Explanatory data visualisation

You have a message

You want people to understand

You want people to take action

Explanatory data visualisation

using an appropriate chart type

using text on charts smartly

designing your charts well

using storytelling techniques

Help your data message to get across by

Save the pies for dessert

Don't cut bars

Show evolution over time with line charts

Don't break time axes

Compare 2 moments in time with slopecharts

Treemaps can show numbers in a hierarchy

Use small multiples to avoid spaghetti charts

Introducing:

the Benchmark Plot™

Tell your message in the chart title

"The annotation layer is the most important thing we do. Otherwise it's a case of here it is, you go figure it out."

Amanda Cox, The New York Times

Use direct labelling

Use colors deliberately

Use colors sparingly

Don't let the data compete for attention

Avoid chart junk

The width:height ratio of a chart matters

"You have to be like the worst tabloid newspaper in the front and the Academy of Science in the back."

Hans Rosling

1 chart,

1 message

Data story patterns

Intersections

Outliers

Components

Repetition

Gradual visual reveal