Data Visualization
DC #techlady Hackathon 2016
Brittany Fong | @bfongdata
Why data viz?
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Data Viz Tools
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PowerBI
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A History of Data Visualization
1844 The New York Daily Tribune
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1895 The Times
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1968 New York Times
2012 Five Thirty Eight
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2016 The Upshot
1900 Chicago Tribune
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2013 Periscopic
1929 The Baltimore Sun
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2015 The Washington Post
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1901 The Chicago Tribune
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2016 NFL Game Center
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2016 Five Thirty Eight
Question
Data
Audience
Creation
Building a data viz
Start with a question
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What is the purpose/goal of the visualization?
What questions are the visualizations going to answer?
How should people feel?
What data do you have?
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Is there a unique identifier?
What level of detail is the data at?
Do you need to bring in additional data/tables?
What is the quality of the data?
Cater to your audience
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What level of detail do they want to see?
How complex can the visualizations be?
Create a sketch
Pull out a pencil and paper to get the ideas flowing
How will the visualization be viewed? (mobile, print, web)
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Data Visualization Best Practices
Why are best practices important?
So we don't end up here!
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viz.wtf
Ease of Understanding
Make the visualization as easy as possible to read and understand
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Axes
Keep axes clear and consistent
Avoid skipping numbers and Always start from 0
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Color
Accessibility - Color Blind (508 Compliant) and make sure your colors have enough contrast (black and white print out)
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Clear Labels
Titles, sub-titles, axes, legends, data source, outliers (if necessary)
Try the 30 second test
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Context
How do I know if this number is good or bad? I need some sort of reference.
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vs
Keep it simple
Don't add colors when it's not necessary
If it doesn't help explain the visual get rid of it
Don't add too many labels
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Check your work
Does the visualization logically make sense? If you must use a pie chart it better add up to 100%
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Use the right graph
Jon Schwabish's Graphic Continuum
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What can I do?
Style Guides with Brand compliant color palettes
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Data Visualization Resources
Color palettes
pinterest.com
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colorbrewer2.org
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color.adobe.com
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vischeck.com
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Data wrangling
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Data viz examples and information
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Dear Data (dear-data.com)
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Makeover Monday (http://www.makeovermonday.co.uk/)
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Flowing Data (flowingdata.com)
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The Functional Art (http://www.thefunctionalart.com/)
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Storytelling with Data (http://www.storytellingwithdata.com/gallery/)
#techlady Hackathon 2016
By bfongdata
#techlady Hackathon 2016
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