Andy Kirk's Facebook Talk

Visualisation Workflow:
Finding Stories and
Telling Stories

Andy Kirk

Trainer

tion
duct ion to DataVisualisa
Training Courses Intro

le
Current Public Schedu
Visualisation
The Growth of Data
le of 2012:
e through to the midd
publi c traini ng cours
mean s for These are the scheduled
ded us with ubiquitous Arts, Copenhagen | £250
COP2
in technology have provi e once data h Academy of Fine
Exponential advances amounts of data. Wher Thu 8 Mar | Royal Danis Copenhagen | £250 COP1
mobi lising incredible mers have h Academy of Fine Arts,
creati ng, recording and Our attitudes as consu Fri 9 Mar | Royal Danis London | £235 LON3
captured in abundance. for visual insight House, University of
was scarce, now it is openn ess and yearn Thu 26 Apr | Senat e York City | £250 NY C1
nd transparency and ournalism, CUNY, New
also evolved: we dema Fri 1 May | Grad Schoo
1 l of J
n DC | £250 WDC1
to aid our understand
ing. ation Center, Washingto £250 BAL1
for the Mon 1 May | Found
4
widespread capabilities Wed 1 May go | £250 CHI1
s to fantastic tools and iques requi red
6
Center Conference, Chica
Yet, whilst we have acces knowledge and techn Fri 1 Jun | University
5
analysis of data, the Toron to | £250 TOR1
storage, handl ing and Mon 1 J | Venue TBC,
8 un £235 BRS 1
instin ct
ach based on intuit ion, Fri 29 J un Edinburgh | £235 EDI1
e world, a design appro Hotel , University of
a cluttered, competitiv Fri 6 J | Salisury Green
ul 1
Amst erdam | £250 AMS
data visualisation comes
in. Fri 1 Jul | Venue TBC,
3
overload. This is where
l A 1 discount
0%
comm unications that appea Train ing page on
and innovation, designing
unleashing creati vity regist er to atten d an
event .
way our eyes and brain
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exploiting the www.visualisingdata.c
aimed at under standing and

recen t times
h in popularity over
lisation and its growt sizes and
The interest in data visua isations of all shapes,
story. As a result , organ ster now to reserve a
Places are limited so regi
has been a remar kable value.
ation of its poten tial
waking up to the realis
domain are now training workshop.
place on your preferred
tent
Training Course Con Visit the www.visualising
data.com, select the
with a comprehensive, d location.
The objective of the
traini ng is to provi de delegates
Training page and click on your preferre
excitement
event s buzzi ng with
tion. You will leave the have acqui red,
impact and ampli fy cogni ical capabilities you
knowledge and pract rtunit ies
about the foundation n challenges and oppo
on future data visualisatio
inspir ing you to take
Further Information
in the courses will include: environment
main topics cover ed Class size a supportive learn ing
The size is 20 to facilit ate
of data visualisation The maxim um class
and modern context
Historical background n visual system en all attendees.
of design and the huma group discussion betwe
Foundation principles and select ion
The essen tials of chart design
and resources Refreshments
tial visualisation tools centr al locati ons.
Exploration of the essen process ed. All event s will be held in city
n methodology and lunch will not be includ
The visualisation desig n
ing to visualisation desig
Applying critical think itioners
ice exam ples and pract Laptops
Showcase of best pract s
Visualisation project case studie
lisation challenges g the day’s activi ties.
re your own data visua across the group durin
Opportunit ies to explo have a some devices

Times
? end of the
Who Should Attend
time allocated at the
g from 9:00 and extra
regist ration comm encin r discussion s.
nsibil ity for, or is intere
sted in quest ions or hold furthe
for anyone who has respo comm unicating data. session to pick up any
The courses are suited and
for visually exploring
best pract ice approaches
.
Visualising Data Ltd
body who
lex datasets, or some
st with large and comp t be an
You might be an analy gement repor t. You migh
the occasional mana visualisation
just wants to enhance Ltd, a UK based data
er of Visualising Data ber of this
crowd. You might be
a Andy Kirk is the found has been an active mem
g to stand out from the traini ng service. He
to adver tising and are lookin ner witho ut progr amm ing skills. design consultancy and
design traini ng or a desig sector.
progr amm er with no eering or the publi c lisingdata.com.
cine, the media, engin popular blog www.visua
You might be in medi
we’ve all
Data is everywhere and
is no typical delegate. is most
The point is that there Anyone and everyone
with it, so let’s do it right.
got to do something
to atten d!
welcome and encouraged

Career
Lancaster University | 1995 to 1999
Degree in Operational Research + Year in Industry

Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) | 1999 to 2001
Business Analyst

West Yorkshire Police | 2001 to 2007
Performance Analyst > Information Manager

University of Leeds | 2007 to 2012
Information Manager

University of Leeds | 2007 to 2009
Masters Degree (Research) in Data Visualisation

Visualising Data Ltd. | 2010 to date
Freelance Jack of All Trades / Visualisation Mercenary

Visualisation Workflow:
Finding Stories and
Telling Stories

“The aggregation of marginal gains”
Dave Brailsford

1. Establish the
visualisation‟s purpose
and identify key factors

2. Acquire, prepare and 3. Establish editorial focus
explore your data with your subject matter

4. Conceive your
visualisation design

5. Construct your data
visualisation solution

1. Establish the
visualisation‟s
purpose and identify
key factors

What is „Purpose‟?

Trigger Intent
Its reason for existing The intended function and tone
How well is it defined?

Client project (brief)
Internal project (brief)

Self-initiated

Intent: Function

Who does the work?

Designer driven or Reader driven

Intent: Tone
Scienc
Art
e

http://www.hybridtweaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/valuev-holyfield.jpg

Intent: Tone

Getting [visualisation] right is
much more a science than an
art,
which we can only achieve by
studying human perception.
Stephen Few

http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/data_visualization_for_human_perception.html

Intent: Tone

I have this fear that we aren’t
feeling enough.
Chris Jordan, TED Talk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f09lQ8Q1iKE&feature=youtu.be&t=5m11s

Intent: Function + Tone
Exploratory (Find Stories) Analytical/Pragmatic

Explanatory (Tell Stories)
Abstract/Emotive

512 Paths to the White House | New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/02/us/politics/paths-to-the-white-house.html

Why Is Her Paycheck Smaller? | New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/01/business/20090301_WageGap.html
http://www.barackobama.com/jobsrecord

Emotive/Abstract
+
Exploratory

OECD Better Life Index | Moritz Stefaner

http://oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/united-kingdom/

Emotive/Abstract
+
Explanatory

What A Hundred Million Calls To 311 Reveal About New York | Pitch Interactive

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/11/ff_311_new_york/

Potential Key Factors
The aim? Open, strict, helpful, unhelpful, clarity
Pressures? Timescales, managerial, financial
Format? Static, interactive, video, tools
Setting? Issued report, presented
Technical? Software, hardware, infrastructure
Audience size?
One, group, organisation, outside
Audience type? Domain, captive, general
Resolution? Headlines, detail
Frequency? One-off, regular
Rules? Structure, layout, style, colour
People? Individual, team, the 8 hats…

2. Acquire and
prepare your data

The Hidden Burden

The Hidden Cleverness

80% perspiration,
10% great idea, 10% output
Simon Rogers

The Guardian, „Facts Are Sacred: The Power of Data‟

3. Establishing
editorial focus by
finding stories

Good content reasoners
and presenters are rare,
designers are not.
Edward Tufte

http://adage.com/article/adagestat/edward-tufte-adagestat-q-a/230884/

Finding Stories is…

Using visualisation techniques to
familiarise, learn about and
discover insights from data

Visual Analysis to Find Stories
Comparisons
– Categorical comparison and proportions
– Ranking: big, small, medium
– Measurements/values: absolutes
– Range and distribution
– Context: Targets, forecasts, averages
– Hierarchical relationships

Visual Analysis to Find Stories:
Comparisons

Trends and patterns (or lack of)
– Up and down vs. flat?
– Linear vs. exponential
– Steady vs. fluctuating
– Seasonal vs. random
– Rate of change vs. steepness

Visual Analysis to Find Stories: Trends

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A8aptCHCAAAWyqx.png:large

Relationships
– Outliers
– Intersections
– Correlations
– Connections
– Clusters
– Associations
– Gaps

Visual Analysis to Find Stories:
Relationships

4. Conceive your
visualisation design

Telling [or Framing]
Stories

Telling Stories is…

Identifying and caring for the
reader – taking responsibility to
maximise their potential insight

http://image.yaymicro.com/rz_1210x1210/0/5d9/pile-of-bricks-5d9ac1.jpg

http://yourcolorcoach.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/img_7704.jpg

http://degaryan.blogspot.com/2011/03/introduction.html

Showing what we are
trying to say

http://www.storytellingwithdata.com/2012/05/creating-visual-story-questions-to-ask.html

The Ebb and Flow of Movie Box Office Takings | New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/02/23/movies/20080223_REVENUE_GRAPHIC.html

We rejected them because they
didn’t do a good job of
answering some of the most
interesting questions... Different
forms do better jobs at
answering different questions.
Amanda Cox (on NYT Stream Graph)

http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/odd-numbers/2008/02/26/q-amp-a-anatomy-of-a-graphic

Assessing hierarchies & part-to-whole relationships

Charting connections and relationships

Colour used well can enhance
and clarify a presentation.
Colour used poorly will
obscure, muddle and confuse.
Maureen Stone

http://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/b-eye/choosing_colors.pdf

Confusion…

http://go.bloomberg.com/multimedia/measuring-the-u-s-melting-pot/

OMG

http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/visualizations/schools-in-manchester-1821

To represent data values

Colour (Hue)

Colour (Saturation)

http://www.theusrus.de/blog/the-good-the-bad-22012/

To distinguish between categorical items

http://oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/united-kingdom/

To help distinguish foreground and background

http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/6276642489/sizes/l/in/photostream/

To create signals/accents

From “Information Dashboard Design” and http://centerview.corda.com/corda/dashboards/examples/sales/main.dashxm l

The annotation layer is the
most important thing we do...
otherwise it’s a case of
here it is, you go figure it out.

Amanda Cox, Graphics Editor, New York Times

http://eyeofestival.com/speaker/amanda-cox/

TEDTalks “Myths about the developing world“ (2006) | Hans Rosling

http://youtu.be/hVimVzgtD6w?t=1m1s

The Growth of Newspapers Across the US | Stanford

http://www.stanford.edu/group/ruralwest/cgi-bin/drupal/visualizations/us_newspapers

Consider the placement of every
single visible element in a way
that minimises thinking and
maximises interpretation

Deliberate design

http://www.perceptualedge.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dashboard-competition-winner.png

„Narrative Visualization: Telling Stories with
Data‟, Edward Segel and Jeff Heer

http://vis.stanford.edu/papers/narrative

1. Magazine Style
Dot point map of cholera deaths | Jon Snow

http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/martin/msc_gis/map_making_myth_making.pdf

2. Annotated Chart
Why Is Her Paycheck Smaller? | New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/01/business/20090301_WageGap.html

3. Partitioned Poster
Steroids or not, the pursuit is on | New York Times

http://vis.stanford.edu/images/figures/case-bonds.png

4. Flow Chart
Graphic of Napoleon's March (1869) | Charles Joseph Minard

http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/posters

5. Comic Strip
Drought‟s footprint | New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/07/20/us/drought-footprint.html

6. Slide Show
Rise of the Megacities | The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/interactive/2012/oct/04/rise-of-megacities-interactive

7. Video/Animation
Visualizing how a population grows to 7 billion | NPR

http://www.npr.org/2011/10/31/141816460/visualizing-how-a-population-grows-to-7-billion

Interactive Features and Functions
Variable adjustment – selection
highlighting/brushing, filtering, excluding, sorting

View adjustment – pan, zoom, scale, rotate,
transpose, arrange, tabs

Annotation – hovering/annotate, drop lines

Animation – play, pause, reset, chapter
navigation, grab the slider, show new
data/changed data

Wind map | Fernanda Viegas and Martin Wattenberg

http://hint.fm/wind/

http://www.normzarr.com/2010/05/22/midipad-ipad-iphone-music-app-wireless-touchscreen-software-controller-for-ableton-live-logic-
cubase-nuendo/

5. Construct and
evaluate your data
visualisation solution

http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/resources/

Visualizing the London 2012 Olympic
Games we will see the best of the best compete for pride,
This summer,
glory, and, of course, medals at the Olympics. From kilograms
lifted in weightlifting to the number of individual countries
competing to the number of medals won by competing nations - the Olympics
provides a barrage of numbers that are ripe for designers to analyze and
visualize.

We challenge you to use data and design to visualize the Olympics, helping us
understand and enjoy as we watch. For instance, you could create a piece that
contextualizes each country‟s medal count with information about their
population, GDP, and athletic training resources. Or you could illuminate the
results of a particular event or the impact of hosting the London 2012 Olympics
Games on the UK's economy.

“We‟re looking for any data-driven project that
brings new insight, context, or comparison to our

Establish Narrative/Data Questions

Repeat for all relevant sports and events:

• Comparison between patterns for different medals?

• What % improvement in time has there been?

• Which events have improved the most and the least?

• Comparison between progress of men and women?
- Is one gender improving more than the other?
- Any evidence of women getting closer to men?

Tell (or frame) stories…
Data representation
- line chart, dot plots, small
multiples, tables

Colour and background
- gold, silver, bronze, blue, orange

Animation and interaction
- Data/view manipulation

Arrangement
- intro, selections, chart, filters,
extra stats

The annotation layer
- context, annotated detail, stats

Evaluation

Understanding (10 Points):
How effectively does the visualization communicate?
How well does it help you make sense of this issue?

Originality (5 Points):
Are the approach and design innovative?

Style (5 Points):
Is the visualization aesthetically compelling?

Evaluation

Andy Kirk's “The Pursuit of Faster” also
earned an honorable mention for its
level of data analysis that was
unmatched by most, if not all, of the
challenge entries. Its focused and
thorough narrative further distinguished
the project from the other interactive
entries.

http://images.wikia.com/marvel_dc/images/9/93/Adventures_of_Superman_424.jpg | http://www.adobenido.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/wonder_woman.jpg

http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/WarGames-Sheedy-and-Broderick-on-computer.jpg

Multi-disciplinary: Art & Science

The 8 Hats of Data Visualisation
Project
Initiator Journalist Communicator
Manager

Cognitive Design Computer Data
Science Science Science

Craft
Practice, practice, practice – experience is the key

Seek potential projects – paid, curiosity, contests

Learn about yourself – take notes, self critique

Technical skills – push yourself out of comfort zone

Evaluate others – silently or provide reviews

Publish yourself – encourage and digest peer
critique

Theory
Online content – immerse yourself in the community

Books – so many invaluable references and inspirations

Academia – papers, journals

Conferences – within the field and around it

Training/education – look for good training provider…

www.visualisingdata.com
andy@visualisingdata.com
@visualisingdata

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