A date with data - CI’s Great British data visualisation adventure

Guido Jetten

Interpreting mountains of collected data can be a real pain in the ass (there, we said it!). Being able to see what insights lay beneath is a true skill. Within IceMobile we have a lot of experience making our data available to our clients in such a way that it is easy to understand.

However, the task of explaining your insights and their relevance to colleagues and clients can be as difficult as extracting the initial findings. Just handing over a piece of data leaves too much room for interpretation and bickering about the details.

We like things clear and concise, leaving just that little spark of curiosity with the audience. Visualising data can be a way to get your story across more easily, if the visualisation is done well. Over the last decade, the British newspaper The Guardian has become an expert in this field of data visualisation.

They have been sharing their expertise for some years now. So last August the Customer Insights team thought it would be nice to take a hop across the Channel, to see how they work their magic.

During a masterclass the team worked on various visualisation challenges. The session was guided by Adam Frost & Tobias Sturt, Content- and Creative Directors at Graphic Digital Agency and both former Guardian employees. Needless to say that we had a very insightful day.

Here are four of our learnings:

1. The data debate

Before diving into the data straight away, it is important to address some of the complexities of visualising data. There are some debates around how data should be represented. By making the data easier to interpret, you may have to cut some corners in the data so it fits nicely into the composition of your infographic.A real no go for some who believe the data that is represented should be as pure as possible. Since you’d probably don’t want to end up in these sort of discussions, it’s important to stress the credibility of the data. Focus on seeking out the patterns that are interesting and comprehensive.

2. The storyline study

As soon as the topic of the visualisation is decided upon, it is essential to focus on a clear and coherent story that gets the insights across to the audience. These stories must be both inviting and interesting to readers. To quote Adam: “ ‘The cat sat on the mat’ is not a story. However ‘The cat sat on the dogs mat’ is”. In more elaborate terms, consider what the audience cares about and what resonates with them. Most important is that the design is focussed on the message your giving to readers, rather then showing off all the things you know about the subject. The team experienced that making two different infographics from a single data set, aimed at different audiences results into two very different designs.

3. The charts comparison

Once you have the story sorted, look at the charts and graphs to use. So many types, so little time. And so many examples of how you should not use certain types of graphs. Some say you should never use pie charts, but sometimes they just look better then bar charts. To make things even worse, sometimes the point you want people to get is just a lot clearer in text then in a chart. Choosing the rightgraphs that will lift your story can be very tricky and should not be taken lightly. Just have a look below at all the options you have for showing a change over time.

4. The design dilemma

In the end people are more tempted to look at a nice design. That means the information that is shown should always be beautifully presented. However, not only aesthetics are important. Consider for example how different font types can be used to give the graphics a specific tone of voice. A text set in Comic sans is considered less trustworthy then setting the same text in Helvetica or Baskerville. Or how colour can be used to create consistency throughout your visualisation.

In the end making a good data visualisation is all about how you are going to grab a persons’ attention for a few moments, and rewarding that attention with a clear explanation of what you believe is worth telling the audience. A brilliant infographic must therefore be persuasive and clarifying at the same time. Not an easy task, but the CI team are now officially certified, armed and ready to take on any data visualisation challenge that will arise!

Last but not least, here are some of our favourite data visualisations: Stolen years of life - Bloomberg Billionaires - Billion dollar-o-gram

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