This document summarizes a webinar presentation by Andy Kirk on fresh thinking for communicating with data visualization. The webinar covered six types of thinking that can help data visualizers approach their work in a fresh way: contextual thinking, imaginative thinking, journalistic thinking, critical thinking, organized thinking, and thinking based on personal convictions. Kirk provided examples to illustrate each type of thinking and emphasized embracing fresh perspectives to create effective visualizations.

1. Fresh Thinking on Communicating with Data
Andy Kirk
Data Visualisation Specialist & Founder of visualisingdata.com

2. 2 quick housekeeping notes:
• This webinar will be recorded and available on-demand to view later or share with
colleagues. You’ll receive an email later this week with details.
• Please type your questions into the chat box and we’ll get to them during Q&A portion at
end of presentation.
Thank you for joining today’s webinar

3. Today’s presenters
Andy Kirk
Data Visualisation Specialist
and Founder,
visualisingdata.com
Andy Cotgreave
Technical Evangelist,
Tableau Software

5. The Tableau Revolution
Fast and easy analytics for everyone

6. FRESH THINKING ON
COMMUNICATING WITH DATA
Andy Kirk
www.visualisingdata.com
@visualisingdata

7. Data visualisation specialist: Blogger, trainer, lecturer,
researcher, author, design consultant, speaker...

8. Data visualisation specialist: Blogger, trainer, lecturer,
researcher, author, design consultant, speaker...

9. Superstar technicians
Everyday practitioners

10. EMBRACING FRESH
THINKING

11. Initiator Journalist
Communicator
Project
Manager
Designer
Cognitive
Scientist
Computer
Scientist
Data
Scientist
http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/2012/06/article-the-8-hats-of-data-visualisation-design/
The 8 hats of visualisation design

12. TALENT
THINKING

13. CONTEXTUAL
IMAGINATIVE
JOURNALISTIC
CRITICAL
ORGANISED
CONVICTIONS
Embrace fresh thinking!

14. #1
CONTEXTUAL
Framing our thinking

16. YOU ARE KAYAKING ALONG THE
COAST OF GREENLAND AND YOU
NEED A ‘CHART’ TO NAVIGATE...
The influence of context
(HT to Mark Daggett @heavysixer)

17. Cope with wet? Can’t need power? Work in dark? Can float?
http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/2013/03/tactile-visualisations-inuit-wood-maps/

18. “… in order to design a tool, we must make our best
efforts to understand the larger social and physical
context within which it is intended to function.”
Bill Buxton, “Sketching User Experiences”
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0123740371/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&tag=visuadata-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0123740371

19. Stakeholders, influencers and interferers

20. Timescales?
http://comicsidontunderstand.com/wordpress/category/new-yorker/

21. Design rules: Layout, colour, typography, branding, language?
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/02/11/award-winning-newspaper-designs/ | http://dmindless.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-make-presentation-that-rocks.html

22. Designing for an audience: Consumer setting?

23. Frequency, reproducibility
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2015/feb/27/guardian-poll-projection

24. http://www.cleverfranke.com/cf/en/project/weerkaarten-c-deg-f/project.php?id=170
Format requirements?

25. Designer capabilities?

26. What’s the best visualisation solution?
It always depends. Get your contextual
thinking established first.
Takeaway #1: Contextual thinking

27. #2
IMAGINATIVE
Empathy & creativity

28. http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/rtn/#prison-uniforms-set
Subject empathy

29. http://blogs.reuters.com/data-dive/2013/12/10/gms-new-ceo-is-another-small-crack-in-the-glass-ceiling/
http://www.chezvoila.com/blog/glass-ceiling
Subject empathy

30. Subject empathy: Challenging conventions

31. http://jaimeserra-archivos.blogspot.com.es/2015/01/cafe-diario-la-relacion-que-mantengo.html
Creativity: Rethinking concepts

32. https://www.facebook.com/RenzoPicassoArchive
Creativity: Be inspired by the world around you

33. http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/2012/05/the-fine-line-between-plagiarism-and-inspiration/
Creativity: Be inspired by the world around you (with attribution)

34. Creativity: Capture instinctive ideas and imagery

35. What creative ideas – instinctive keywords
and imagery – form when you think about a
task: its intended recipients, the subject
matter and its data?
Takeaway #2: Imaginative thinking

36. #3
JOURNALISTIC
Harnessing curiosity

37. The journalist-analyst sensibility to pursue a curiosity

38. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Landmesser
Pattern matching, sense-making, sniffing out the story

39. http://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/latest
Pattern matching, sense-making, sniffing out the story

40. Visualisation often serves up the questions not the answers
Haiti
Afghanistan
S. Africa
Kuwait
Vietnam
Nauru
North
Korea
Tajikistan
Ethiopia

41. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/01/business/20090301_WageGap.html
Passing on your understanding to your audience

42. “A photo is never an objective reflection, but always an
interpretation of reality... I see data visualization as sort of
a new photojournalism – a highly editorial activity.”
Moritz Stefaner
http://well-formed-data.net/archives/1027/worlds-not-stories

43. https://twitter.com/toddlerlex/status/440393501810118656/photo/1
Photo-journalistic: Consider all angles

44. Be motivated by curiosity and a
desire to effectively convey the most
relevant understanding to others.
Takeaway #3: Journalistic thinking

45. #4
CRITICAL
Justified decision making

46. Visualisation is a game of decisions

47. 5 Layers: Data representation & presentation
Annotation
Interactivity
Composition
Colour
http://hint.fm/wind/
Data Representation

48. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/19/upshot/peyton-manning-breaks-touchdown-passing-record.html?abt=0002&abg=0
DATA REPRESENTATION: A visual answer to a data question
How have NFL cumulative touchdown passes grown since 1930
for quarterbacks with over 30 TD passes?

49. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/19/upshot/peyton-manning-breaks-touchdown-passing-record.html?abt=0002&abg=0
DATA REPRESENTATION: A visual answer to a data question
How have NFL cumulative touchdown passes grown since 1930
for quarterbacks with over 30 TD passes?
Angle: Change of quantitative value (touchdowns) over time for
multiple categories (quarterbacks)
Filter: Parameters for time period (1930 to 19th October 2014)
and minimum qualifying quantitative threshold (30 TD passes)

50. http://bryanchristieblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/my-visual-definition-of-information.html
http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_colorpicker.asp?colorhex=F0F8FF
COLOUR: Applying theory and common sense

51. INTERACTIVITY: Manipulate, interrogate, participate
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.html?_r=0

52. http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/2011/07/new-visualisation-design-project-un-global-pulse-challenge/
ANNOTATION: Judging the right level of help

53. https://www.flickr.com/photos/accurat/14577900823/in/set-72157632185046466?utm_content=buffer050e5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
COMPOSITION: Size, shape, position, order

54. “Good design is thorough down to the last detail...
Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance.”
Dieter Rams’ ‘10 principles of good design’
https://www.vitsoe.com/gb/about/good-design

55. Be able to justify every design decision
http://www.oecd.org/dac/peerreviewsofdacmembers/PRFINLAND2012.pdf

56. The real craft behind data visualisation
design is how we rationalise choices.
To make astute choices, you need to be
aware of all the options.
Takeaway #4: Critical thinking

57. #5
ORGANISED
Sequenced thinking

58. Visualisation is a process, not a procedure

59. 1. Establish the visualisation’s
context and ideas
2. Acquire, familiarise with and
prepare your data
3. Determine the editorial focus of
your subject matter
5. Construct and evaluate your
design solution
4. Conceive your design: data
representation and presentation

60. Where to begin? What pathway to take?
http://www.mattneuman.com/maze.gif

61. Cohesion and flow of thinking

62. ANALYTICAL
CREATIVE
Splitting the mindset
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/66602562/397----THE-DOORS----RIDERSONTHESTORM-PIANO-SHEET-MUSIC

63. Many different proposed methodologies
https://speakerdeck.com/alignedleft/open-source-your-data-design-process

64. Don’t force it! Find what works for you

65. Pursue an effective and efficient workflow
to sequence and optimise your thinking.
Takeaway #5: Organised thinking

66. #6
CONVICTIONS
Your own thinking

67. Framework for thinking rather than rules for obeying

68. “There's a strand of the data viz world that argues that
everything could be a bar chart. That's possibly true but
also possibly a world without joy”
Amanda Cox, New York Times
http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/hbreditors/2013/03/power_of_visualizations_aha_moment.html

69. Framework for thinking rather than rules for obeying

70. The representation and presentation of
data to make understanding accessible
My definition...

71. http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/2013/06/appreciating-the-critical-role-of-subject-matter/
Good visualisation makes understanding accessible

72. https://twitter.com/MaxCRoser/status/580666217142329344
Bad visualisation makes understanding inaccessible

73. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-19/wall-street-firms-endure-lost-decade-after-goldman-peak-in-2007.html?hootPostID=32a4ad8c4a1454db9676f05959b22c09
Bad visualisation adds no value to the data

74. http://porostocky.prosite.com/6517/114057/work/infographics | http://hmi.ucsd.edu/howmuchinfo.php
http://viz.wtf/post/107628689945/all-your-database-are-belong-to-us | http://viz.wtf/post/107440754050/how-payday-loans-add-up
Bad visualisation tries to decorate data

75. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/19/upshot/3d-yield-curve-economic-growth.html?smid=pl-share&_r=1&abt=0002&abg=0
There are few (if any) ‘always’ and ‘nevers’
I thought all 3D was bad, why is this 3D visualisation OK?

76. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/19/upshot/3d-yield-curve-economic-growth.html?smid=pl-share&_r=1&abt=0002&abg=0
There are few (if any) ‘always’ and ‘nevers’
I thought all 3D was bad, why is this 3D visualisation OK?

77. http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/2015/02/visualisation-data-like/
Do we REALLY like it?

78. http://style.org/deleted/
Constructive critique heightens your convictions

79. “Chefs are able to more clearly discern what they taste
because through constant exposure they have developed
improved senses as well as vocabulary to express and
discuss their impressions.”
Oliver Reichenstein, “Learning to see”
Paraphrased from: http://ia.net/blog/learning-to-see/

80. The importance of establishing your own
beliefs and convictions about what is good/
bad, effective/ineffective visualisation
Takeaway #6: Thinking for yourself...

81. CONTEXTUAL
IMAGINATIVE
JOURNALISTIC
CRITICAL
ORGANISED
CONVICTIONS
Embrace fresh thinking!

82. Getting this little guy working will make a huge difference!

83. FRESH THINKING ON
COMMUNICATING WITH DATA
Andy Kirk
www.visualisingdata.com
@visualisingdata

84. Thanks for joining today. If you’d like to try Tableau
for yourself you can access your free trial at:
http://www.tableausoftware.com/trial