7 Tips For More Effective Visualizations 1 Start with the story you want to tell. Whatever your specific goals may be, when you create a visualization, you’re really trying to capture a snapshot of your business – a quick, visual story that will drive understanding, discussion, and decision-making. To do this, you need to understand the data you’re working with and determine what story you want to tell. Start by asking a few questions. UNDERSTAND YOUR DATA • How many data sets are you working with and can they be combined? • Is your data qualitative or quantitative? • Is there external data you want to include? • How accurate or fresh is your data? DETERMINE YOUR STORY • What are the key messages you want to convey? • What do you want your audience to think, do, or feel? • What details will lend credence and support to your story? WHAT STORY DO YOU WANT TO TELL? Good visualizations highlight relationships between data which can tell a powerful story. Outliers illuminate deviations from the norm. Trends indicate changes over time. Patterns show repeated, consistent characteristics. Correlations communicate relationships between two or more variables. 2 Variable width chart Visualizations Bar chart Bar chart Circular area chart Line chart According toTableQlik Visualization Advocate Dr. Patrik Lundblad, there are four fundamental Line chart Variable width chart or tables with Bar chart horizontal charts Visualizations types of dataembedded visualizations, each of which can provide specific insights: Bar chart Table or tables with embedded charts Bar chart horizontal COMPARISON VISUALIZATIONS Table Table or or tables tables with with embedded embedded charts charts ANSWERS Which products sell best? How big is our market share? QUESTIONS Stacked 100% Stacked 100% bar chart area chart LIKE Line Line chart chart Stacked 100% bar chart Bar Bar chart chart horizontal horizontal Composition How are our sales compared What percentage of the to last year? Scatter plotbudget is going toward Visualizations bubble size x, y, and z? RELATIONSHIP VISUALIZATIONS How many customers exist Is there a correlation between Waterfall chart across a demographic range? advertising spend and sales? Scatter plot Variable width chart What would you How many days late are What’s Distribution the variation between Relationship customer payments? like to show?expenses and revenue Line Stacked chart Source: ©A. Abela, 2010. www.ExtremePresentation.com Stacked bar chart Stacked Circular area chart area chart Stacked 100% bar chart area chart Line chart Bar chart horizontal Bar chart Stacked Stacked 100% 100% area area chart chart Pie chart Line chart Distribution Stacked bar chart Circular area chart Composition Comparison Scatter plot Stacked 100% bar chart Pie chartBar Line chart Composition Bar histogram histogram S Tree map w/subcomponents Line chart Stacked 100% area chart Stacked 100% bar chart Tree map Line histogram Waterfall chart Line histogram Rela w/subcomponents Scatter plot bubble size Line chart Scatter plot Stacked area chart Scatter plot Bar histogram Pie chart Stacked 100% bar chart w/subcomponents Stacked 100% bar chart Waterfall Waterfall chart chart Source: ©A. Abela, 2010. www.ExtremePresentation.com Bar histogram BarLin cha Scatter plot What would you Relationship Visualizations like to show? ource: ©A. Abela, 2010. www.ExtremePresentation.com Table or tables with embedded charts across regions? Comparison Table or tables with embedded charts Ba Waterfall chart Stacked 100% areaStacked chart Barbar chart chart EXAMPLES ons 00% 00% rt rt COMPOSITION Comparison DISTRIBUTION VISUALIZATIONS VISUALIZATIONS Line Bar histogram Linechart histogram Line Bar histogram Variable width chart Table or tables with Bar chart horizontal What would youIdentifying commonalities Identifying the highest and Seeing theembedded relationship Showing correlations charts Relationship Distribution Visualizations between data like pointsto thatshow? and outliers and clusters Scatter plot lowest values Comparison change over time bubble size Seeing current versus Seeing the general shape of Identifying outliers older values Identifying the relative a range Bar chart Circular area chart Line chart Scatter plot Bar chart Circular area chart Line chart Line histogram difference between parts of Composition What would you Spotting trends a whole Relationship Distribution Scatter like toplotshow? Comparison Scatter plot bubble size Variable width chart Circular area chart Line chart FREQUENTLY USED FOR Scatter plot ar area chart Line chart Visualizations Choose the right visualization. Scatter plot hh chart chart Circular area chart Line histogram Tree m Stack are Please complete the form to gain access to this content Access Now Related Resources Succeed and build brilliant products Enterprise Case Study: Democratizing Insights in the NHS An Analytical Platform For The Smart Enterprise Big Data for Big Industries 6 Global Trends Sweeping Healthcare and How Analytics Help You Respond The Sustainable Supply Chain 3 Big Data Myths Busted 10 Secrets to Winning with Analytics What Makes Qlik Unique See The Whole Story That Lives Within Your Data Qlik for IT Infrastructure The Real Story Behind The Whole Story
1 Start with the story you want to tell. Whatever your specific goals may be, when you create a visualization, you’re really trying to capture a snapshot of your business – a quick, visual story that will drive understanding, discussion, and decision-making. To do this, you need to understand the data you’re working with and determine what story you want to tell. Start by asking a few questions. UNDERSTAND YOUR DATA • How many data sets are you working with and can they be combined? • Is your data qualitative or quantitative? • Is there external data you want to include? • How accurate or fresh is your data? DETERMINE YOUR STORY • What are the key messages you want to convey? • What do you want your audience to think, do, or feel? • What details will lend credence and support to your story? WHAT STORY DO YOU WANT TO TELL? Good visualizations highlight relationships between data which can tell a powerful story. Outliers illuminate deviations from the norm. Trends indicate changes over time. Patterns show repeated, consistent characteristics. Correlations communicate relationships between two or more variables. 2 Variable width chart Visualizations Bar chart Bar chart Circular area chart Line chart According toTableQlik Visualization Advocate Dr. Patrik Lundblad, there are four fundamental Line chart Variable width chart or tables with Bar chart horizontal charts Visualizations types of dataembedded visualizations, each of which can provide specific insights: Bar chart Table or tables with embedded charts Bar chart horizontal COMPARISON VISUALIZATIONS Table Table or or tables tables with with embedded embedded charts charts ANSWERS Which products sell best? How big is our market share? QUESTIONS Stacked 100% Stacked 100% bar chart area chart LIKE Line Line chart chart Stacked 100% bar chart Bar Bar chart chart horizontal horizontal Composition How are our sales compared What percentage of the to last year? Scatter plotbudget is going toward Visualizations bubble size x, y, and z? RELATIONSHIP VISUALIZATIONS How many customers exist Is there a correlation between Waterfall chart across a demographic range? advertising spend and sales? Scatter plot Variable width chart What would you How many days late are What’s Distribution the variation between Relationship customer payments? like to show?expenses and revenue Line Stacked chart Source: ©A. Abela, 2010. www.ExtremePresentation.com Stacked bar chart Stacked Circular area chart area chart Stacked 100% bar chart area chart Line chart Bar chart horizontal Bar chart Stacked Stacked 100% 100% area area chart chart Pie chart Line chart Distribution Stacked bar chart Circular area chart Composition Comparison Scatter plot Stacked 100% bar chart Pie chartBar Line chart Composition Bar histogram histogram S Tree map w/subcomponents Line chart Stacked 100% area chart Stacked 100% bar chart Tree map Line histogram Waterfall chart Line histogram Rela w/subcomponents Scatter plot bubble size Line chart Scatter plot Stacked area chart Scatter plot Bar histogram Pie chart Stacked 100% bar chart w/subcomponents Stacked 100% bar chart Waterfall Waterfall chart chart Source: ©A. Abela, 2010. www.ExtremePresentation.com Bar histogram BarLin cha Scatter plot What would you Relationship Visualizations like to show? ource: ©A. Abela, 2010. www.ExtremePresentation.com Table or tables with embedded charts across regions? Comparison Table or tables with embedded charts Ba Waterfall chart Stacked 100% areaStacked chart Barbar chart chart EXAMPLES ons 00% 00% rt rt COMPOSITION Comparison DISTRIBUTION VISUALIZATIONS VISUALIZATIONS Line Bar histogram Linechart histogram Line Bar histogram Variable width chart Table or tables with Bar chart horizontal What would youIdentifying commonalities Identifying the highest and Seeing theembedded relationship Showing correlations charts Relationship Distribution Visualizations between data like pointsto thatshow? and outliers and clusters Scatter plot lowest values Comparison change over time bubble size Seeing current versus Seeing the general shape of Identifying outliers older values Identifying the relative a range Bar chart Circular area chart Line chart Scatter plot Bar chart Circular area chart Line chart Line histogram difference between parts of Composition What would you Spotting trends a whole Relationship Distribution Scatter like toplotshow? Comparison Scatter plot bubble size Variable width chart Circular area chart Line chart FREQUENTLY USED FOR Scatter plot ar area chart Line chart Visualizations Choose the right visualization. Scatter plot hh chart chart Circular area chart Line histogram Tree m Stack are
