting data.

In the 2015 Pixar film, memories are shining orbs sent through vacuum tubes to “Long Term,” a mammoth storage room with, nevertheless, limited capacity. So “Mind Workers” continuously cull the memory orbs, discarding the unnecessary ones – old phone numbers, piano lessons, names of past presidents – into the “Memory Dump.” I remembered this scene most recently when:

1) I heard Bryan Caplan interviewed on NPR. He’s an economist who wrote the thought-provoking book The Case Against Education. One argument Caplan makes against education is that we mostly forget it.  He cites studies that show little retention of both facts and generalized skills post college.

 2) My 12- and 14-year-old daughters’ shared with me YouTube channels like Oversimplified, In A Nutshell, and Crash Course. These funny, brief videos explain stuff I’ve forgotten (or perhaps never learned, who knows?) like the origins of the French Revolution and how the immune system works.

So here’s the question: Given that our brains are continuously purging information, particularly details, and retaining, at best, big picture stuff that can be contained in a 10-minute video, should we not bother with the details in the first place? My short answer is no. For me, it’s about who should spend time on the details and when.

If you are presenting data in any form, it’s incumbent upon you to know the details of the data -- what the trends are overall and by subgroup, who or what is not represented in the data, where the outliers are. And then the idea is to transfer aspects of this knowledge in the right form for the right people, paying as much attention to what you exclude as to what you include.

Some of the people will only need the biggest picture, but even they should to be tipped off to any exceptions to the rule hidden in the data. They also need to know where to go to learn more if and when they want to. Some of the people will need a more detailed rendering of the data, but don’t give them so many trees that they can’t see the forest. Indeed, they may retain the details more if you give them a general picture first which serves as a scaffolding on which they can attach details presented later.

And here’s hoping you retain the gist of this data tip!

Data Viz for Nonprofits help organizations to effectively and beautifully present their data on websites, reports, slide decks, interactive data dashboards and more. Click HERE to learn more about our services and HERE to set up a meeting to discuss how we can meet your particular needs.

How To Make Your Data Riveting

Attention is like a bouncer at the entrance to our brains. For anything to get inside and make a difference in how we think and act, it first has to win our attention. And I don’t have to tell you (although here I go anyway) that we each have limited attention and lots of things are competing for it. So if you aim to influence others’ thoughts and actions with data, give some consideration to the nature of attention.

What wins people’s attention? 1) Stuff that stands out and 2) Stuff related to our desires or goals. The former wins our “exogenous” attention. The latter wins our “endogenous” attention.

Say you are at a crowded cocktail party. You are going to notice stuff that stands out like loud noises or bright lights. But you will also notice stuff that does not stand out but is of particular interest to you such as that woman standing in far corner whom you were hoping to see. You may also notice if one of your favorite songs is playing softly in the background.

We can make use of this understanding of attention when we visualize data by:

• Making the most important aspects stand out.  Vary the size, color, and space around text and data points. For example, make the title much larger than the rest of the text or color all of the data points gray except for the ones you want to call attention to.

• Pointing to aspects that may interest your intended viewers. Use titles, subtitles, data labels and captions to highlight and explain aspects of the data that may be particularly engaging for your intended audience.

Check out the before-and-after vizes below to see how I’ve applied these techniques to focus my audience’s attention.

BEFORE

AFTER

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data.

Wait, What? Numbers That Bewilder

Numbers can bewilder our hunter-gatherer brains. For more than 95 percent of human history, folks were not processing written numbers or words. But they were processing visual information in the form of color, shape, and size. It’s not surprising that our brains, evolved over many thousands of years, are better at understanding data in visual form than in word and number form. So when numbers confuse, try “translating” them to the visual.

Here’s a great example of a number that makes me scratch my head: “54% more students with monitors improved attendance than students without monitors.” The statement relates to a fictional program that (like some non-fictional programs) pairs students with monitors to boost their attendance. At first blush, to me, that sounds pretty impressive. It sounds like this: if 10% of the students without monitors improved their attendance, then 64% (10% + 54%) with monitors improved their attendance. Or, put another way, six times as many kids with monitors improved their attendance as kids without monitors.

But my brain just made a wrong turn. That 54% is showing what statisticians call “relative difference.” And the problem with this type of stat is that indicators with low values have a tendency to produce large relative differences even when the “absolute difference” is small.

Okay, still bewildered? No worries, I give you now a picture for your primitive brain. Let’s say, in our fictional program, there are 10 students per class. In one class, all of the kids got paired with monitors. In the other class, none of the kids did. The picture below shows how many kids in each class improved their attendance.

So the difference (aka “absolute difference”) is 1.4 (4.0-2.6) which means that 1.4 more kids in the class with monitors improved their attendance. How did that measly 1.4 become 54%? Well, relative difference is calculated as the absolute difference divided by the “standard” which, in this case, is the class without monitors. So 4.0 minus 2.6 divided by 2.6 or .54, which when expressed as a percentage is 54%.

If relative difference requires varsity level processing for many of us, then percentages are junior varsity. So if I were visualizing the difference between the two groups, I would stay away from both and use an icon chart, like the one above. I might make it even more concrete by showing 25 person icons in each group since the typical elementary school classroom has 25 students. I would then use color to show that 6.5 students out of 25 without monitors had improved attendance and 10 students out of 25 with monitors had improved attendance. So, if you bring the program to a typical classroom, you might expect it to improve the attendance of an additional 3 to 4 kids.

Bottom line? Numbers can be like road signs pointing us in the wrong direction. To move folks in the right direction, make your message concrete and visible.

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data.

Avoid This Danger When Choosing Metrics

I’m all about making data clear and easy-to-digest. But there is a danger in it. The clarity may cause you accept what the data seems to tell you. You may not linger. You may not reflect.

Writer Margaret J. Wheatley warns us that “without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.”

Economist Charles Goodhart recognized this danger in the metrics we create to measure our progress. At first, a certain metric may seem like a good indicator of progress. If we want kids in an after-school track program to increase their endurance, we might measure how far they run at the beginning of the program and then again at the end.  Makes sense, right? We might then try to motivate students by offering them free running shorts if they increase their miles by a certain amount. But, that’s when students might start gaming the system. They can increase their miles not only by training hard and running farther over time but also by running very short distances at the start. This is the kind of unintended consequence that Goodhart warned us about. His law states: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” 

The solution? First, reflection. Consider the potential unintended consequences of each of your metrics, particularly those tied to incentives. Second, use multiple metrics to provide a more balanced understanding of progress.  In our running example, in addition to the change in miles participants run, you might also measure resting heart rates at the beginning and end of the program, knowing that a lower resting heart rate generally indicates a higher level of cardiovascular fitness.

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data. 

How To Continuously Update Your Outdated Annual Report

What were you doing on this date last year? If you don’t remember, and if it seems like a long time ago, then reconsider your annual report. Showing your donors, board members, and other stakeholders what you were doing a year ago (or even more, depending on how long it takes to produce your annual report) is not always the best strategy. What if you could describe to them – not only in words but also numbers – what is happening right now? Programs like Tableau make this possible. You can create an online multi-page report, complete with photos, illustrations, and interactive charts. But the numbers on those charts will show what is happening now rather than a year ago. And, of course, you also can show trends over time. Even the free version of Tableau (called Tableau Public) allows you to connect charts to real-time data. The Tableau Foundation has its own “living” rather than “annual” report. To take a look, click here and scroll down!

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data. 

The Ideal Text to Image Ratio

“Okay, I get it. I should be showing and telling because we all process visual information (color, size, length) much faster than information encoded in words and numbers. But what is the best ratio of show to tell?”

A participant in one of my data viz workshops posed this question to me, in a more polite way. And here is my answer. Like so many answers, it begins with “it depends.” There is no exact formula for the best ratio of text to images (including data visualizations or other types of images like photos.) I think it depends on the medium — report, presentation, webpage — and the audience — general, already engaged, expert.

At one end of the spectrum, where you are sharing information with highly engaged experts, particularly in print form, I think you should include more text so that you ensure a precise and careful communication that includes a lot of specifics. In this case, the split might be 30/70 in favor of text.

At the other end of the spectrum are communications to a general audience that is not necessarily familiar with your subject matter. Then I would go for at least a 50/50 split. Also, the images should be easy to understand, and the overall amount of information, whether in text or images, should be limited to the key points.

In the middle of the spectrum, you might have a somewhat informed audience or a diverse audience including experts and novices. Here I would offer a smorgasbord with plenty of sign posts. I know I’m mixing my metaphors, but stick with me. The idea is to make your report or webpage accessible to the casual reader, who is going to peruse the titles, subtitles, pull quotes, images, and charts. These elements of the smorgasbord, together, should tell a general story without the aid of the text. Charts, in particular, should have sufficient titles and labels so that someone can consume them without reading the surrounding text. And some of these elements — titles, subtitles, and pull quotes— also act as sign posts, directing the reader to the content of greatest interest. Indeed, if done well, the sign posts can turn a casual reader into an engaged one.

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data. 

Data Viz Don'ts

This week’s 60-second tip is to head on over to Sarah Leo’s article on Medium the next time you have 8 minutes to spare and read about mistakes she and others at The Economist have made when visualizing data. It’s called “Mistakes, we’ve made a few: learning from our errors in data visualization.”

First, it will make you feel better about your own mistakes. Even the pros get it wrong sometimes.

Second, it will test your data viz prowess. If you have been digesting my bite-sized morsels of data viz wisdom on a regular basis, then use this article as a little quiz. Take a look at Leo’s “before” and “after” vizes and figure out why the “after” version is better.

Third, it may give you some new ideas on how to visualize your own data!

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data. 

Error by Roselin Christina.S from the Noun Project

3 PowerPoint Laws to Always Obey

Charts, graphs, and maps often make their debut in PowerPoint presentations (or the like.) This is a problem. A bad PowerPoint can kill even a great data visualization.

We already know PowerPoints are a problem. We have napped through many of them in our careers. And we even know, when we are on the creating end, that they shouldn’t be text heavy. But we don’t know what else do besides typing in a few bullet points and pasting in some bad clip art.

Since I’m committed to giving you something useful in 60-second portions, this week I give you my top three PowerPoint laws (yes laws – you might not take mere recommendations as seriously, and this is important!)

Law #1: Slides are for seeing. Think about the last subtitled movie you saw. Did you miss a lot of the action while reading? Research shows we are quite good at simultaneously processing pictures and spoken words. But our brains go on overdrive when processing pictures plus written text – like during subtitled movies. And our brains can completely shut down when processing written text plus spoken words, which is what we ask audiences to do during our Powerpoints.* So move those bullet points to your script or speaking notes and use a well-designed data visualization or a great free photo from websites like Unsplash.

Law #2: Portion control. The hard truth is that our audience members are going to walk away from our presentation retaining just a few ideas whether we like it or not. If we shower them with ten, twenty, thirty ideas, we don’t control which ones they retain. So choose just a few and weed out the rest. Then feature only one idea per slide. And go easy on the charts, maps, and graphs. They are more difficult to process than photos or illustrations, so give your viewers a cognitive break between charts.

Law #3: Obey visual hierarchy. Remember what Antoine de Saint-Exupery said: “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Simplify your slides with one compelling image or one chart, map, or graph (which, itself, has been stripped down to what is necessary). Make sure there is plenty of empty space around the image or chart to give it prominence. Then enlarge only the most important elements while reducing the size of the rest. Similarly, use color sparingly to draw attention to the most important aspects of the slide. And for much more on visual hierarchy, check out this great article on Canva.

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data. 

* For more on this, check out Moreno and Mayer’s studies on multimedia learning.

Photos by NeONBRAND and Cody Davis on Unsplash

Bar Chart Hack #5: Fine Tuning

Welcome back to the 60-Second Data Tip series, “How to Hack a Bar Chart.” This week we look at some graphical fine-tuning that can transform a traditional bar chart into something that’s more engaging and more informative.

First I’ll show. Then I’ll tell.

Take a look at example A below. Then take a look at example B.

Example A

Example B

Both are bar charts showing the same data. But B wins, hands down. Why?

Chart A truncates the Y-axis making the difference between large and small counties look bigger than it actually is. Chart B, by contrast, fills in the whole bar and darkens the portion not attending school or employed, thus giving us a sense of the size of both groups (those who are in and out of of school and work) in large and small counties.

Chart B points us to the conclusion it wants us to draw with the title and annotations.

Chart B doesn’t have unnecessary and distracting visual elements such as gridlines and axes labels.

Chart B provides images to further emphasize the contrast between large and small counties.

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data. 

How To Make Data Beautiful

Data people meet designer people. Designer people meet data people. You can learn a lot from each other. Today we will focus on what graphic designers know and data analysts should learn.

A couple of tips ago, we talked about how beauty can actually help a viewer more effectively process a visualization of data. If you missed that one, click here. Now we will consider how to make data more beautiful. Luckily, we need not start from scratch. Graphic designers already know a lot about what makes anything that we look at more attractive and engaging. They have written many books and blogs on the subject. But for the purposes of a 60-second data tip, below are some composition basics to consider from Dan Scott. (Also check out his website.) Data presented in a pleasing composition is more likely to engage your viewer.

If you want it in an even smaller nutshell than the list below, here you go: “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Sage advice from French writer and poet Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data.

Truth and Beauty

Real data people care about truth, not beauty. More accurately, they care about evidence that might suggest a truth. So they don’t really embrace truth, just the pursuit of it. However, they don’t have any time for pursuing beauty. Indeed, they may see beauty as deception. A glossy chart or graph is the province of advertisers or advocates seeking to influence rather than to fully inform. As far as the look of displays of information, they advocate for clarity. They may embrace Tufte’s rule of reducing the "data-ink ratio" by removing unnecessary gridlines, labels, and what he calls “chartjunk” (i.e. non-informative elements) to let the data shine through. (For more on Tufte, see Data Tip #11.)

I’m here to argue — both to “real” data people and the rest of us — that we should not discount beauty when visualizing data. Indeed, it might be worth our while to pursue it as we pursue truth. The reason? Well, because we like pretty things. If that sounds like a flimsy explanation,  stick with me a bit longer.

Research evidence suggests that visually attractive things make us happy. (See “The Beauty-Happiness Connection” in The Atlantic for more on this.) And a positive mood, in turn, helps to expand our working memory, which allows us to process more information. So rather than being deceptive window dressing, beauty can actually more deeply engage the viewer in the pursuit of truth.

How can we make data more beautiful? Stay tuned. This is the topic of next week’s data tip.

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data.

Guinea Pig It

Data Viz UX, Episode 5

Today we tackle the fifth and final step in the data viz user experience design process: the beta test. Let’s say you have dutifully followed steps 1-4 by profiling your users, choosing the right data and type of viz, and then refining that viz. Now you have a carefully designed visualization. But does it work on real, live people? Time to find some humans (preferably those similar to your intended users), show them the visualization, and do the following:

• Ask them what they think the viz is about and what question(s) it is trying to answer.

• Then ask them to try to answer several specific questions using the viz. These questions should focus on the key information you want users to easily extract from the viz.

• Take notes. What was difficult for them to figure out? Did they miss any critical aspects of the viz? Did they come to any incorrect conclusions or interesting conclusions you didn’t expect?

Use your notes to revise! Make some aspects of the viz more prominent using color, fade other aspects to the background, add a better title or more captions, remove confusing or distracting elements, even add new data to make clearer comparisons.

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data.

Photo by Karlijn Prot on Unsplash

Turn A Good Viz Into A Great One

Data Viz UX, Episode 4

Four weeks ago, I promised to show you how to apply some UX (User Experience) tips to keep your viewers awake, engaged, and wielding data from the data visualizations (aka data viz) you create. So far, I’ve covered the first three steps: knowing your users, choosing the right data, and choosing the right type of visualization (chart, map, graph). The next leg of the journey is to turn a good viz into a great one.

There are lots of suggestions out there about what makes a visualization easy to read and engaging. I’ve culled them down to a list of ten. Each of my “10 Data Viz Suggestments” appears in a previous tip. Please follow the links below to learn more.

1. Encode Thoughtfully

2. Consider Your Axes

3. Highlight What’s Important

4. Show Order

5. Clarify With Color

6. Simplify

7. Flatten Your Data

8. Compare Side-By-Side

9. Zoom In

10. Stick With A Table (Sometimes)

Stay tuned for the last step in the UX process: testing the viz.

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data.

Choose The Right Viz

Data Viz UX, Episode 3

Three weeks ago, I promised to show you how to apply some UX (User Experience) tips to keep your viewers awake, engaged, and wielding data from the data visualizations (aka data viz) you create. So far, I’ve covered the first two steps: knowing your users and choosing the right data. Today, we tackle choosing the right visualization for your data.

I highly recommend Andrew Abela’s simple decision tree called Chart Suggestions—A Thought-Starter.  It’s based on Gene Zelazny's classic work Saying It With Charts. The decision tree starts with the basic question: “What would you like to show?” And provides four options:

Comparison. You have two or more groups of things or people and you want to see which group is largest/smallest or highest/lowest (or somewhere in between) on some measure. You also may want to see how these groups compare on the measure overtime.

Distribution. You have a bunch of data points (e.g. the ages of participants in a program or test scores of students in a class) and you want to know how spread out or bunched up they are. Are most of the ages, test scores (whatever) near the average? Or is there a wide range? Are there some extreme outliers?

Composition. You want to understand who or what makes up a larger group such as how many of the participants in a program are in different age brackets or how many have been in the program for different lengths of time.

Relationship. You want to know if one thing is related to another, either at one point in time or overtime. Does more participation in a mental health program correlate with less distress over time? Do those with lower incomes have higher heart rates?

Once you answer this basic question, the decision tree helps you to choose a specific chart based on the type of data you have. Abela’s chart chooser includes the types of charts you are most likely to select. But there are more rare species out there. To learn more about the wide array of ways to visualize data, check out the Data Visualisation Catalog.

However, I will leave you with a word of caution. And that word is: “Xenographphobia” or fear of weird charts. It’s a thing. And you should be aware of it. Although we might like the look of sexy charts, we don’t usually have the time or patience to figure them out. So in the interest of creating a positive and productive UX, stick with the charts folks already know how to read or are self-explanatory.

Stay tuned for the other steps in the UX process: refining the viz and testing it.

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data.

Column chart with line chart by HLD, Line Graph by Creative Stall, Pie Chart by frederick allen, Radar Chart by Agus Purwant, and sankey diagram by Rflor (from the Noun Project)

Choose The Right Data

Data Viz UX, Episode 3

Too often we start with the data rather than the questions. It’s sort of like starting dinner with the ingredients you happen to have in the fridge (frozen pizza, grape juice, and hot sauce) rather than asking: what meal would be most healthy and satisfying and then buying the right ingredients for that meal.

Two weeks ago, I promised to show you how to apply some UX (User Experience) tips to keep your viewers awake, engaged, and wielding data from the data visualizations (aka data viz) you create. And last week I shared the first step, which is knowing your users. This week’s tip is about the second step: choosing the right data.

Ideally, you don’t start at the fridge when making dinner. And ideally, you don’t start with data when planning and evaluating your work. Instead, you decide what you need to know to improve what you do. Let’s say you run a tutoring program. You rely on talented tutors. So, you might ask: who make the best tutors? Okay, you are off to a great start. Now do the following:

Refine The Question. What do you mean by “tutors”? Only tutors in your own program or more generally? Do you want to look at only tutors with a significant degree of experience or also include newbies? What do you mean by “best”? Those who persist in the program for at least a year? Those whose students show academic improvement? Those who form close relationships with their students? After some refining, you might end up with a question like this: “Among our past tutors (2000-2018), who has persisted (>=6 months) in the program and had students whose GPA increased (>=1 point)?”

Identify Important Subgroups. Perhaps you want to see if certain types of tutors works best with certain types of students. Then you are going to need data on both tutor characteristics (such as ethnicity, gender, profession) and student characteristics.

Share Your Strategy. At this point, it’s a good idea to check in with the folks who are going to use the data to make decisions. Share with them how you have refined the question and the subgroups you intend to look at. Get their feedback and tweak your strategy.

Find the Right Data. Okay, now you can consider data because now you know what data you need. You might consider data in your own databases and data from other sources. Before settling on any data sources, always ask: Is the data credible? Is it complete? Is the data clean (e.g. have duplicates and data entry errors been removed)? Is the data connected (e.g. if you are using multiple data sources, is there a way to connect them using unique identifiers for individuals or groups)?

Turns out that if you ask good, clear questions, you get better answers — answers you can use. Stay tuned for the other steps in the UX process: choosing the right viz, refining the viz, and testing it.

And, if you have a moment, check out this great New York Times article which shows how our view of the economy depends on what questions we ask and what data we choose. (Turns out G.D.P. is kind of like the hot sauce in our fridge. We use it because we have it. But we’d be better off with different data.)

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data.

Know Your Data Viz User

Data Viz UX, Episode 2

UX is a hip (if inexact) acronym for user experience. As I explained in last week’s data tip, it’s about how user-friendly a product or service is. In that tip, I promised to show you how to apply some UX tips to keep your viewers awake, engaged, and wielding data from the data visualizations (aka data viz) you create. It involves knowing your users, choosing the right data, choosing the right viz, refining the viz, and testing it.

Today’s topic: knowing your users. I will offer brief tips on the other topics in the weeks to come. To know your data viz user, answer the following questions:

Who are they? Your intended user can range from just yourself to all living sentient beings. Answer this question as exactly as possible.

What do they want to know? What decisions are they looking to make? Are they monolithic or diverse in their interests?

How engaged are they? Do they have a deep or casual interest in the topic? Or somewhere in between?

What do they already know? Consider how savvy they are both about the topic and about data analysis. While you don’t want to assume too much knowledge, you don’t want to patronize either.

With a clear picture of your intended users in mind, you are ready to consider what data to present. Stay tuned. That’s next week’s tip.

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data.

How to make a good data experience for your funders, board, and staff

Data Viz UX, Episode 1

“UX” is one of those terms that pretty much everyone has heard. But those of us outside the tech or corporate worlds might politely nod at its mention and then wonder, “Wait, what's UX again?”

It means “user experience.” (No, experience does not begin with an X. Just another way in which the tech world is cooler than the rest of us.) And what exactly is user experience? It’s the experience we have with any product or service. The experience you had assembling 482 parts to make an Ikea dresser? Bad UX. The experience you had buying all your holiday gifts online and avoiding the mall? Good UX.

Data visualizations come with their own UX. There are some pretty sexy charts out there that dazzle at first sight but ultimately frustrate when you try to extract meaning from them.

So how can you keep your funders, board, and staff awake, engaged, and wielding data from the visualizations (aka vizes) you create? It involves knowing your users, choosing the right data, choosing the right viz, refining the viz, and testing it.

That’s way more than I can do in 60 seconds. But I promise to feed it to you in 60-second bites, starting next week. Until then, notice your own experiences trying to extract meaning from charts, maps, and graphs. What goes down easily? What makes you choke?

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data.

Zoom In

Imagine a photo of a flower. It’s a yellow daisy. Turn the page, and there’s the daisy again, on a black lapel. Turn the page once more, and you see a teenage boy wearing a dark suit with a daisy on his lapel standing in front of split-level ranch house. Now imagine that the carnation along a roadside surrounded by trash or in a bucket on a flower truck.

Someone once said (and then a lot of others repeated): “Context is everything.”

So when presenting a series of charts, maps, or graphs, give your viewer some context. Provide the wide view first (the ranch house, the roadside, the flower truck) and then zoom in on the details (the daisy).

Here's an example. It's a series of charts showing the prevalence of chronic disease among adults (based on data from the Center for Disease Control).

Begin With The Wide View: The first is a map shows how prevalent all chronic diseases are across the U.S.

Then Zoom In: The second is a parallel coordinates chart in which each line represents one of the 50 states. It provides a more specific view of the prevalence of particular types of diseases in particular states.

Now Zoom In Further: Finally, the interactive dashboard, the third view, allows the viewer to drill even further into the data and explore how various risk and protective factors (diet, smoking) relate to the prevalence of different diseases.

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data.

Photo by Cam Morin on Unsplash

How To Make Your Data Digestible

I’ve said it before. We are much better at digesting visual information—position, size, color, hue—than we are at digesting words and numbers. Words and numbers, which only appeared within the last few thousand years, require our visual system to scan individual characters one at a time and piece them together to create meaning. By contrast, we can process visual cues simultaneously and very quickly. We don’t read pictures from left to right and from top to bottom. We process the elements of a picture in parallel. Very efficient.

Once you decide to represent your data visually, you need to decide how. What visual cues are right for the job?  Luckily, there’s some research to point you in the right direction. Cleveland and McGill (and others) have studied what types of encodings or “channels” people are able to decode most accurately and ranked them, as shown above.

As you can see, we are great at assessing position along a common scale and pretty good at length, even without a common scale. This is one reason why bar charts are so powerful. We are less good at assessing something like color intensity. While we can see that one color is darker than the other, it’s hard to determine if it’s twice as dark.

So if you need your viewers to make more accurate assessments, use visual encodings toward the right end of the spectrum, but other encodings, toward  the left end, are fine for more general assessments.

See other data tips in this series for more information on how to effectively visualize and make good use of your organization's data.