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The Advantages and Benefits of Good Data Visualization: Drawn To Colors and Patterns

The document discusses data visualization and provides examples of common types of visualizations including charts, graphs, infographics, tables, maps, and dashboards. It then lists specific visualization methods such as bar charts, bubble charts, heat maps, histograms, scatter plots, and treemaps. The document emphasizes that successful data visualization requires employing design principles like focusing the message, constructing a good story, designing for the viewer, using color effectively, avoiding clutter, establishing context, and making the visualization actionable.

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60 views

The Advantages and Benefits of Good Data Visualization: Drawn To Colors and Patterns

The document discusses data visualization and provides examples of common types of visualizations including charts, graphs, infographics, tables, maps, and dashboards. It then lists specific visualization methods such as bar charts, bubble charts, heat maps, histograms, scatter plots, and treemaps. The document emphasizes that successful data visualization requires employing design principles like focusing the message, constructing a good story, designing for the viewer, using color effectively, avoiding clutter, establishing context, and making the visualization actionable.

Uploaded by

tarun lahoti
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Data visualization is the graphical representation of information and data.

By using visual elements
like charts, graphs, and maps, data visualization tools provide an accessible way to see and
understand trends, outliers, and patterns in data.

The advantages and benefits of good data visualization


Our eyes are drawn to colors and patterns. We can quickly identify red from blue, square
from circle. Our culture is visual, including everything from art and advertisements to TV and
movies.

Data visualization is another form of visual art that grabs our interest and keeps our eyes on
the message. When we see a chart, we quickly see trends and outliers. If we can see
something, we internalize it quickly. It’s storytelling with a purpose. If you’ve ever stared at a
massive spreadsheet of data and couldn’t see a trend, you know how much more effective a
visualization can be.

Common general types of data visualization:

 Charts  Graphs  Infographics


 Tables  Maps  Dashboards

More specific examples of methods to visualize data:

 Area Chart  Bullet Graph  Gantt Chart


 Bar Chart  Cartogram  Heat Map
 Box-and-whisker  Circle View  Highlight Table
Plots
 Dot Distribution
 Bubble Cloud Map

 Histogram  Radial Tree  Timeline


 Matrix  Scatter Plot (2D or  Treemap
3D)
 Network  Wedge Stack
 Streamgraph Graph
 Polar Area
 Text Tables

 Word Cloud

Successful data visualization requires employing


the right design principles to curate a meaningful story.”

1. Know What You Want to Say


Mixed messages on the same dashboard leave your audience confused.
Don’t make people ‘interpret’ your message. Deliver ONE strong message by
focusing the data you present to ensure a central theme emerges.

2. Construct a Good Story

The way you organize and present your content can facilitate a clearer
understanding. Group your visualizations so that each element within a
dashboard reinforces your overall message. Ensure every metric and
visualization is relevant, so viewers can easily draw the conclusion you wish to
illustrate

3. Design for the Viewer’s Eye

Organize visuals in a manner that builds understanding, naturally.  Make sure


your visualization facilitates natural eye movement. As the audience follows
the narrative flow of your dashboard, ensure they are following a logical
sequence of layered data; start with broader information and allow users to
explore. 

4. Add Color to the Story

In data visualizations, color should not be used for decorative or non-


informational purposes. Instead, use color to show your audience what
question you are answering. Use it to clarify and make your specific business
insight pop, like whether performance is good or bad. Most people associate
green with positive or above-goal measurements, while judicial use of red
generally indicates peril or numbers that need improvement.

5. Don’t Crowd Your Audience

You will want to give your audience room to breathe and process what you’re
presenting.  So just think ‘less is more.’ Reduce redundant chart labels.
Remove excessive boxes or lines that separate data. Avoid visual clutter by
utilizing white space to encourage people to clearly see and really absorb your
message.   

 Visual design hinges not on embellishment, but on removing


and simplifying until nothing stands between message and audience.
6. Establish Context  

Often, a clear picture can say a thousand words. But are they the ones you
want?  Every viewer may not have the appropriate context to draw your
desired conclusions. A little bit of text annotation can go a long way to ground
the viewer in the appropriate frame of reference.

7. Combine Text with Tables & Charts   


Don’t overwhelm users with too much information out of the gate. First, enable
them to recognize patterns easily by choosing the proper visual for your
message. Then, make it easy for people to get interactive and dig in at their
own pace for more details. Non-intrusive text helps to increase  understanding
without detracting from a visual’s meaning.  

8. Make Your Visual Actionable

When a visual naturally transforms data into knowledge, it is telling a specific


story. It’s been found effective to use a one-visual-to-one-story ratio so each
data viz is focused and clear. But you want to do more than just present
information, right?  To inspire questions, encourage dialogue or incite specific
action, guide your audience with visual clues. The more easily understood
your call-to-action, the more people will willingly interact with your insight,
brainstorm solutions and implement recommendations.

Tables list records and consist of rows (each row is one record) and columns
(each column is a field). Tables can show a lot of information in a structured
way but may overwhelm users who are just looking for high-level trends.

Line charts track changes or trends over time and show the relationship
between two or more variables.

Area charts are like line charts but shade the area below the line. There are
slight nuances between the two, depicted well in this article.

Bar charts are used to compare quantities of different categories.

Scatterplots show the values of two variables plotted along two axes, the
pattern of the resulting points revealing any correlation present between
them. Bubble charts are similar to scatterplots but show the variation
between three data items with the size of the bubble representing the third
variable.

Pie charts and donut charts, simply a pie chart with a hole in the center, are
used to compare parts of a whole and should be used carefully. The wedge-
shaped parts of pie charts don’t lend themselves well to easy comparison.
Label the wedges so that it’s obvious that the “33%” wedge really is larger
than the “20%” piece. And, never compare two pie or donut charts without
clearly noting that the size of the pie as a whole may be different.

Treemaps are great for comparing the proportions between categories via


their area size in a space-efficient way.

Heatmaps show data graphically where the individual values contained in a


matrix are represented as color
Natural Language Generation (NLG), the natural language processing task
of generating natural language, can be used to interpret data and then visually
represent that data as text.

How to create effective data visualization


It is interactive It puts data into It presents data
 It reveals trends context beautifully
 It uses animation  It saves you time It tells a story
 It uses real images It gives you  It provides access to
perspective raw data
 It uses metaphors It stimulates the
user’s imagination It empowers the user

What does it mean for colors to contrast?

Contrasting colors have a significant difference in luminance or hue that


makes them distinguishable from one another. For example, white and
black are at opposite ends of the luminance spectrum and are therefore
high contrast. Blue and orange are on opposite sides of the color wheel, and
also have high contrast.

Why is color contrast important on the web?

Sufficient color contrast on the web makes it easier for users to distinguish between
objects or design elements, improving user experience. Adequate color contrast is
also key to creating websites that are accessible to visually impaired users.
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