\n\tHave you ever heard the adage, “You first eat with your eyes?” Beautiful food is more appetizing, which is why fancy restaurants spend so much time making their meals more visually appealing. Data is no different. Displaying it visually can do wonders for getting your point across. That’s what data visualization is all about.<\/p>\n
\n\tData Visualization Defined<\/strong> \n\tTextual Data Explanation <\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tA business analyst examined 22 data points, noting that most followed a relatively strong linear trend. The analyst also noted that two of the data points did not conform to the trend. These were flagged for further analysis.<\/p>\n \n\tData Visualization<\/strong><\/p>\n \t \n\tQuick Test: Which reporting format makes identifying data outliers easier?<\/strong> \n\tVisual Analytics Done Well<\/strong> \n\tConsideration #1: Plan and Organize before You Build<\/strong> \n\tAnswering these questions is important for a few key reasons:<\/p>\n \n\tImagine what would happen if you didn’t work out some of these key issues. If you ignore quality, you could end up with low-quality reports reaching an executive audience. By not having clear responsibilities, you could either have users with unanswered questions or report requests that slip through the cracks and are forgotten. Neglecting organization could leave you with two reports that show conflicting information for the same key performance indicator. Ultimately, overlooking any of these key questions leaves you having to clean up a mess.<\/p>\n \n\tConsideration #2: Use Standards to Drive a Consistent Look and Feel Across Your Organization<\/strong> \n\t1.<\/strong> Every dashboard looking different creates at best confusion for users and at worst an appearance of amateurism.<\/p>\n \n\t2.<\/strong> Analysts working without a standard template must create from scratch, sacrificing time better spent on analysis. <\/p>\n \n\tStyle guides are a great way to combat inconsistency. A style guide is an inventory of visualization standards you want to use within your group\/company. It includes guidance on issues such as which font size to use for headings, which image file to use for any corporate branding, and which colors to use as the standard palette. Your style guide can exist in any format you want, but consider building the style guide in the tool you intend to use for visualizations. This has the added benefit of giving report developers a starting point when building visualizations.<\/p>\n \n\tConsideration #3: Keep Your Knowledge Up-to-Date<\/strong> \n\tWebsites\/Blogs<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBooks<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tWe addressed three data visualization considerations:<\/p>\n \n\t1.<\/strong> Planning and organization<\/p>\n \n\t2.<\/strong> Establishing stylistic standards<\/p>\n \n\t3.<\/strong> Taking your first steps (both in terms of where to start and where to go in order to keep learning). <\/p>\n \n\tSimply thinking through these points will put you in a great position for the future. As your organization’s portfolio of data visualization grows, both analysts and users alike will benefit from tackling these points sooner rather than later. Beautiful food is more appetizing, which is why fancy restaurants spend so much time making their meals more visually appealing. Data is no different. A good visual display can do wonders for getting your point across. Article Author: Josh Jones, Manager, aspirent Consulting, LLC Have you ever heard the adage, “You first eat with your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":905,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/proactivetraining.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/proactivetraining.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/proactivetraining.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/proactivetraining.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/proactivetraining.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=902"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/proactivetraining.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":906,"href":"https:\/\/proactivetraining.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902\/revisions\/906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/proactivetraining.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/proactivetraining.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/proactivetraining.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/proactivetraining.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\tLet’s start with a brief, informal definition. “Data visualization” means giving numbers a visual context and extends to existing concepts such as business intelligence and analytics. Someone (wisely) decided that the interesting bits (outliers, trends, etc.) are better seen not as black-and-white numbers on a spreadsheet but as graphics made of colors, lines, and shapes.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/proactivetraining.com.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/0228jonesgraphic-200x198.jpg\")
\n\t <\/p>\n
\n\tThe point of visualizing data is to engage the user, deliver information faster, and otherwise enable business insight. As you read on, you’ll notice I use different terms (dashboards, reports, visuals, visual analytics, etc.). All of these refer to some sort of visual output based on data.
\n\t <\/p>\n
\n\tAs a practitioner of data visualization for the last 10 years, I can wholeheartedly endorse the importance of doing visualizations well. I’ve seen good data visualization get users excited about their data and engage senior management. Just this year, at a major client, my consulting company and I created a one-page key performance indicator (KPI) dashboard for an executive vice president. It only had about 12 numbers and focused on visuals rather than a wall of numbers. The dashboard was so well-received that directors and VPs sent me e-mails with their thanks. Success like that, of course, comes from hard work, starting with three major things to think about sooner rather than later. To set yourself up for success, here’s what to do: <\/p>\n
\n\tBlueprints come before construction. Plan before you start building.
\n\tOne of those e-mails I mentioned above said, “Thank you,” followed by “Leadership also would like to see x, y, and z.” This brings up an important point. Once users see data visually, they want more. That means you have more reports, more requests to keep organized, and more user expectations to manage.
\n\tTo get ahead of your users, resolve key questions and responsibilities as early as possible. For example:<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n\tAvoid the “Wild West” scenario. Establishing stylistic standards early will pay future dividends.
\n\tTime after time, I’ve seen clients overlook stylistic consistency when building visualizations. Haphazard use of visual elements such as colors, fonts, and number formats creates a couple of problems: <\/p>\n
\n\tCharity begins at home.
\n\tTo see farther, stand on the shoulders of giants.<\/em>
\n\tYou planned and organized. You drafted a style guide. Now, you’re ready to build some visualizations. What do you build first? I’ll offer three suggestions that consistently create ideas.
\n\tBy “charity starts at home,” I mean begin by looking within your company. First, take a fresh look at reports you already have. Many business reports are just data tables and could seriously use some beautification and added visuals. Second, ask your stakeholders. Use an interview method to uncover stakeholder “wishes” (either current reports in need of improvement or nonexistent reports that would close existing knowledge gaps). Third, challenge your teammates. In most companies of any size, a group (not just an individual) produces visualizations. Get others invested in your cause by giving them a chance to contribute.
\n\tYou’re not going at this alone. Many well-regarded sources for data visualization knowledge already exist. Give yourself a head start by standing on their shoulders. Here are some resources: <\/p>\n\n
\n
\n\tJosh Jones is a manager and client-facing consultant at aspirent Consulting, LLC, an Atlanta, GA-based consulting firm that specializes in data analytics. With more than a decade of industry experience as a consultant, developer, and team manager, he is proficient in developing solutions that transform data into business-relevant insights. Jones works primary in Tableau, relational databases, and teaching best practices between the two. For more information, visit: <\/em>www.aspirent.com<\/em><\/a>. Jones can be reached at josh.jones@aspirent.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"