Learning the Craft of
Data Visualisation
Amit Kapoor
@amitkaps

Art - Craft - Science

craft | krɑːft
noun: An activity involving skill in
making or doing things by hand

How do you learn a
craft?

Novice — Expert

Start with Basics

Do Repetitions

Conduct Deliberate
Practice

Focus on Mastery

It took me a lifetime
— Pablo Picasso

So, how do you
start?

Learning Styles

We don’t see things
as they are, we see
them as we are.
— Anais Nin

Understand your
own strength

Learning Data
Visualisation

Start with Charting
Simple Datasets

Learn Basic Charts

Design Basic Charts

Expand your Chart
Vocabulary

Visualisation is the
transformation of
the symbolic into
geometric
— McCormick et al. 1987

Think Geometric,
Not Charts

Encode with Shapes
and Colour

Position them out

Learn the Grammar

Play with Colour

Understand Visual
Perception

Develop an
Aesthetics Sense

Learning to See

Nature

Architecture

Abstract Art

Sketch ideas

Visualise Wide
Datasets

Visualise Large
Datasets

Visualise Spatial
Datasets

Move to Layering

Multi-layered Static
Visualisation

Narrative
Visualisation

Dashboard
Visualisation

Interactive
Visualisation

Tools

Data is just a clue to
the end truth
— Josh Smith

See the world
through a data lens

Aesthetics is deeply
associated with
emotions and
feelings
— Giorgio Lupi

Create beautiful
aesthetics

The data is just part
of the story.
— Jonathan Harris

Tell stories that
connect

Closing the Gap

Crafting Visual
Stories with Data
amitkaps.com

Amit Kapoor
@amitkaps