Economic Development Now

By John Grimwade, Ohio University School of Visual Communication

Even when you have strong data and precise analytics, how you present it matters, especially when aiming to inform a general audience. I gave a presentation on data visualization at IEDC’s Leadership Summit in January that resonated with many in the audience. Here are a few simple strategies to tell a data-driven story and help cross the chasm of understanding.

Identify your audience

The success of any visualization depends on its target audience. For example, the focus might be very different if a presentation is aimed at those who already understand what you do, as opposed to the general public. This is a key part of the process when deciding how to develop any kind of visual display. A presentation that is well-matched to its audience should always be the top priority.

Make clarity the main objective

The beauty of data visualizations is in the story they contain, not in unnecessary design. Clarity should override everything else. I think of this like turning on the light. Below is a very simple but effective visualization by the master of clean-up, Ursus Wehrli. The components are revealed by imposing order, a fundamental principle of information design.

Complexity and clarity

These two terms are not mutually exclusive (as some in the data viz field have implied). It’s not necessary to “dumb down” content for a general audience. The aim is not to simplify, but to clarify. The answer can be complex, but it has to be clear.

For example, click here to see an animation that explains the speed of light to us non-scientists.

In another example, small multiples can be a good way to get a clear comparative overview (source).

Be wary of what I call “the Hollywood Effect.” We’re all familiar with the sophisticated graphics in blockbuster films. This style has quite a strong influence, but the displays do not have to communicate anything at all – they just have to look great (image right from “The Avengers,” Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures).

Create a story

Basic journalistic principles should always be applied. Create a narrative around the data: headline, introduction and annotation. I’ve noticed that some visualizations work effectively only when the presenter has explained to me what I’m seeing; that indicates an inherent problem in terms of visual storytelling. All diagrams and charts need to be able to stand on their own and be easily understood.

People will invest time in a visualization if they feel it’s worth it. Below is a graphic from Fortune magazine that breaks a few charting rules (using perspective, for example), but presents a clear story. And, importantly, is an engaging presentation.

Below is a visual that explores the reality of movies. Click here to access the interactive version.

Remove redundant elements

Chart-creating applications often add many duplicate elements. Remove as many of these as possible; they impede understanding. Use color only to convey information, not for decoration. Be careful that a particular color means just one thing in a set of visualizations. This a common mistake, especially in dashboards. Data-ink ratio (or data-pixel ratio) is a term coined by Edward Tufte in his book The Visual Display of Quantitative Information; the idea is to make sure that the presentation is communicating necessary information and not merely decorative. The example below shows a cluttered (left) versus cleaned-up (right) version of the same data.

Engagement

Look for solutions that will attract attention. This can be done without resorting to elaborate design effects. Perhaps the presentation is a video with a voice-over, an online interactive, a booklet, or a poster. Brainstorm the options. Avoid defaulting to dashboards, unless they really are the best solution. User-testing can make a big difference. Show the visualizations to people who approximate your target audience (not people who have an interest in the material or already understand the content). See if the graphics communicate in the way you expect. Revise accordingly.

Below is an energy source visualization from the Washington Post that is worth looking at online to see how the data is handled in both static and interactive ways.

Video is sometimes a good option. Click here to see a four-minute clip explaining Earth’s history.

The image below shows the most-used flag colors by continent (see more here).

After my presentation at the Leadership Summit, several attendees contacted me about their particular data visualization challenges. Some organizations have data analytics staff, some do not. There are two distinct but closely allied skills to address: data analytics and data visualization. One will not work properly without the other. As data professionals often say, “garbage in, garbage out.”

There is a clear need for engaging presentations of economic development data, and visual communication can make a considerable impact. As one person shared with me, “A planning idea that would have made a huge, positive difference to a community failed because the presentation of the data did not communicate the project’s value to the public.” Of course, there’s no guarantee that clear, focused data visualization would have saved the day, but it could have made a difference.

In workshops I’ve held at various companies, the question often arises of how these visualizations will pay for themselves. That is difficult to quantify, and is perhaps the reason that more resources are not dedicated to data visualization. Data viz might not directly generate income, but in an increasingly data-driven environment, the need to tell stories in data will become vital.

“Yes, this is great, but how can we get it done?”

That was the key question at the Leadership Conference. There’s no simple answer, but below are some tools and resources that can help. Find examples that are close to your objectives. Make a wall of inspiration. Find the person on your staff who is interested in learning more and encourage them to develop the data visualization skills that will help your EDO’s data resonate with your audiences. Don’t be pulled into the “design conquers all” way of thinking. Respect the data, and tell the story within it.

Software

Tableau Desktop: Powerful data visualization platform for proprietary data that can handle large datasets

Flourish: Easy-to-use, web-based application; import your data into their templates

Power BI: For PC users, this application can make fast, insightful visualizations

The Data Visualization Catalogue: Choose the right chart type for your dataset:

Websites/blogs

FlowingData

Junk Charts

Alberto Cairo’s blog

Books

The Truthful Art by Alberto Cairo: Good overview of the fundamentals of data visualization

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte: Valuable insights into the process of presenting data

John Grimwade is an assistant professor at Ohio University's School of Visual Communication.