Telling Your Data Story Infographic Design Training
Tahmid Chowdhury and Suzanne Slattery
JSI CHIME Data Visualization Team
July 21, 2017
Tahmid Chowdhury
Suzanne Slattery
90% of the data in the world was generated in the last 2 years
0.5% of the data in the world has been analyzed
Our modern day challenge: Balancing the volume of information available with what our brains can comprehend.
Speedy and brief communications mediums have reconditioned people to prefer consuming information in small chunks
Today, content not distilled into easily
consumable key points often fails to spark action by decision-makers.
Pre-attentive processing helps people interpret your charts before they realize they’re thinking.
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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
65%
of the US populatio are visual learners
Visuals are processed times faster than text 60k
and
Data visualizations are any graphic representations of data.
Data visualizations can communicate huge amounts of data and help identify trends and areas of interest.
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Declarative
Data-driven Conceptual
Exploratory
Everyday Data Viz
Visual Discover
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Idea Generati
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Idea Illustratio
n
Matrix credit: Harvard Business Review’s Good
Infographics: • Static • Hand-crafted every time • Made for a specific
dataset • Context-sensitive • Tells a premeditated
story • Best for guiding the
Data Dashboards: • Dynamic • Automatically generated • Creates images for arbitrary
datasets • Context-free • Allows user to explore the data • Best for allowing the audience
to draw their own conclusions
4. Disseminate & share
3. Build your charts &
assemble
2. Find the story in
your data
1. Identify
your audience & context
Infographic Process
The Dream Team
Communications Research
Designer Developer
-VERSUS-
Communications
Research
Reality
WHO Is Your Audience?
On the most common visualization
mistakes:
“Time isn’t adequately spent on is just what is the question that you’re trying to answer and what does your audience need to know?”
Cole Naussbaumer StorytellingwithData.com
From: http://cxcafe.maritzcx.com/storytelling-with-data-dashboarding-with-cole-nussbaumer/
is your audience? WHO
WHAT
HOW
do they want to know?
will you communicate it?
Different stakeholders have different data needs.
Consider your stakeholders’ literacy, numeric literacy, and what data they need to make decisions.
4. Disseminate & share
3. Build your charts &
assemble
2. Find the story in
your data
1. Identify
your audience & context
Infographic Process
WHAT Is Your Story?
“Data is powerful. But with a good story it’s unforgettable.”
Daniel Waisberg Google
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Tell-a-Meaningful-Story-with-Data-Waisberg-Kipling/4f1de8b80329635883db5bf79f33f31960342df6/
What is your goal? • Are you promoting
action? • Are you educating? • Raising money?
Who is your audience?
• What do you know (from your data)?
• What does it mean?
• Why is it i t t?
Ask Yourself Questions:
4. Disseminate & share
3. Build your charts &
assemble
2. Find the story in
your data
1. Identify
your audience & context
Infographic Process
Chart Selection
Picking the right chart type for your data story is critical to developing great visualizations.
Data Types
http://blog.visme.co/
Compare Categories
Paired Column Column
Bar Paired Bar Stacked Bar
Stacked Column Waterfall
Part-to-Whole
Pie Donut Tree Map
Distribution
Histogram Box and Whiskers Confidence Interval
Relationship
Scatterplot Bubble Radar / Spider
Time Series
Line
Stacked Area
Timeline
Spark Lines
Resource for Chart Selection
visage.co/content/data-visualization-101
http://datavizcatalogue.com/
Common Infographic Mistakes (Don’t do it!)
Misrepresentation of Your Data.
Source: http://io9.gizmodo.com/11-most-useless-and-misleading-infographics-on-the-inte-1688239674
COMMON MISTAKES
COMMON MISTAKES
It doesn’t add up 1
COMMON MISTAKES
BEST PRACTICE Make sure your numbers make sense
It’s the wrong chart 2
COMMON MISTAKES
COMMON MISTAKES
BEST PRACTICE
Avoid using pie charts if possible, especially f
DON’T
DO
40
20
15
14
6 3 1 1 ABCDEFG
40
20 15 14
6 3 1 1
A B C D E F G H
COMMON MISTAKES
It makes the reader work 3
COMMON MISTAKES
BEST PRACTICE
Make sure your bars correlate with your data
COMMON MISTAKE
Inaccurate scales 4
COMMON MISTAKES
BEST PRACTICE
To demonstrate scale, increase by area instead of di t
Boring/nondescript titles 5
COMMON MISTAKES
BEST PRACTICE
Use clear & succinct language that tells your reader the takeaway
COMMON MISTAKES
Incomparable Comparisons 6
COMMON MISTAKES
Using 3-D charts 7
COMMON MISTAKES
COMMON MISTAKES
Use ‘flat design’ and avoid 3D charts
BEFORE AFTER
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A B C D E F
0
10
20
30
40
50
A B C D E F
COMMON MISTAKES
Wrong axis placement 8
COMMON MISTAKES
COMMON MISTAKES
DON’T
05
101520253035404550
A B C D
DO
BEST PRACTICE
Use the full axis by starting at zero
25
30
35
40
45
50
A B C D
COMMON MISTAKES
Too much or too little text 9
COMMON MISTAKES
BEST PRACTICE
Give your audience adequate context, but don’t overcrowd your work with a wall of words
Not following basic design principles
10
COMMON MISTAKES
Hierarchy
Give your audience visual cues of what is the most important part of your message.
Balance
The eye tends to seek balance and will notice if your design is unbalanced. Use this principle to make your graphic visually pleasing.
Use contrast (light/dark, big/small, thick/thin) to highlight/ emphasize.
Contrast
Use color to emphasize or reinforce value. Avoid the “Skittles effect”
Color
Pick appropriate fonts for your audience. Stick to 2-3 at the most and be consistent in usage.
Font
A FEW DESIGN PRINCIPLES
Building Charts in Excel
Declutter your chart. 1
Or as Edward Tufte wrote:
“Erase non-data-ink, within reason.”
Edward Tufte from The Visual Display of Quantitative
Information
Remove the default lines, borders & tick marks that distract your audience.
BEFORE AFTER
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
2016 2017 2018
CSO 1
CSO 2
CSO 3
CSO 4
CSO 5
CSO 6
CSO 7
CSO 8
CSO 9
CSO 10
CSO 11
CSO 2 7000
4000
0
5000
10000
15000
2016 2017 2018
Female Sex Workers,
26.6%
5.5%
Men having Sex with Men,
21.0%
4.9%
2005 2014
HIV Prevalence in Guyana’s key populations has declined
sharply in the last decade.
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
2005 2014
Female SexWorkers
Men having Sexwith Men
BEFORE AFTER
Use ‘flat design’ and avoid 3D charts
05
101520253035404550
A B C D E F
0
10
20
30
40
50
A B C D E F
BEFORE AFTER
DON’T
0
10
20
30
40
50
A B C
BEST PRACTICE
For comparing charts, keep the style consistent
20
45
35
A B C
DO
0
10
20
30
40
50
A B C
BEST PRACTICE
For comparing charts, keep the style consistent
0
10
20
30
40
50
A B C
Use color to add impact. 2
If you use color sparingly, it becomes more powerful
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
2012 2013 2014 2015
Selective use of color helps the important points stand out.
0 2 4 60 2 4 6
Highlights the category with the value of interest.
Learn more about color (in a detailed video) from Cole at Storytelling with Data https://youtu.be/AiD6etOB6qI
Consider black & white printing and those who are colorblind.
Read Stephanie Evergreen’s excellent post on this topic for more details & alternatives: http://stephanieevergreen.com/no-more-red-yellow-green/
BEST PRACTICE
Avoid using pie charts if possible, especially for comparison
DON’T
DO
40
20
15
14
6 3 1 1 ABCDEFG
40
20 15 14
6 3 1 1
A B C D E F G H
DON’T
05
101520253035404550
A B C D
DO
BEST PRACTICE
Use the full axis by starting at zero
25
30
35
40
45
50
A B C D
Create a purposeful title. 3
Are you clear and succinct, telling your reader the key takeaway?
BEFORE AFTER
10
No stigma registered
1-5 accounts
6-10 accounts
11-15 accounts
16+ accounts
S&D remains a challenge: half of facilities reported more than 16 incidents last quarter.
0 5 10 15
No stigma registered
1-5 accounts
6-10 accounts
11-15 accounts
16+ accounts
# facilities reporting incidents
# facilities
Title length of f 6-12 words is recommended on the Data Visualization Checklist http://stephanieevergreen.com/dataviz-checklist
BEFORE AFTER
Use data labels sparingly, reserving them for key data points.
A Q U I C K E X A M P L E
VISUALIZING POPULATION DATA
What proportion of the population do women of reproductive age represent?
What proportion of the population do women of reproductive age represent?
What proportion of the population do women of reproductive age represent?
What proportion of the population do women of reproductive age represent?
Creating an Infographic in Piktochart
Infographic Resources
INFOGRAPHIC RESOURCES
1 https://www.canva.com/
https://piktochart.com/
https://venngage.com/
https://www.easel.ly/
http://www.flaticon.com/ https://thenounproject.com/
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5 6
Canva
Piktochart
Vennage
Easelly
Flat Icon The Noun Project
Icons
Websites
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