Storytellingwith Data Principles

Storytelling with data
Principles
Survey Results Non Profit Support
100%
Bad graphs are 19%

11%
5% Bored
Not great
90%
80%
70%
Arts & culture
Education
everywhere
60% Health
OK 50%
Human
Kind of interested 40% services
25% 30% Other
40% Excited
20%
10%
0%
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Ticket Trend User Satisfaction

• At every company 300.00
250.00
241
Have not used
Somewhat satisfied
Not satisfied at all
Very satisfied
Not very satisfied
Completely satisfied
throughout all
202
200.00 184 237 180 177 Feature A 11% 40% 47%
160 149 161 160 Feature B 13% 36% 47%
150.00 184 181 132 139 149 Featur… 5% 24% 34% 33%
160 156 Featur…
industries and by all

148 150 140 4% 21% 37% 29%
100.00 123 126 124 Feature E 6% 23% 36% 28%
104 Feature F 5% 20% 35% 25%
50.00 Featur… 5% 15% 26% 33%
types of people.
Featur… 6% 23% 32% 25%
0.00 Feature I 5% 17% 27% 27%
Feature J 8% 14% 24% 27% 25%
Feature K 4% 17% 28% 21%
Feature L 4% 23% 27% 16%
• It happens in the
Featur… 3% 8% 25% 18% 13%
Featur… 9% 14% 24% 17% 10%
Ticket Volume Received Ticket Volume Processed Featur… 6% 15% 16% 11%
media. Our Customers

1.50
Weighted Performance Index
• It happens in places
Segment 7 15% 11%
1.00
20%
Segment 32% 0.50
where you would 6
Segment 5
10%
17%
18%
0.00
(0.50)
expect people to know Segment 4

Segment 3
Segment 2
10%
10%
7%
15% (1.00)
better.
10% (1.50)
Segment 1 16%
9%
Our Business Competitor A Competitor B
US Population Our Customers Competitor C Competitor D Competitor E
Skilled in Microsoft Office? So is everyone else!
Coverage
1. 2. Choose an 3. Eliminate 4. Focus 5. Think like 6. Tell a story

Understand appropriate clutter attention a designer
the context visual display where you
want it
• Exploratory analysis is what you do to understand
Exploratory vs. the data and figure out what might be noteworthy
or interesting to highlight to others.
explanatory • You’re hunting for pearls in oysters
analysis • Concentrate on the pearls, the information your

audience needs to know.
Stages in Explanatory analysis
Considering Crafting and refining Planning content

audience main message
Identifying who they are, the Big Idea to be introduced Storyboarding is one of the
what they care about, & briefly in SWD; here, we’ll relevant method for planning
undertake an exercise
how we can better get to
know them and design our
communications with them
in mind.
Where to
begin?
Who
• To whom are you communicating?
• It is important to have a good understanding of who
your audience is and how they perceive you.
• This can help you to identify common ground that
will help you ensure they hear your message.

What
• What do you want your audience to know or do?
• You should be clear how you want your audience

to act and take into account how you will
communicate to them and
• the overall tone that you want to set for your

communication.
What→ Action
Communication mechanism continuum
Tone
• What tone do you want your communication to

set?
• Are you celebrating a success?
• Trying to light a fire to drive action?
• Is the topic lighthearted or serious?

How
• How can you use data to help make your point?

Ignore the non-supporting data?
• You might assume that showing only the data that backs up your point and
ignoring the rest will make for a stronger case. (Not recommended)
• Beyond being misleading by painting a one‐sided story, this is very risky.
• A discerning audience will poke holes in a story that doesn’t hold up or data
that shows one aspect but ignores the rest.
• The right amount of context and supporting and opposing data will vary
depending on the situation, the level of trust you have with your audience,
and other factors.
How to extract context from client ?
✓What background information is relevant or
essential?
✓Who is the audience or decision maker? What do we
know about them?
✓What biases does our audience have that might
make them supportive of or resistant to our
message?
✓What data is available that would strengthen our
case? Is our audience familiar with this data, or is it
new?
✓Where are the risks: what factors could weaken our
case and do we need to proactively address them?
now understand the
importance of context
• When it comes to explanatory analysis, being
able to concisely articulate exactly who you want
to communicate to and what you want to convey
before you start to build content reduces
iterations and helps ensure that the
communication you build meets the intended
purpose.
If you have some numbers does
not mean that you need a graph!
Simple Text
Children with a
"Traditional" Stay-at-
Home Mother
% of children with a married
stay-at-home mother with a
working husband
20%
41
20
of children had a
1970 2012
traditional stay-at-home mom
Note: Based on children younger than 18.
Their mothers are categorized based on
in 2012, compared to 41% in 1970
employment status in 1970 and 2012.
Source: Pew Research Center analysis of
March Current Population Surveys
Integrated Public Use MIcrodata Series
(IPUMS-CPS), 1971 and 2013
Adapted from PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Takeaway
• When you have just a number or two that you want to communicate:
use the numbers directly.
• When you have more data that you want to show, generally a table or
graph is the way to go.
• One thing to understand is that people interact differently with these

two types of visuals.
Tables
In which Table does data stand out?
Heavy borders Light borders Minimal borders

Group Metric A Metric B Metric C Group Metric A Metric B Metric C Group Metric A Metric B Metric C
Group 1 $X.X Y% Z,ZZZ Group 1 $X.X Y% Z,ZZZ Group 1 $X.X Y% Z,ZZZ
Takeaway
• Borders should be used to improve the legibility of your

table.
• Think about pushing them to the background by making

them grey, or getting rid of them altogether.
• The data should be what stands out, not the borders.

To visualize data in tabular format w.r.t. magnitude of the numbers and colors
Use of color saturation
Table Heatmap
LOW-HIGH
A B C A B C
Category 1 15% 22% 42% Category 1 15% 22% 42%
Points
Lines
Slope graph
Graphs Bars
Waterfall
Horizontal bar
chart
Area
Cost per mile by miles driven
$3.00
Cost per mile

$2.50
Scatterplot $2.00
$1.50 AVG
$1.00
$0.50
$0.00
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000
Miles driven per month
Cost per mile by miles driven
$3.00
Cost per mile

$2.50
Modified $2.00
scatterplot $1.50 AVG
$1.00
$0.50
$0.00
1700 3300
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000
Miles driven per month
Single series Two series Multiple series
8 8 8
7 A 7 A 7 A
6 6 B 6 B
5 5 5 C
4 4 4
3 3 3 D
2 2 2
1 1 1
0 0 0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jan Feb Mar Apr May
Lines
Showing average within a range in a line graph
Slope graph
• Useful when you have two time periods or points of

comparison and want to quickly show relative increases and
decreases or differences across various categories between the
two data points.
• The visual increase or decrease in rate of change (via the slope
or direction)
Bar charts must have a zero baseline
13%
460%
Bar width
Vertical bar chart
Single series Two series Multiple series

8 8 8
7 7 7
6 6 6
5 5 5
A A
4 4 4
B B
3 3 3
2 2 2
CD
1 1 1
0 0 0
Cat 1 Cat 2 Cat 3 Cat 4 Cat 5 Cat 1 Cat 2 Cat 3 Cat 4 Cat 5 Cat 1 Cat 2 Cat 3 Cat 4 Cat 5
Vertical stacked charts
Waterfall chart
Horizontal bar chart
100% Stacked horizontal bar chart
Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neutral | Agree | Strongly Agree
Percent of total
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Survey item A
Survey item B
Survey item C
Survey item D
Survey item E
Square area graph
Other types of graphs
To be avoided
Pie charts
Donut charts
3D
Secondary axis
Pie charts are evil
Pie chart with labeled segments
An alternative to the pie chart
Donut chart
Never use 3D
Number of issues
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Secondary y‐axis: generally not a good idea
Alternatives
Lesson 2: how to choose an appropriate visual display
• If you’re wondering What is the right graph for my situation?
• Whatever will be easiest for your audience to read.
• There is an easy way to test this, which is to create your visual and show it to a friend
or colleague.
• Have them articulate the following as they process the information:
• where they focus
• what they see
• what observations they make
• what questions they have
Meals served over time FIG 2.1c
Campaign Year Meals Served

Meals served over time
2010 40,139
2011 1,27,020 3,00,000
# OF MEALS SERVED
2012 1,68,193
2013 1,53,115 2,50,000
2014 2,02,102
2015 2,32,897 2,00,000
2016 2,77,912
2017 2,05,350 1,50,000
2018 2,33,389
1,00,000
2019 2,32,797
FIG 2.1d
50,000
Meals served over time
# OF MEALS SERVED 0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2,32,797 CAMPAIGN YEAR
40,139
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
CAMPAIGN YEAR
FIGURE 2.2a FIGURE 2.2b
OPTION A: pies OPTION B: bars

"I plan to be working here in one year" "I plan to be working here in one year"
LAST YEAR | THIS YEAR
STRONGLY
LAST YEAR STRONGLY
THIS YEAR
50% 51%
DISAGREE DISAGREE
DIS-
AGREE
STRONGLY STRONGLY 33%
DISAGREE
AGREE AGREE
26%
22%
AGREE AGREE 14%

2% 2%
STRONGLY DISAGREE AGREE STRONGLY

DISAGREE AGREE
FIGURE 2.2c FIGURE 2.2d
OPTION C: divergent stacked bars OPTION D: slopegraph

"I plan to be working here in one year" "I plan to be working here in one year"
STRONGLY STRONGLY 51% AGREE

50%
DISAGREE | DISAGREE AGREE | AGREE
LAST YEAR 2% 22% 50% 26%

33% STRONGLY
26% AGREE
22%
14%
THIS YEAR 2% 14% 51% 33% DISAGREE
2% 2% STRONGLY
DISAGREE
LAST YEAR THIS YEAR
Cognitive load
• The burden of cognitive load
• It is the mental effort that’s required to learn new information
• Processing that takes up mental resources but doesn’t help the

audience understand the information
• This is something we want to avoid

The data‐ink or signal‐to‐noise ratio
Perceived Cognitive load
• How hard our audience believe they are going to

have to work to get the information out of your
communication
• In general, think about minimizing the perceived

cognitive load (to the extent that is reasonable and
still allows you to get the information across) for
your audience
Clutter
• The visual elements that take up space but

don’t increase understanding
• Bad effects of clutter
• Unnecessary complicated visuals
• Causes a less‐than‐ideal uncomfortable user
experience for our audience
• When our visuals feel complicated, it an fall into
risk of loosing ability to communicate
Gestalt principles of visual
perception (1900)
How people interact with and create order

out of visual stimuli
Six principles
• Proximity
• Similarity
• Enclosure
• Closure
• Continuity
• Connection
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
Proximity
We tend to think of objects that are physically close together as belonging to part of a group
3 distinct groups eyes are drawn down the columns across the rows
Similarity
Objects that are of similar color, shape, size, or orientation are perceived as related
To help draw our audience’s eyes in the direction Eliminates the need for additional elements like borders
Enclosure
We think of objects that are physically enclosed together as belonging to part of a group
Light background The shaded area separates

shading is often enough the forecast from actual data
Closure
The closure concept says that people like things to be simple and to fit in the constructs
that are already in our heads.
When we take away those unnecessary

elements, our data stands out more
Continuity
When looking at objects, our eyes seek the smoothest path and naturally create continuity
in what we see even where it may not explicitly exist.
A A
1 2 3 B B
C C
D D
E E
Stripping away unnecessary

elements allows our
data to stand out more
Connection
We tend to think of objects that are physically connected as part of a group
The connective property isn’t typically

stronger than enclosure, but you can
impact this relationship through thickness
and darkness of lines to create the
desired visual hierarchy
Lack of visual order
Demonstrating effectiveness is most important consideration when
selecting a provider
In general, what attributes are the most important
to you in selecting a service provider? Survey shows that
(Choose up to 3) demonstration of results is
the single most important
Demonstration of results
dimension when choosing a
Content expertise service provider.
Local knowledge
Affordability and experience
National reputation
working together previously,
Affordability of services which were hypothesized to
Previous work together be very important in the
decision making process,
Colleague…
were both cited less
frequently as important
attributes.
% selecting given attribute
Data source: xyz; includes N number of survey respondents. Note that

respondents were able to choose up to 3 options.
Revamped summary of survey feedback
Demonstrating effectiveness is most important consideration
when selecting a provider
In general, what attributes are the most important

to you in selecting a service provider?
(Choose up to 3) % selecting given attribute
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Demonstration of results Survey shows that demonstration

of results is the single most
Content expertise
important dimension when
Local knowledge choosing a service provider.
National reputation Affordability and experience

working together previously,
Affordability of services which were hypothesized to be
very important in the decision
Previous work together
making process, were both cited
Colleague recommendation less frequently as important
attributes.
Data source: xyz; includes N number of survey respondents.
Note that respondents were able to choose up to 3 options.
Alignment
• In general, the goal is to create clean lines (both horizontally and

vertically) of elements and white space.
• For tables and graphs, prefer upper‐left‐most justify the text (title,
axis titles, legend).
• This means the audience will hit the details that tell them how to
read the table or graph before they get to the data itself.
• Generally, diagonal elements such as lines and text should be

avoided.
• If text is rotated by 45 degrees then on average reading speed

decreases by 52% (Wigdor & Balakrishnan, 2005)
White space
• Never add data just for the sake of adding data—only add data with a thoughtful
and specific purpose in mind!
• White space in visual communication is as important as pauses in public speaking
• Audience discomfort in response to the design of our visual communications is

something we should aim to avoid.
• It should be used strategically to draw attention to the parts of the page that are
not white space.
Guidelines
• Margins should remain free of text and visuals
• Resist the urge to stretch visuals to take up the available space; instead,
appropriately size your visuals to their content
• If there is one thing that is really important, think about making that the only
thing on the page.
• In some cases, this could be a single sentence or even a single number

Non‐strategic use of contrast
• The lack of clear contrast, on the
other hand, can be a form of visual
clutter
• The more things we make different,
the lesser the degree to which any of
them stand out
• If there is something really
important we want our audience to
know or see (the hawk), we should
make that the one thing that is very
different from the rest.
What do you understand from the graph ??
busy,
confusing,
and perhaps
exhausting ??
Revamped graph, using contrast strategically
Performance overview
Our business
Competitor A 1 of 6
Competitor B Price
Competitor C
Competitor D
2 of 6
Competitor E
Convenience
4 of 6
Relationship
6 of 6
Service
6 of 6
Selection
Decluttering: step‐by‐step
• Imagine that you manage an information technology (IT)
team. Your team receives tickets, or technical issues, from
employees.
• In the past year, you’ve had a couple of people leave and
decided at the time not to replace them.
• You have heard a rumbling of complaints from the
remaining employees about having to “pick up the slack.”
• You’ve just been asked about your hiring needs for the
coming year and are wondering if you should hire a couple
more people.
Decluttering: step‐by‐step
• First, you want to understand what impact the departure of
individuals over the past year has had on your team’s
overall productivity
• You plot the monthly trend of incoming tickets & those
processed over the past calendar year
• You see that there is some evidence your team’s
productivity is suffering from being short‐staffed and now
want to turn the quick‐and‐dirty visual you created into the
basis for your hiring request.
Original graph
300.00
250.00
200.00
150.00
100.00
50.00
0.00
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Ticket Volume Received Ticket Volume Processed

Remove chart border
300.00
250.00
200.00
150.00
100.00
50.00
0.00

Remove gridlines
300.00
250.00
200.00
150.00
100.00
50.00
0.00

Remove data markers
300.00
250.00
200.00
150.00
100.00
50.00
0.00

Clean up axis labels
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Label data directly
300
250
200
Received
150
Processed
100
50
0
Leverage consistent color
300
250
200
Received
150
Processed
100
50
0
This visual is not yet complete.
But identifying and eliminating the clutter has brought us a long way in
terms of reducing cognitive load and improving accessibility
Before After
300.00 300
250.00
250
200.00
200
150.00
Received
100.00 150
Processed
50.00
100
0.00
50
0
Ticket Volume Received Ticket Volume Processed Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Lesson 3: You now know how to declutter
• Visual clutter creates excessive cognitive load that can hinder the transmission of
our message
• The Gestalt Principles of Visual Perception can help you understand how your
audience sees and allow you to identify and remove unnecessary visual
elements.
• Leverage alignment of elements and maintain white space to help make the
interpretation of your visuals a more comfortable experience for your audience.
• Use contrast strategically
• Clutter is your enemy: ban it from your visuals!
• Size, Color, and Position on page can be used strategically in two ways.
• First, preattentive attributes can be leveraged to focus it w.r.t. your
Preattentive audience’s attention.
attributes • Second, they can be used to create a visual hierarchy of elements to

lead your audience through the information you want to communicate
in the way you want them to process it.
A brief lesson
on memory
Iconic memory
Short‐term memory
Long‐term memory
Iconic memory
• Iconic memory is super fast that gets forwarded on to your short‐term
memory.
• It happens without you consciously realizing it
• Why?
• In the evolutionary chain, predators helped our brains develop in ways that allowed
for great efficiency of sight and speed of response.
• These were survival mechanisms then; they can be leveraged for effective visual
communication today.
Short‐term memory
• Specifically, people can keep about four chunks of visual information in
their short‐term memory at a given time.
• This means that if we create a graph with
• ten different data series
• ten different colors
• ten different shapes of data markers and
• a legend off to the side
• This makes our audience work very hard going back and forth and decipher
what they are looking at. We run the risk of losing their attention.
• To form larger, coherent chunks of information so that we can fit them into
the finite space in our audience’s working memory.
Long‐term memory
• When something leaves short‐term memory, it either goes into
oblivion and is likely lost forever, or is passed into long‐term memory.
• Long‐term memory (the aggregate of visual and verbal memory) is
built up over a lifetime and is vitally important for pattern recognition
and general cognitive processing.
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They help us enable our audience
to see what we want them to see
before they even know they’re
seeing it!
Use preattentive attributes strategically
Preattentive attributes
Source: Adapted from Stephen Few’s Show Me the Numbers, 2004.

Preattentive attributes in text
Visual hierarchy in Text
Preattentive attributes in graphs
Leverage color to draw attention
Create a visual hierarchy of information
Let’s revisit the ticket example
300
250
200
Received
150
Processed
100
50
0
First, push everything to the background
300
250
200
Received
150
Processed
100
50
0
Make the data stand out
300
250
200
Received
150
Processed
100
50
0
Too many data labels feels cluttered
300
241
250
237 202
200 184 180 177
160 161 160 Received
184 149 149
181 132 139
150
160
148 150 156 Processed
140
100 123 126 124
104
50
0
Data labels used sparingly help draw attention
300
250
202
200 177
160
139
149 Received
150
156 Processed
140
100 126 124
104
50
0
Size does matter
• Relative size denotes relative

importance
• If there is one really important

thing, leverage size to indicate
that: make it BIG!

• Never let your tool make this important
Color decision for you!
Use color sparingly
Country Level Sales Rank Top 5 Drugs Top 5 drugs: country-level sales rank
Rainbow distribution in color indicates sales rank in given RANK 1 2 3 4 5+
country from #1 (red) to #10 or higher (dark purple)
COUNTRY | DRUG
Country A B C D E A B C D E
AUS 1 2 3 6 7 Australia 1 2 3 6 7
BRA 1 3 4 5 6 Brazil 1 3 4 5 6
CAN 2 3 6 12 8 Canada 2 3 6 12 8
CHI 1 2 8 4 7 China 1 2 8 4 7
FRA 3 2 4 8 10 France 3 2 4 8 10
GER 3 1 6 5 4 Germany 3 1 6 5 4
IND 4 1 8 10 5 India 4 1 8 10 5
ITA 2 4 10 9 8 Italy 2 4 10 9 8
MEX 1 5 4 6 3 Mexico 1 5 4 6 3
RUS 4 3 7 9 12 Russia 4 3 7 9 12
SPA 2 3 4 5 11 Spain 2 3 4 5 11
TUR 7 2 3 4 8 Turkey 7 2 3 4 8
UK 1 2 3 6 7 United Kingdom
United Kingdom 1 2 3 6 7
US 1 2 4 3 5 United States 1 2 4 3 5
Some tips
Use color consistently Design with colorblind in Be thoughtful of tone that

mind color conveys
Brand colors: to leverage or not to
leverage?
Position on page
• Z movement of eyes
• Put the important thing at the top
• Do not contradict the conventions
E.g. negative on left and positive
on right
• Keep in mind what your audience
needs to see and position it
accordingly
Think like a designer
Form follows
function
What it is we want our audience to be able to do
with the data (function) and then create a
visualization (form) that will allow for this with
ease
Affordances
• In the field of design, experts speak of objects having “affordances.”
• These are aspects inherent to the design that make it obvious how the
product is to be used.
• E.g.
• A knob affords turning,
• A button affords pushing
• A cord affords pulling
• These characteristics suggest how the object is to be interacted with or
operated.
• When sufficient affordances are present, good design fades into the
background and you don’t even notice it.
“Universal Design” – OXO
brand
• “tools you hold on to”

• OXO kitchen gadgets afford
correct use, without most
users recognizing that this is
due to thoughtful design
Affordances &
communicating with data
• We can leverage visual affordances to indicate to
our audience how to use and interact with our
visualizations.
• We’ll discuss three specific lessons
• Highlight the important stuff
• Eliminate distractions
• Create a clear hierarchy of information
At most 10% of the visual design be highlighted (as per
Universal Principles of Design (Lidwell, Holden, and Butler,
2003).
Highlight the important stuff
• Bold, italics, and underlining
• CASE and typeface
• Colour
• Inversing elements
• Size
Note that preattentive attributes can be layered,

so if you have something really important, you
can signal this and draw attention by making it
large, colored, and bold
New Marriage Rate by Education
Key message?
Number of newly married adults per 1,000 marriage
Intended message eligible adults
People with Bachelors degree or 61.5
more tend to tie the knot more 56.7
'08 '09 '10 '11 '12
Is this visual appropriate ? 41.4 42.5

36.7 35.9 36.5
30.1
26.8
23.4
All Less than High Some Bachelor's

high school college degree or
school graduate more
Note: Marriage eligible includes the newly married plus those widowed,
divorced
or never US
Source: married
Censusat interview.
Adapted from PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Intended message
People with Bachelors degree or
more tend to tie the knot more
Where is your focus?

Eliminate distractions
Not all data Use your space and audience’s attention wisely by
are equally getting rid of noncritical data or components.
important
When detail You should be familiar with the detail, but that
isn’t needed, doesn’t mean your audience needs to be. Consider
summarize. whether summarizing is appropriate.
Eliminate distractions
Ask yourself: No? Take it out! Resist the temptation to keep things
would eliminating because they are cute or because you worked hard
this change to create them; if they don’t support the message,
anything? they don’t serve the purpose of communication.
Push necessary, but Use your knowledge of preattentive attributes to

non‐message deemphasize. Light grey works well for this.
impacting items to
the background.
Intended message
People with Bachelors degree or
Eliminate distractions more tend to tie the knot more
New Marriage Rate by Education New marriage rate by education

Number of newly married adults per 1,000 marriage eligible adults
Number of newly married adults per 1,000 marriage eligible adults
61.5
Bachelor's degree or more 62
56.7
'08 '09 '10 '11 '12
57
41.4 42.5
36.7 35.9 36.5 Some college 43
30.1 High school grad 36 37
26.8
23.4 30
Less than high school 27
23
All Less than High Some Bachelor's

high school college degree or 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
school graduate more
Note: Marriage eligible includes the newly married plus those widowed, Note: Marriage eligible includes the newly married plus those widowed, divorced
divorced or never married at interview.
or never US
Source: married
Censusat interview. Source: US Census
Adapted from PEW RESEARCH CENTER Adapted from PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Create a clear visual hierarchy of information
1
2
Easy to Read??
Accessibility -Don’t overcomplicate
• Make it legible: use a consistent, easy‐to‐read font (consider both
typeface and size)
• Keep it clean: make your data visualization approachable by
leveraging visual affordances.
• Use straightforward language: choose simple language over complex,
choose fewer words over more words, define any specialized
language with which your audience may not be familiar, and spell out
acronyms (at minimum, the first time you use them or in a footnote).
• Remove unnecessary complexity: when making a choice between
simple and complicated, favor simple.
Accessibility - Text is your friend
• Text plays a number of roles in communicating with data:
• Use it to label
• Introduce
• Explain
• Reinforce,
• Highlight
• Recommend
• Tell a story
• If there is a conclusion you want your audience to reach, state it in words
• Leverage preattentive attributes to make those important words stand out
Use words wisely
Let’s revisit the ticket example
Use words to make the graph accessible
Add action title and annotation
Ticket volume over time
2 employees quit in May. We nearly kept up with
Number of tickets
300
incoming volume in the following two months, but fell
behind with the increase in Aug and haven't been able
250 to catch up since.
202
200 177
160
149
Received
139
150
156 Processed
140
100 126 124
104
50
0
2014
Data source: XYZ Dashboard, as of 12/31/2014 | A detailed analysis on tickets processed per person
and time to resolve issues was undertaken to inform this request and can be provided if needed.
Aesthetics
• People perceive more aesthetic designs as easier to use than less
aesthetic designs.
• More aesthetic designs are not only perceived as easier to use, but
also more readily accepted and used over time, promote creative
thinking and problem solving, and foster positive relationships,
making people more tolerant of problems with designs.
✓Be smart with color
✓Pay attention to alignment
✓Leverage white space
Un-aesthetic design
Distribution by customer segment
Segment 7 15% 11%
20%
32%
Segment 6
17%
Segment 5 10%
18% 50%
Segment 4 10%
Segment 3 10% 15%
Segment 2 7%
10%
Segment 1 16%
9%
US Population Our Customers
Aesthetic design
Acceptance
• Articulate the benefits of the new or different approach
• Show the side‐by‐side
• Provide multiple options and seek input
• Get a vocal member of your audience on board

DISSECTING MODEL VISUALS
What have we learnt so far-To be mindful of
Affordance Accessibility Aesthetics

Model Visual 1 – How to Represent Line Graphs
A Line Graph showing current progress of month-long charity fund raising activity of Company X compared to last year
Dissecting this visual
• Affordance –The main information that the graph wants to convey is how
much money the campaign has been able to raise so far and how much
more needs to be raised in order to meet the desired target. This is
achieved through the depiction of the current amount of funds raised with
bold line and the caption –Progress to date
• Accessibility - Everything is titled and labeled, so it is easy to decipher what
is being graphed. Judicious use of text makes this visual accessible.
• Aesthetics – The main context is presented in bolder color to enhance the
contrast and focus of the problem, while the background information is
deliberately represented with a lighter color and kept subtle. This makes
the observation visually less overwhelming and aesthetically more pleasing
Model Visual 2: Annotated Line Graph with Forecast
Exercise: Now you identify the three A’s
• Affordance
• Accessibility
• Aesthetics
Model Visual 3: 100% stacked bars
Model Visual 4 – Leveraging Positive and Negative Stacked Bars
HOW THE EYE MAY

TRACK THE INFO
Alternative 1
Expected director population over time
# of directors
250
200 91 112 Unmet need (gap)

28 50 68
150
Directors from acquisitions

100
Promotions to director
Today's directors
50
0
Today FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20
9/30/15
-50
Attrition
-100
A footnote explaining relevant forecast assumptions and methodology would go here.

Alternative 2
# of directors
250
91 112 Unmet need (gap)

200 68
28 50
150

100 Promotions to director
Today's directors
50
0
9/30/15
-50
Attrition
-100

Alternative 3
# of directors
250
91 112 Unmet need (gap)

200 68
28 50
150

100 Promotions to director
Today's directors
50
0
9/30/15
-50
Attrition
-100

In a nutshell
• Choice of graph and arranging the data in a meaningful order is

important
• Be mindful of human eye-tracking pattern and accordingly use the

visual space more effectively
• How to appropriately use colour, text labels, thickness and size

Integrated
Exercise
Exercise
• You work for a startup that has created a
consumer product.
• The company is starting to think about how
to price the product.
• One of the considerations in this
decision‐making process— the one we will
focus on—is how competitors’ retail prices
for products in this marketplace have
changed over time.
• There is an observation made that may be
important: “Price has declined for all
products on the market since the launch of
Product C in 2010.”
State the :who, what, and how
and the Big Idea
Probable answers
• Who: VP of Product, the primary decision maker in establishing our
product’s price
• What: Understand how competitors’ pricing has changed over time
and recommend a price range
• How: Show average retail price over time for Products A, B, C, D, & E
• Big Idea
• Based on analysis of pricing in the market over time, to be
competitive, we recommend introducing our product at a
retail price in the range $ABC–$XYZ
Choose an
appropriate
display
1. Remove the visual obstacle of the variance in
color and view the resulting graph
Average Retail Product Price Per Year
$500
$400
$300
$200
$100
$0
Product A Product B Product C Product D Product E
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

2. Highlight data after product “C” was launched
$500
$400
$300
$200
$100
$0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

3a. Introduce line graph – Should we keep this?
3b. Introduce line graph
$500
$400
$300
$200
$100
$0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

4. Eliminate Clutter
5a. Draw attention where you want your audience to focus
After the launch of Product C in

2010, the average retail price of
existing products declined.
5b. Draw attention where you want your audience to focus
With the launch of a new product in

this space, it is typical to see an initial
average retail price increase, followed
by a decline
5c. Draw attention where you want your audience to focus
As of 2014, retail prices have

converged, ranging from a low of
$180 (C) to a high of $260 (A)
Think like a designer
A Thought Exercise (2 min)
What could “Hare and Tortoise” possibly have to do with communicating with
data?
• First is the power of repetition
• Second, stories like Hare & tortoise employ this magical combination of
plot‐twists‐ending (or, beginning, middle, and end),
• which embed things in our memory
• in a way that we can later recall and retell the story to someone else
Storytelling _ The Magic
• It grabs your attention and takes you on a journey
• After finishing it—a day, a week, or even a month later
• you could easily describe it to a friend.
• Why not ignite such energy and emotion in our audiences?

Plot •What context is essential
•What is interesting about

Twists the data and what it shows?
•What do you want your
Ending audience to do?
Constructing Story _ Beginning
ASK -
• When and where does the story take place?
• Who is driving the action?
• Why is it necessary, what has changed?
• What do you want to see happen?
• How will you bring about the changes?
Frame your story as per your audience’s problem

Constructing Story _ Middle
• Incorporate external context or comparison points.
• Give examples to illustrate / data to demonstrates
• Articulate what will happen if no change is made.
• Discuss potential options & the benefits of recommended solution.
Make it clear to your audience

why they are in a unique position to make a decision or drive action.
Constructing Story _ End
• End with a call to action
• Tie it back to the beginning
• Reiterating the sense of urgency
• Sending your audience off ready to act.
Make it clear to your audience

what you want them to do with the new understanding
Narrative Structure _ Flow / Order
Decide on :
what will be written &
what will be spoken.
How to determine the Narrative flow ?
Answer these question to determine the narrative flow
• Are they a busy audience who will appreciate what you want from them?
• Or are they a new audience, with whom you need to establish credibility?
• Do they care about your process or just want the answer?
• Is it a collaborative process through which you need their input?
• Are you asking them to make a decision or take an action?
• How can you best convince them to act in the way you want them to?
Tell a story
OUR GOAL
• Understand how prices have changed over time in the

competitive landscape.
• Use this knowledge to inform the pricing of our product
• End with a specific recommendation

Products A and B were launched in 2008 at price points of $360+
They have been priced similarly over time, with B consistently
slightly lower than A
In 2014, Products A and B were priced at $260 and
$250, respectively
Products C, D, and E were each introduced later
at much lower price points...
…but they have increased in price since their
respective launches
In fact, with the launch of a new product in this space, we
tend to see an initial price increase, followed by a decrease
over time
As of 2014, retail prices have converged, ranging from a low of $180
(C) to a high of $260 (A)
To be competitive, we recommend introducing our product
below the $223 average price point in the $150-$200 range
BEFORE AFTER
Price has declined for all products on the market To be competitive, we recommend introducing our product below
since the launch of Product C in 2010 the $223 average price point in the $150-$200 range
Average Retail Product Price Per Year Retail price over time
$500
$500
Average price
$400
$400 A
B
$300
$300
$200
AVG
$200
$200
$100 Recommended range
$150 D
$100 C E
$0
$0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Year

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Storytelling with data

Bad graphs are 19%

Ticket Trend User Satisfaction

industries and by all

media. Our Customers

where you would 6

expect people to know Segment 4

1. 2. Choose an 3. Eliminate 4. Focus 5. Think like 6. Tell a story

analysis • Concentrate on the pearls, the information your

Considering Crafting and refining Planning content

• To whom are you communicating?

• It is important to have a good understanding of who

your audience is and how they perceive you.

• This can help you to identify common ground that

will help you ensure they hear your message.

• What do you want your audience to know or do?

• You should be clear how you want your audience

• the overall tone that you want to set for your

• What tone do you want your communication to

• Trying to light a fire to drive action?

• Is the topic lighthearted or serious?

• How can you use data to help make your point?

• One thing to understand is that people interact differently with these

Heavy borders Light borders Minimal borders

• Borders should be used to improve the legibility of your

• Think about pushing them to the background by making

• The data should be what stands out, not the borders.

Cost per mile

Cost per mile

• Useful when you have two time periods or points of

Single series Two series Multiple series

Campaign Year Meals Served

OPTION A: pies OPTION B: bars

AGREE AGREE 14%

STRONGLY DISAGREE AGREE STRONGLY

FIGURE 2.2c FIGURE 2.2d

OPTION C: divergent stacked bars OPTION D: slopegraph

STRONGLY STRONGLY 51% AGREE

LAST YEAR 2% 22% 50% 26%

• It is the mental effort that’s required to learn new information

• Processing that takes up mental resources but doesn’t help the

• This is something we want to avoid

• How hard our audience believe they are going to

• In general, think about minimizing the perceived

• The visual elements that take up space but

How people interact with and create order

Light background The shaded area separates

When we take away those unnecessary

Stripping away unnecessary

The connective property isn’t typically

Data source: xyz; includes N number of survey respondents. Note that

In general, what attributes are the most important

Demonstration of results Survey shows that demonstration

National reputation Affordability and experience

• In general, the goal is to create clean lines (both horizontally and

• Generally, diagonal elements such as lines and text should be

• If text is rotated by 45 degrees then on average reading speed

• White space in visual communication is as important as pauses in public speaking

• Audience discomfort in response to the design of our visual communications is

• In some cases, this could be a single sentence or even a single number

Ticket Volume Received Ticket Volume Processed

Ticket Volume Received Ticket Volume Processed

Ticket Volume Received Ticket Volume Processed