What Is Good DataViz Design? Presented at the Big Design 2016 conference in Addison, TX. Good DataViz Design means going beyond the charting templates and designing visualizations that reveal insights and tell stories to your audience. There are hundreds of ways to visualize data, and once you have chosen an appropriate visualization style for your data, you must customize the design to make sure your audience quickly and easily understands your message. You need your own toolbox of applications and websites to create different visualizations and charts, and they will all benefit from these core principles of good dataviz design. Links from the presentation are all available here: http://www.coolinfographics.com/bigd16

1. #BigD16
@rtkrum
September 9, 2016
What is Good
DataViz Design?

2. Randy Krum
President, InfoNewt
CONTINUING AND
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
DFW
DataViz &
Infographics
5 Things About Me

3. coolinfographics.com/BigD16
Links available at

4. Good DataViz Design

5. Image by Will Lion, 2008

6. Drowning in Data!

7. NOT Data Visualization!

8. What is DataVisualization?

9. AVisual Representation of Data

10. Info Art
cristian-vasile.fineartamerica.com
Visualization of
data for purely
aesthetic reasons

11. Infographics Tell
Stories Combining
Text
Illustrations
DataVisualizations
Layout

12. Goals of DataVisualization
Discovery Communication

13. Visualizing data compares
multiple values and puts
the information into
CONTEXT

14. There are approximately
3,079,339,857global Internet users
InternetWorldStats.com
December 31, 2014
Big fonts are NOT data visualizations!

15. Data shown
as text-only
provides
no context!
thesocialmediahat.com/active-users

17. CreativeMornings
Overview
Brochure

18. Global Internet Users
2014
3,079,339,857
It’s tough to visualize a
number by itself

19. There are approximately
3,079,339,857
global Internet users
InternetWorldStats.com
December 31, 2014
Approximately
7,264,623,793
total people on Earth
US Census Bureau (USCB)
December 2014

20. There are approximately
3,079,339,857
global Internet users
InternetWorldStats.com
December 31, 2014
Approximately
320,087,963
total people in the U.S.
US Census Bureau (USCB)
December 2014

21. The Big Three

23. Good DataViz Design

24. Hundreds of Ways toVisualize Data

25. DataViz Design Toolbox
Data Visualization
TOOLBOX

26. The Graphic Continuum
Back
Front
bit.ly/1AU1hb8

27. datavizcatalogue.com
The Data
Visualization
Catalogue
Severino Ribecca

28. 20 Ways To
Visualize
Percentages

29. DataViz Design with Objects

30. The Noun Project
thenounproject.com

31. Grid of 100 Squares

32. Grid of 100 Squares
65%10
10

33. Portions of a Whole
70%
Direct to Programs
30%
Administration

34. Wordle.net

36. chartle.net

37. gliffy.com

39. IBM Watson Analytics

40. Chart.js
Interactive HTML5 Charts

41. Highcharts/HighMaps JS
highcharts.com

42. D3.js

43. Real World DataViz

44. DataViz in the Real World

45. Zooming Interface
HistoryShots.com

46. Zooming Interface
HistoryShots.com

47. Pop-Up Information

48. Animated - Wind Maps
hint.fm/wind/
August 29, 2012 - Hurricane Isaac
FernandaViégas, Google DataVisualization Group

49. Interactive Hover/Click for more information

50. Coolinfographics.com/Tools

51. Good DataViz Design

52. “Of all methods for analyzing and
communicating statistical information,
well-designed data graphics are
usually the simplest and at the same
time the most powerful.”
Edward Tufte, 2001
One-Day Course
Dallas
October 14

53. University of Rochester, 2004
80% of the brain is dedicated to
visual processing

54. The human brain is a pattern recognition machine

55. Picture Superiority Effect
European Journal of Cognitive Psychology 18(6), 2006
10% 65%
Text or Audio Only Text + Picture
Memory retention after 3 days

56. Good DataViz are…
Understandable
Faster
Memorable Actionable

57. Scale of Perception
Elementary Perceptual Tasks
William S. Cleveland and Robert McGill
Statisticians working for AT&T Bell Labs
Alberto Cairo, TheFunctionalArt.com

58. 0
5
10
15
20
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
How
Specific?

59. Good DataViz Design
BAD

60. Complexity
BAD

62. Simplify
Simplify
Simplify

63. Colors
Text
Data
Lines
Distractions
Reduce…

64. Generally Avoid Full Color Photos
Too MuchVisual Noise

65. Simple
Color
Palettes
Vs.

66. Combining Photos & Data

73. Inaccuracy
BAD

77. viz.wtf

80. FalseVisualizations

81. Calculate Area for Shapes
1X
9X
1X
3X
Area = 0.79in2
Diameter = 1in
Area = 0.785in2
Diameter = 1in
Area = 7.07in2
Diameter = 3in
Area = 2.355in2
Diameter = 1.73in
WRONG
CORRECT

82. FalseVisualizations
January 6, 2016

83. FalseVisualizations
January 6, 2016

84. Visualizing Circles
X1 = $36.00
D1 = 0.36in
X2 = $144.00
D2 = ?
D2 = D1 * Sqrt (X2 / X1)
?0.36

85. 20th Century Death

86. Visualizing
Circles

87. Bar Charts
Visualize Area
By Changing
Length

88. Math
Area = Length x Width
4.0 in2 = 2.0” x 2.0”
12.0 in2 = 6.0” x 2.0”
12.0 in2 / 4.0 in2 = 3

89. Different Widths
BAD

90. 3D
BAD

91. Good 3D?

92. Good 3D?

93. Non Zero Baseline?
BAD

95. 0%

97. Median Household Income
$49,000
$51,000
$53,000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 $0
$26,500
$53,000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

99. Scaling Pictograms?
BAD

100. 1
2
3

101. 1
2
3

103. Preattentive Attributes

104. Preattentive Attributes
Visual aspects your brain can process easily in a fraction of a second
Form Color PositionSize

105. Count the 4’s
1 9 543 1 5 2 6 5 3 8 9 7 9 3
3 2 882 4 6 6 4 3 3 3 2 7 9 5
2 1 980 8 4 9 7 1 6 3 9 9 3 7
1 2 905 5 8 0 9 7 4 4 4 5 9 2
0 6 873 8 1 4 0 6 2 6 2 0 8 9

106. Use Size
1 9 5
43 1 5 2 6 5 3 8 9 7 9 3
3 2 882
46 6
43 3 3 2 7 9 5
2 1 980 8
4 9 7 1 6 3 9 9 3 7
1 2 905 5 8 0 9 7
4 445 9 2
0 6 873 8 1
40 6 2 6 2 0 8 9

107. Use Opacity
1 9 543 1 5 2 6 5 3 8 9 7 9 3
3 2 882 4 6 6 4 3 3 3 2 7 9 5
2 1 980 8 4 9 7 1 6 3 9 9 3 7
1 2 905 5 8 0 9 7 4 4 4 5 9 2
0 6 873 8 1 4 0 6 2 6 2 0 8 9

108. Use Color
1 9 543 1 5 2 6 5 3 8 9 7 9 3
3 2 882 4 6 6 4 3 3 3 2 7 9 5
2 1 980 8 4 9 7 1 6 3 9 9 3 7
1 2 905 5 8 0 9 7 4 4 4 5 9 2
0 6 873 8 1 4 0 6 2 6 2 0 8 9
4
4 4
4
4 4 4
4

109. Use Callouts
1 9 543 1 5 2 6 5 3 8 9 7 9 3
3 2 882 4 6 6 4 3 3 3 2 7 9 5
2 1 980 8 4 9 7 1 6 3 9 9 3 7
1 2 905 5 8 0 9 7 4 4 4 5 9 2
0 6 873 8 1 4 0 6 2 6 2 0 8 9

110. Combinations!
4
4 4
4
4 4 4
4
1 9 53 1 5 2 6 5 3 8 9 7 9 3
3 2 882 6 6 3 3 3 2 7 9 5
2 1 980 8 9 7 1 6 3 9 9 3 7
1 2 905 5 8 0 9 7 5 9 2
0 6 873 8 1 0 6 2 6 2 0 8 9
4
4 4
4
4 4 4
4

112. Better Design
0"
10"
20"
30"
40"
50"
60"
1975" 2007"
Melanoma(incidence(rates(per(100,000(people(
Australia(has(the(HIGHEST(rates(of(Melanoma((Skin(Cancer)(
USA"
AUS"
UK"

114. Discovery
Attribute 4
Attribute 3
Attribute 1
Attribute 5
Attribute 6
Attribute 10
Attribute 8
Attribute 2
Attribute 7
Attribute 9

115. Communication - Highlight the Insight
Attribute 4
Attribute 3
Attribute 1
Attribute 5
Attribute 6
Attribute 10
Attribute 8
Attribute 2
Attribute 7
Attribute 9

116. Discovery
Segment 1 Segment 2 Segment 3 Segment 4 Segment 5
Innovativeness
Loyalty
Price Prestige
Low HighAverage
Opinion Leadership
Opinion Seeking

117. Communication
Segment 1 Segment 2 Segment 3 Segment 4 Segment 5
Innovativeness
Loyalty
Price Prestige
Low HighAverage
Opinion Leadership
Opinion Seeking
1
1
1
1
234
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
31
4
4
4
4
5
5
5
5
5

118. GAP Charts

119. Preattentive Attributes

120. Good DataViz Design

121. Good DataViz Design

122. Good DataViz Design

123. coolinfographics.com/book
Download a Free Chapter!

124. facebook.com/coolinfographic

125. bit.ly/coolinfogroup

126. DFW
DataViz &
Infographics
DFW DataVisualization & Infographics
#DFWDataVizbit.ly/DFWDataViz

127. DataVisualization & Dashboard
Design Course
Nov 2 - Dec 14, 2016
Discount Code ($50 off) = MUDV216
bit.ly/SMUDataViz CONTINUING AND
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

128. Contact
infonewt.com
@rtkrum
coolinfographics.com
randy@infonewt.com