Lecture–
Data Visualization and
story telling
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Why do we create visualizations?
To Record information
Photographs, blueprints, …
To support reasoning about information (analyze)
Process and calculate
Reason about data
Goal :
Feedback and interaction
Communication
To convey information to others (present)
Share and persuade
Collaborate and revise
Emphasize important aspects of data
To quickly make sense of data which would otherwise be
difficult to draw conclusions from
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History of visualization
6200 BC, Konya town map, Turkey 550 BC The first world map? - Anaximander of Miletus, Turkey.
366 BC The first route map showing AD 950 positions of the sun, moon,
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the whole of the Roman world and planets throughout the year
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History of visualization
AD 1855 - dot map to display epidemiological data, leads to
AD 1786 Bar chart, line graphs - Playfair's parallel time-series discovery of the source of a cholera epidemic
bar chart of prices of wheat, wages and monarchs over 250+
years
AD 1872 Recording of motion by means of a set of glass-plate
AD 1801 Invention of the pie chart, and circle graph, playfair cameras, triggered by strings- Eadweard Muybridge 4
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History of visualization
AD 1969
Graphical innovations for exploratory data analysis AD 1981
(stem-and-leaf, graphical lists, box-and-whisker Mosaic display to represent frequencies in a
plots, two-way and extended-fit plots, hanging and multiway contingency table- John Hartigan
suspended rootograms)- John W. Tukey and Beat Kleiner 5
Visualization objectives
1. Eliminate clutter and distraction
2. Group data into logical sections
3. Highlight what’s most important
4. Support meaningful comparisons
5. Discourage meaningless comparisons
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Table and Graphs
What characteristics define tables?
Data arranged in columns and rows
Data encoded as text
What characteristics define graphs?
Values are displayed in an area defined by one or
more axes
Values are encoded as visual objects positioned in
relation to the axes
Axes provide scales (quantitative and categorical)
that assign values and labels to the data objects
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Table and Graphs
Tables work best when
Used to look up individual values
Used to compare individual values
Data must be precise
You must include multiple units of
measure
What do graphs do best?
Graphs show relationships between
values by giving them shape
Graphs bring relationships to light
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Graphs bring relationships to light
But only if you design them correctly
The type of graph that is selected and the
way it’s designed also have great impact on
the message that is communicated.
By simply switching from a line graph to a
bar graph, the decrease in job satisfaction
among those without college degrees in
their later years is no longer as obvious
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Seven common relationships in graphs
Nominal comparison
Time-series
Ranking
Part-to-whole
Deviation
Distribution
Correlation
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Story telling
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Story telling with data
One can put some data in Excel or python and create a
graph
For many, the process of data visualization ends there
This can render
the most interesting story completely underwhelming
or worse—difficult or impossible to understand
There is a story in your data. But tools don’t know what
that story is. bring that story visually and contextually to
life
Shift from simply showing data to storytelling with data
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We aren’t good at storytelling with data
Showing data Story telling with data
Storytelling with data - a data visualization guide for business professionals by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic 13
We aren’t good at storytelling with data
Showing data Story telling with data
Storytelling with data - a data visualization guide for business professionals by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic 14
We aren’t good at storytelling with data
Showing data Story telling with data
Storytelling with data - a data visualization guide for business professionals by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic 15
How to better communicate
1. Understand the context
2. Choose an appropriate visual display
3. Eliminate clutter
4. Focus attention where you want it
5. Think like a designer
6. Tell a story
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1. Importance of the context
To whom are you communicating?
Important to have a good understanding of who your audience is
and how they perceive you
identify common ground to ensure they hear your message
What do you want your audience to know or do?
Be clear how you want your audience to act
take into account how you will communicate to them
overall tone that you want to set for your communication
How can you use data to help make your point?
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Communication mechanism
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Tone of communication and data available
Tone
Are you celebrating a success?
Trying to light a fire to drive action?
Is the topic lighthearted or serious?
Data
What data is available that will help make my point?
Data becomes supporting evidence of the story you will
build and tell
Ignore the nonsupporting data? – No
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2. Choosing and effective visual
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To be avoided
Pie chart (asking audience to compare
angles and areas)
Donut chart (asking audience to compare
one arc length to another arc length)
Never use 3D charts for single
dimension
Secondary axis
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3. Clutter is your enemy
Reduce cognitive load of audience
Clutter - visual elements that take up space but don’t increase
understanding
Clutter can make something feel more complicated than it
actually is
Risk of our audience deciding they don’t want to take the
time to understand what we’re showing
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Use Gestalt Principles
The Gestalt (German for form, shape) theory was founded by German psychologists in the 1920s
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Using Gestalt principles
Enclosure - The shaded area separates Closure - The graph still appears complete
the forecast from actual data without the border and background shading
Connection - Lines connect the dots Continuity - Graph with y-axis line removed
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De cluttering – Step by Step
Original Graph
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De cluttering – Step by Step
Remove chart border
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De cluttering – Step by Step
Remove gridlines
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De cluttering – Step by Step
Remove data markers
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De cluttering – Step by Step
Clean up axis labels
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De cluttering – Step by Step
Label data directly and with consistent color
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De cluttering – Step by Step
Before and after
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4. Focus audience’s attention
When used sparingly,
preattentive attributes
can be extremely useful
for
drawing your audience’s
attention quickly to
where you want them to
look
creating a visual
hierarchy of information
Source: storytelling with data - Adapted from Stephen Few’s Show Me the Numbers, 2004 32
Preattentive attributes in text
No preattentive attributes
What are we doing well? Great Products. These products are clearly the best in
their class. Replacement parts are shipped when needed. You sent me gaskets
without me having to ask. Problems are resolved promptly. Bev in the billing
office was quick to resolve a billing issue I had. General customer service
exceeds expectations. The account manager even called to check in after normal
business hours.
You have a great company – keep up the good work!
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Preattentive attributes in text
Bold
What are we doing well? Great Products. These products are clearly the best in
their class. Replacement parts are shipped when needed. You sent me gaskets
without me having to ask. Problems are resolved promptly. Bev in the billing
office was quick to resolve a billing issue I had. General customer service
exceeds expectations. The account manager even called to check in after normal
business hours.
You have a great company – keep up the good work!
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Preattentive attributes in text
Color
What are we doing well? Great Products. These products are clearly the best in
their class. Replacement parts are shipped when needed. You sent me gaskets
without me having to ask. Problems are resolved promptly. Bev in the billing
office was quick to resolve a billing issue I had. General customer service
exceeds expectations. The account manager even called to check in after normal
business hours.
You have a great company – keep up the good work!
35
Preattentive attributes in text
Italics
What are we doing well? Great Products. These products are clearly the best in
their class. Replacement parts are shipped when needed. You sent me gaskets
without me having to ask. Problems are resolved promptly. Bev in the billing
office was quick to resolve a billing issue I had. General customer service
exceeds expectations. The account manager even called to check in after normal
business hours.
You have a great company – keep up the good work!
36
Preattentive attributes in text
Size
What are we doing well? Great Products. These products are clearly the best in
their class. Replacement parts are shipped when needed. You sent me gaskets
without me having to ask. Problems are resolved
promptly. Bev in the billing office was quick to resolve a billing issue I had.
General customer service exceeds expectations. The account manager even
called to check in after normal business hours.
You have a great company – keep up the good work!
37
Preattentive attributes in text
Separate spatially
What are we doing well? Great Products. These products are clearly the best in
their class. Replacement parts are shipped when needed. You sent me gaskets
without me having to ask.
Problems are resolved promptly.
Bev in the billing office was quick to resolve a billing issue I had. General
customer service exceeds expectations. The account manager even called to
check in after normal business hours.
You have a great company – keep up the good work!
38
Preattentive attributes in text
Outline (enclosure)
What are we doing well? Great Products. These products are clearly the best in
their class. Replacement parts are shipped when needed. You sent me gaskets
without me having to ask. Problems are resolved promptly. Bev in the billing
office was quick to resolve a billing issue I had. General customer service
exceeds expectations. The account manager even called to check in after normal
business hours.
You have a great company – keep up the good work!
39
Preattentive attributes in text
Underline (added marks)
What are we doing well? Great Products. These products are clearly the best in
their class. Replacement parts are shipped when needed. You sent me gaskets
without me having to ask. Problems are resolved promptly. Bev in the billing
office was quick to resolve a billing issue I had. General customer service
exceeds expectations. The account manager even called to check in after normal
business hours.
You have a great company – keep up the good work!
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Preattentive attributes in graph
No preattentive attributes
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Preattentive attributes in graph
Leverage color to draw attention
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Preattentive attributes in graph
Create a visual hierarchy of information
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Some tips
Make the data stand out
Use data labels sparingly to draw attention
Relative size denotes relative importance
When used sparingly, color is one of the most powerful
tools
Use color consistently
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5. Think like a designer
Highlight the important stuff
Eliminate distractions
Not all data are equally important
When detail isn’t needed, summarize
Ask yourself: would eliminating this change anything? No? Take it out!
Push necessary, but non-message-impacting items to the background
Create a clear visual hierarchy of information
Don’t overcomplicate
Make it legible
Keep it clean
Use straightforward language
Remove unnecessary complexity
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5. Think like a designer
Ascetics
Be smart with color
Pay attention to alignment
Leverage white space
Acceptance
Articulate the benefits of the new or different approach
Show it side-by-side
Provide multiple options and seek input
Get a vocal member of your audience on board
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6. Telling the story
a beginning (plot)
middle (twists)
end (call to action)
Storytelling with data - a data visualization guide for business professionals by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic 47
6. Telling the story
Showing data Story telling with data
Storytelling with data - a data visualization guide for business professionals by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic 48
Checklist
Avoid mislabeling your data
Be sure to stick to a scale
Don’t try to cram too much into one graphic
Make it easy to compare and view trends across your data
Every chart needs to have a clear purpose
Don’t allow design to supersede substance
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Common mistakes in visualization
Supplying inadequate context for the data
Displaying excessive detail or precision
Expressing measures indirectly (don’t ask viewer to derive required information)
Choosing inappropriate display media (pie chart in place to bar chart)
Introducing meaningless variety (like multiple instance of same data in different
forms)
Using poorly designed display mechanisms (e.g. 3D bar chart)
Encoding quantitative data inaccurately (not providing secondary axis)
Arranging the data poorly
Ineffectively highlighting what’s important
Cluttering it with useless decoration
Misusing or overusing color
Designing an unappealing visual display
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The Chart Chooser
Andrew V. Abela
The presentation -A story about communicating successfully with very few slides 51
Some examples
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3-D treemap
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3-D treemap
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