Plus, it has a very clear structure and visual effect. It's perfect to just flip through it or dive into details, with lots of, again, yes, visual prompts such as additional frames, bolded information, recommended readings, blogs and interesting websites. It is written in the best Anglo-saxon tradition, plain English, with no superfluous word, and it makes for a very smooth and pleasurable read. The book is complete with a very handy summary and a number of case studies at the very end. And the key thing is of course to keep is simple! (which is not that simple.□) Be authentic, be yourself and sound like yourself. Among other things, remember about a proper beginning, plot, twists and call for action. You can, for example, read how to, step by step, declutter the graph on the left-hand side and get the one "after", that you can see on your right-hand side.Īnd finally, how to construct a story using data? There are a lot of practical tips about how to convert your presentation into a compelling narrative. The book is full of wonderful examples of bad graphs and how they can be changed into good ones. 3D graphs, according to the author, are completely unnecessary, as they introduce superfluous, distracting elements. Sometimes even a simple text will do! But what's tricky about presenting data in tables? What are heatmaps and scatterpoints? You can see what works and doesn't work with specific types of visuals. Plus, did you know that people can keep about four chunks of visual information in their-short term memory?□Īnother chapter shows you various types of graphs and charts, in other words, tells you how to choose an effective visual. Like using a non-zero baseline in a bar chart, which gives a false visual comparison (the books contains a colourful example from the Fox News). Sadly, and interestingly, all these elements can be used to manipulate viewers or readers, by creating false first impressions. Preattentive attributes such as size, colour and position on page are discussed as well. Let me just give you a few examples from the book.įirst, how to focus your audience’s attention – this chapter is very concrete and underpinned by a vast reservoir of solid knowledge about cognitive mechanisms that people are prone to, the way your memory and sight work. Storytelling with Data teaches you the fundamentals of data visualization and how to communicate effectively with data. I don’t want to divulge too much nor spoil the fun for you. Understand the context, choose an appropriate visual display, eliminate clutter, focus attention where you want it, think like a designer, tell a story. The book is divided into six lessons on how to communicate with data visually: You can learn it how to do it effectively! And the truth is that today we are all, at least from time to time, faced with a situation when we have to present some data. As the author puts it herself, the book is for “anyone communicating something to someone using data”. It’s a basic skill, not specific to any industry. Communicating your data in a clear way is the basis of successful communication. I loved it not only because it teaches you all the tricks of the trade of how to work with data CONCRETELY, what to avoid and what to strive for, but also how to think about data so that they can be translated into information and hence better decision making.
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