5. As Story-tellers, we learn..
To write for the reader, not for yourself
A story needs a logical flow
5
6. As Story-tellers, we learn..
To write for the reader, not for yourself
A story needs a logical flow
To have a point of view
6
7. As Story-tellers, we learn..
To write for the reader, not for yourself
A story needs a logical flow
To have a point of view
Only to report data that is vital to
telling the story
7
8. How can visuals help in storytelling?
Attention The eyes are drawn like a magnet to images.
Less cognitive processing required, especially if
Comprehension image is familiar.
Complexity Best way to summarise / represent complexity.
Can reveal patterns and relationships that would
Understanding otherwise be hard to interpret or spot
Retention Presence of illustrations significantly improves
retention.
Aesthetics What’s wrong with wanting it to look good?
Timing Graphics reduce time required to explain.
Pictures do a far better job of communicating
Emotion emotion, and emotion does a far better job of
inspiring action.
8
12. Graphs
“When a graph is made, quantitative and categorical
information is encoded by a display method. Then the
information is visually decoded. This visual perception is
a vital link. No matter how clever the choice of the
information, and no matter how
technologically impressive the encoding,
a visualization fails if the decoding fails.”
(William S. Cleveland, The
Elements of Graphing Data, Hobart Press, 1994, p. 1)
13. To 3D or not to 3D?
5
4
3
Series 1
2
Series 2
1 Series 3 Series 3
0
Series 1
25. Areas, Volumes and Magnitudes
1
0.9
0.8
Ratio of size from Cat 1 to 2 is 1:2
0.7
BUT ratio or shape area is 1:4
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4
31. Who ate all the Pies?
Sales 1st Qtr
2nd Qtr
3rd Qtr
4th Qtr
32. Who ate all the Pies?
Sales 1st Qtr
2nd Qtr
3rd Qtr
4th Qtr
33. Who ate all the Pies?
Sales 1st Qtr
2nd Qtr
3rd Qtr
4th Qtr
34. Who ate all the Pies?
We make angle judgments when we read a pie chart,
but we don’t judge angles very well. These judgments
are biased; we underestimate acute angles (angles
less than 90°) and overestimate obtuse angles
(angles greater than 90°).
(Naomi Robbins, Creating More Effective Graphs, Wiley, 2005, p. 49)
36. Who ate all the Pies?
Sales 1st Qtr
8%
17% 2nd Qtr
3rd Qtr
4th Qtr
22%
58%
37. Who ate all the Pies?
Q1 Q2
8% 8% 13%
17%
17%
22%
58%
62%
Q3 Q4
9% 8% 10% 6%
23% 26%
60% 58%
38. Who ate all the Pies?
70%
60%
50%
Apples
40%
Oranges
30% Bananas
20% Grapefruit
10%
0%
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Hollands and Spence found that trends are best analyzed with line graphs
than with a series of pie charts. When estimating trends with line graphs,
people can use a slope estimation procedure; with pie charts, they must
perform multiple size discriminations between pie slices.
Hollands JG, Spence I. Judgments of change and proportion in graphical perception. Hum Factors 1992;34:313-34.
40. Chart Junk & Data Ink
Lipkus I M , Hollands J G J
Natl Cancer Inst Monogr
1999;1999:149-163, Oxford
University Press
Gillan and Richman found that participants had faster response times and were
more accurate when the data-ink ratio was high than when it was low. In
addition, integrated tasks (e.g., global comparisons or synthesis judgments)
appear to be more affected by the data-ink ratio than are focused tasks (e.g.,
selecting the value of a data point).
Gillan DJ, Richman EH. Minimalism and the syntax of graphs. Hum Factors 1994;36:619-44
42. Recap…
Data Integrity – avoid:
1. 3 dimensional treatments
2. Tricks of perspective
3. Lie-factors of area or volume
4. Too many pies
Data Clarity – avoid:
5. Unnecessary clutter
6. A low data-to-ink ratio
43. Tufte’s 5 principles of GOOD information design
1. Enforce visual comparisons between groups
2. Show or suggest causality
3. Show multivariate data (more than 2 dimensions)
4. Content driven—all about explaining the data
5. Completely integrate words, numbers and images
44. 1. Enforce comparison
In other words, we must always ask the question, “compared to
what?”.
Fortunately, visual comparison is faster and easier than mathematical or
conceptual comparison:
“visualization made it possible to see the effects
of design changes on the pressure distribution
of an airplane wing, for example. The same thing
could be done with number crunching in theory,
but it was a lot more immediate and obvious where
things went wrong when the model was actually
shown as an image”
- Robert Kosara, http://stat-computing.org/newsletter/issues/scgn-22-1.pdf
45.
1. Enforce comparison
London’s Daily Greenhouse Gas Contribution
139 thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide would fill a sphere 521 metres across.
To most Londoners, '139 thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide' is not a very meaningful
quantity. Illustrating it in the context of London landmarks allows viewers to make it
meaningful for themselves.
simplified version
46. 1. Enforce comparison
New York Weather for 1980
1980’s weather is compared against ‘normal’ weather averages allowing you to
immediately spot points of difference.
simplified version
47. 2. Suggest Causality
Without an indication of cause, you can be left wondering what
the point is. i.e. if you show a trend, it begs the question, why is
this happening?
49. 3. Show Multivariate Data
The world we seek to understand is multivariate.
The more variables, the more opportunities we have to see
relationships and patterns
simplified version
50. 3. Show Multivariate Data
New York Weather for 1980
3 Dimensions:-
- Temperature
- Precipitation
- Humidity
simplified version
51. 3. Show Multivariate Data
Increase in oil consumption
oil consumption (Y axis) by year
(X axis) and region (stacked area)
52. 3. Show Multivariate Data
Increase in oil consumption
oil consumption (Y axis) by year
(X axis) and region (stacked area)
“Small Multiples”
Also called Trellis /
Lattice / Grid /
Panel Chart
53. 3. Show Multivariate Data
How BI Customers Use their Platforms
Platforms, by type of usage, by volume
54. 3. Show Multivariate Data
How BI Customers Use their Platforms
Platforms, by type of usage, by volume
55. 3. Show Multivariate Data
Canadians think it time for a change of government, if they don’t see the
Government as being on the right track. And their vote intentions tend to
reflect that.
NF
Size of the circle is the amount of approval of
the premier/PM
SK
Colour of Circle indicates vote difference
• Dark green = 15+ vote lead,
• Light green is 5-14 lead,
Right Track
• White = +/- 5% lead/trail,
• Red= 5-14 trail & dark red (no example here) is
AB trail by 15 or more
MN
BC
PQ NB
ON NS
PEI
Feds
Time for Change
59. 4. Fully integrate words, numbers and images
Aim for the viewer to be able to take in the whole picture in one
glance, so avoid separate, complex legends which need to be
continually referenced to make sense of the data
60. 4. Fully integrate words, numbers and images
New York Weather for 1980
Key annotations are present right within the chart
simplified version
61. 4. Fully integrate words, numbers and images
Distinct Segments driven by exposure interactions and
psychographic engagement
Key annotations are present right within the chart
62. Napoleon’s March on Moscow illustrates the principles
Enforce visual Completely
comparisons — integrate
the width of the words,
tan and black numbers and
lines gives you an images—in this
immediate map, number
comparison of the sit comfortably
size of with words and
Napoleon’s army the only legend
at different times is a scale to
during the march give a sense of
distance
The design
should be Show
content-driven — multivariate
Napoleon’s March data —
was designed as Napoleon’s
an anti-war March shows
poster…the six: army size,
designer was location (in 2
passionate about dimensions),
the information direction, time,
being presented. and
The point of the temperature
poster wasn’t the Show causality — the map shows how the
design, it was the temperature and river crossings defeated Napoleon.
information. simplified version
63. Quiz: Does this meet all of the criteria?
simplified version
64. Data Visualization
“Statistics journals rarely cover graphical methods… Outside of
statistics, though, infographics and data visualization are more
important. Graphics give a sense of the size of big numbers, dramatize
relations between variables, and convey the complexity of data and
functional relationships… sometimes to more efficiently portray masses
of information that their audiences want to see in detail (as with sports
scores, stock prices, and poll reports), sometimes to help tell a story (as
with annotated maps), and sometimes just for fun:.”
- Visualization, Graphics, and Statistics, Andrew Gelman and Antony Unwin, Statistical Computing &
Graphics, July, 2010
73. Dashboards
Using Excel ‘Slicers’ for a Dynamic Dash
MY AWESOME DASHBOARD
Gross Profit Total Sales
90000
80000 Salesperson 5
70000
60000 Salesperson 4
50000
40000 Sum of Total GP Salesperson 3 Sum of Total GP
30000 Sum of Total sales Sum of Total sales
20000 Salesperson 2
10000
0 Salesperson 1
0 50000 100000 150000 200000
Month Product Salesperson
Jan-09 Product A Salesperson 1
Feb-09 Product B Salesperson 2
Mar-09 Product C Salesperson 3
Apr-09 Product D Salesperson 4
May-09 Salesperson 5
Jun-09
Jul-09
74. Illustrations
“Ask yourself this: What information are you representing with the
written word on a slide that you could replace with a photograph (or
other appropriate image or graphic)?.. Images are powerful, efficient
and direct. Images can also be used very effectively as mnemonic
devices to make messages more memorable. If people cannot listen and
read at the same time, why do most PowerPoint slides contain far more
words that images? … It takes the realization that modern presentations
with slides and other multimedia have more in common with cinema
(Images and narration) …than they do with written documents.”
- Presentation Zen, Garr Reynolds, 2008
75. Illustrations
Use of decorative, non-data driven images to add meaning
to your reporting.
Source images from good Use images along with
quality, legal sources bold words to make
your headline points
Think like a designer: Simple,
bold, colour-matched to your
palette, Rule of 3rds For memorability or to
emphasise a point pick an
But you don’t need to be image that has an
one: a tonne of image emotional appeal cute,
manipulation tools right in comical, evocative
PowerPoint.
Don’t be afraid to try!
