Data storytelling is the process of using visuals to tell an organization’s story through data. It has gained popularity in recent years, and these stories can be told with graphs or charts like pie charts or line graphs. This blog post will discuss best practices for creating powerful representations that are both aesthetically pleasing as well informative; starting by discussing how they’re used when telling a tale from numbers.
To begin, let’s first explain what we mean by data visualization. According to Tableau, “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.
“In the world of Big Data, data visualization tools and technologies are essential to analyze massive amounts of information and make data-driven decisions.”
At the most elemental level are standard plots such at bar/pie diagrams, which help us spot trends.
Secondly, there are graphs such as line and scatter plots that help us distinguish between multiple variables in a dataset. Lastly, we have charts like heat maps which can be used to visualize data with more than two dimensions.
Each of the above-mentioned types has its own strengths and weaknesses: standard plots are ideal for spotting trends but are limited in their ability to communicate complex messages.
Graphic representations have the benefit of being able to show many variables with just one representation – allowing us to see how they’re related. However, this also means that if there’s too much data, it can become difficult for viewers to interpret what they’re looking at.
Data visuals make it easier to communicate complex statistical content that would normally take a lot of time and effort to explain to team members without degrees in data science. (DOMO and Tableau Business Intelligence Dashboard are among the many tools business use to present data in an easy-to-understand visual analytics format that can be easily shared with others.)
Illustrative analytics give people visual cues that help them understand what’s going on. As such, using intuitive design is paramount. Remember, your goal is to communicate insights from data in an easy-to-understand manner.
We live and work in a data-driven world in which knowledge truly is power. Data visualization is entrenched as one of the most effective media for analyzing and communicating insights from data to a diverse audience.