2. How to win friends and
influence people
(...with data)
A practical* discussion of data
visualization and report design
Ken Hilburn
VP, Community Enablement
ken@juiceanalytics.com
@khilburn
(*and maybe a little fun)
Friday, August 17, 12
3. we craft applications that make
using data enjoyable and rewarding
Friday, August 17, 12
4. understanding
exploring
presenting
data doing
learning discovering
motivating
Friday, August 17, 12
5. understanding presenting
exploring
data
doing
learning discovering
motivating
Friday, August 17, 12
6. 3 easy steps to win friends
Tell a story
Make it clear
Apply design fundamentals
Friday, August 17, 12
8. People context
How does the data fit
into my workflow?
Who is sharing the
data? Do they have
credibility?
How do I interpret the
metric?
What other information am I
looking at? Does it support
What expectations or
or contradict?
assumptions do I
have?
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
9. Walk in their shoes
lifestyle – what’s it like to walk in their shoes?
knowledge – what do they already know about your topic?
motivation and desire – what turns their crank?
values – what are their priorities?
influence – who or what influences them?
respect – how can you make them feel respected?
Resonate, Nancy Duarte, page 79
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
11. Big Idea
Your unique point of view
Clear statement of what’s at stake
In the form of a complete sentence
(noun, verb)
Nancy Duarte, Resonate, page 78
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
12. Big Idea examples
these are not big ideas these are big ideas
Lunar mission The United States should lead in space
achievement because it holds the key to
our future on Earth.
Client sales call Our software gives your customers
access to their records, which saves
your employees time and increases your
margins by 2 percent.
Third-quarter update Third-quarter numbers are down; and to
stay in the game, every department
needs to support the sales initiative.
Resonate, Nancy Duarte, page 79
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
13. Squelch the noise
“Perfection is achieved, not when there’s
nothing more to add, but when there is
nothing left to take away.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Friday, August 17, 12
14. Data Gourmet Data Gourmand
“ Data isn’t like your kids. You don’t
”
have to pretend to love them equally.
» Amanda Cox, New York Times
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
18. 762*
career home runs
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
19. Types of data context
comparison to
284 +4.5% v. last month previous time period
and goal
metric name new leads -2.8% v. goal
in Q3 2009 relevant scope
the new “Vortex” marketing campaign explanation of
drove new leads after a slow Q2 mitigating factors
Goal Actual
400
shown within broader
300
context of overall
trend and goals 200
100
0
Q1 2009 Q2 2009 Q3 2009 Q4 2009
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
20. Keep it simple:
How we judge amounts
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
21. Concentric circles and squiggly lines
Our ability to accurately judge data depends on how it is
encoded visually
2D-space
3D-space
radial distance
area
color value
color intensity
animation
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
26. An example
Semi-accurately: 2D area
Monthly timeline of 4G network launches 11
10
Accurately: 2D length
2
1 1 1 1 1
0 N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F
2008 ’09 ’10
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
32. Visualization has limits
People perceive very accurately:
length of a line, position in 2D space
People perceive semi-accurately:
width, area, color intensity, radial distance
People can’t judge accurately at all:
Odds of winning in Vegas
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
33. Keep it simple:
Choosing the right chart
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
34. Choosing the right chart
Variable Width Table or Table with Bar Chart Column Chart Circular Area Chart Line Chart Column Chart Line Chart
Column Chart Embedded Charts
Column Histogram
Scatter Chart
Line Histogram
Bubble Chart
Scatter Chart
3D Area Chart
Andrew Abela
http://extremepresentation.typepad.com/blog/2006/09/choosing_a_good.html
Stacked 100% Stacked Stacked 100% Stacked Area Chart Pie Chart Waterfall Chart Stacked 100% Column Chart
Column Chart Column Chart Area Chart
story!clear!design
with Subcomponents
Friday, August 17, 12
35. Chart Chooser
http://www.chartchooser.com/
Friday, August 17, 12
40. Fundamental rules of chart design
Reduce chartjunk Increase data-ink ratio
(remove chart elements that (make every pixel tell a story about
are decorative or ornamental) your data)
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
41. Use your brain’s strengths
Images courtesy of Tim Bray: http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/03/13/Data-Ink
Friday, August 17, 12
42. Remove chart-junk Increase data-ink
Increase data-ink
Images courtesy of Tim Bray: http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/03/13/Data-Ink
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
43. Fundamental rules of table design
Reduce Increase data-ink ratio
tablejunk (make every character meaningful)
(remove elements that are
decorative or ornamental)
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
47. Principle of Continuity
Objects that are aligned are perceived as a group
Principle of Proximity
Things that are spatially close belong to a group
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
52. Increase data-ink ratio
1 degree latitude = ~60 miles
.001 degree latitude = 300
feet
0.00000000000001 degree
latitude = 1 micron, the width
of a very small bacteria
Hence, the software must
have been pirated by a
bacteria
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
56. Tables
Remove gridlines
Use lines or whitespace to separate areas that
are conceptually different
Display the smallest number of digits that you
can to support the needs of the table
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
57. Contrast
Copyright 2010 Stanford Visualization Group
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
58. Contrast
Copyright 2010 Stanford Visualization Group
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
59. Contrast
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
60. Contrast
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
61. Contrast
Awareness POEs | trends What is the Paid-Owned-Earned Split for Unique
33.4k
Unique Visitors
35.9k 9.73k
13.5k
0
Total Visits 12.7k
35.9k
Player Impressions
What are the Trends for Unique Visitors
daily | monthly | cummulative
Engagement 60
35.9k 50
Total Interactions -
Mouse Over
40
12m 15s 30
Average Engagement 20
Time Spent in Player
per Unique Visitor 10
0
Viral Jan Feb March April May
222
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
62. Contrast
Awareness POEs | trends What is the Paid-Owned-Earned Split for Unique
33.4k
9.73k
Unique Visitors
35.9k
10.2k 9.73k
13.5k
0
Total Visits 12.7k
35.9k
12.3k
Player Impressions
What are the Trends for Unique Visitors for
What are the Trends for Unique Visitors
daily | monthly | cummulative
Engagement 60
35.9k
12.3k 50
Total Interactions -
Mouse Over
40
12m 15s 30
15m 03s
Average Engagement 20
Time Spent in Player
per Unique Visitor 10
0
Viral Jan Feb March April May
222
3
story!clear!design
Friday, August 17, 12
63. Today, we’ve covered
Tell a story
Make it clear
Apply design fundamentals
Friday, August 17, 12
64. List of resources
Skill Resources
www.smallmeans.com/new-york-times-infographics/
Learn from the best www.perceptualedge.com/blog
infographics.alltop.com
Message and audience
Be a data gourmet www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/being-a-data-gourmet/
www.chartchooser.com
Choose the right chart www.extremepresentation.com/design/charts/
www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/chart-selection-art-and-science/
Go beyond the basics A Tour of the Visualization Zoo (queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1805128)
Keep it simple Edward Tufte Q&A (www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a?topic_id=1)
Provide context
colorbrewer2.org
Act like a designer
www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/simple-font-framework/
Tell a story www.duarte.com/books/resonate/www/
Story telling Resonate, Nancy Duarte; The Presentation, Andrew Abela, Ph.D.
Friday, August 17, 12
65. we craft applications that make
using data enjoyable and rewarding
Friday, August 17, 12