Data as the Backup Dancer

I’m working on a project that involves distilling copious amounts of data for public understanding. While I routinely work with data, this data dump is massive. I’m trying to figure out how to display so much numerical information in ways that entice and educate readers. I turned to Section’s Data Storytelling workshop for ideas.

 Here are several key points I learned — and relearned — on creating meaningful data viz:

• Visualizations should take less than five seconds to understand.

• Bar charts – Choose as default when highlighting relative sizes because they are the easiest to read, especially when displayed horizontally.

• Line charts – Best for trends over time, but not when there are a lot of series.

• Tables – Best for comparing items across multiple criteria. Heat maps can focus readers on points.

• Overlapping charts – Best with two series that are causal of each other. Need two different y-axes to show scales for both series.

• Share charts – Best for showing something that’s growing or shrinking in prominence.

• Pie charts – Best when one item is dominant among several items and color is used only in highlighted category.

• Scatterplot – Best for several items compared across dimensions. Shows outliers. More dramatic.

• Less is more with data viz.

The data professional wrapped up by saying, “[Data] is not the star of the show. It is the evidence that you are using to tell an accurate story. It’s the backup dancer.” While true, I hadn’t thought of it that way before. As if to underscore the point, one slide stated, “For every second your site takes to load, you lose half your visitors.” With too much, you lose your audience. Yes, simple is best.