DATA VISUALIZATION MAKEOVERS
WELCOME
Let’s transform your visualizations.
Time for a makeover. Pick one of your existing visualizations, data dashboards, or presentation decks that’s in need of revision, and bring it to this hands-on, workshop series. The project should have functional data, but could be in any stage of the drafting process or something in the archives that would make a useful template. Over the course of three sessions, you’ll watch your original work transform into an exemplary piece that sets a new standard for your portfolio. With each workshop, we’ll guide you through a series of prompts, exercises, and discussion that will improve your project’s legibility, refine its design, and shape a memorable experience for the audience you want to reach most.
HOW TO PREPARE
Here’s how to get the most out of this workshop series.
1
PICK A PROJECT
This data visualization module is designed to transform one of your own dataviz projects. As long as there’s real data under the hood, the format or building tool doesn’t matter. Just pick something that you care about and that has room to grow.
2
ATTEND THE WORKSHOPS
We will have three, two-hour workshops together. Each session will present a combination of theory and practical exercises to apply to your own work. We’ll alternate between presentation and discussion groups as we explore the ideas together.
3
APPLY THE EXERCISES
Many of the exercises require more time (and solitude!) than we will have during the live workshops. To get the most out of this series, take time between our sessions to apply the exercises to your own project, and see how your work transforms.
WORKSHOP RESOURCES
You can find everything we cover in our workshops right here.
1
Functional Design
how to build visualizations that your audience truly understands
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021 ⋅ 3:00 – 5:00PM ET
2
Aesthetic Design
HOW TO LEVERAGE DESIGN, BRANDING, AND EMOTION IN YOUR VISUALIZATIONS
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2021 ⋅ 3:00 – 5:00PM ET
3
Performance Testing
HOW TO GATHER FEEDBACK TO IMPROVE AND VALIDATE YOUR DATA VISUALIZATIONS
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2021 ⋅ 3:00 – 5:00PM ET
KEEP LEARNING
Here are some additional resources you might be interested in exploring.
1
STRUCTURE YOUR DATA
Typically the hardest part of any visualization project is getting your data properly structured, especially if the data has been curated by hand. Check out Hadley Wickham’s paper Tidy Data to learn how analytics software expects the data to be structured. Then watch this Data Dozen session presented for the KC Tableau User Group to see the principles in action.
2
BUILD A PORTFOLIO
Practice makes better! If you’re looking for a way to get additional visualization reps and build an engaging portfolio, Makeover Monday is the tool-agnostic leader. They offer a weekly challenge where everyone remakes an existing visualization and then shares their work. Diving into a new data set each week, even for an hour, will expand your skills exponentially.
3
DIVE INTO DATA HUMANISM
If you’re looking for a fresh perspective on data that anchors our work on the human side of things, explore the work of information designer Giorgia Lupi. Her personal manifesto called Data Humanism speaks to the future of analytics . You can also find her TED talk here, as well as explore her analog postcard collaboration with Stefanie Posavec called Dear Data.
4
FIND THE RIGHT CHART
If you’re ready to peruse a variety of chart types, here are some fantastic collections to explore. Flowing Data links to corresponding articles. The Data Visualization Catalogue is particularly well written. The Data Viz Project has fantastic icons that are fun to scan through. And finally Rethinking Visualization has excellent collections of example visualizations that inspire.
5
READ THE BEST BOOKS
As the number of books on data visualization proliferate, keeping track and identifying the best ones can be quite a task. As you decide what to read next, here is a fantastic summary of the best books to guide you. If you’re looking for data book club, check out the one led by Brandi Beals. It has a manageable quarterly cadence and is tool-agnostic.
6
SUBSCRIBE TO NIGHTINGALE
Nightingale is the online journal run by the Data Visualization Society. It is jam-packed with great guidance and interesting ideas about data visualization. It’s also tool-agnostic, so what you read will be useful regardless of the analytics tool you use. Plus, if you haven’t already, you might want to join the Data Visualization Society too.
7
explore the cognitive load spectrums
Our final exercise in Workshop 1 is based off an article written with Eva Sibinga and published on Nightingale. If you’re interested in engaging more fully with the concepts of cognitive load and how they’re at play in your own work, check out the full article here: Cognitive Load as a Guide: 12 Spectrums to Improve Your Data Visualizations.
8
LEARN TABLEAU WITH DATA DOZEN
Here at Data Dozen, we specialize in Tableau. If you’re looking for some Tableau-specific resources, here are a few of our favorites. If you’re newer to Tableau, check out our Tableau Speed Tipping session, where we cover 60+ tips in 30 minutes. For the more advanced Tableau folks, take a look at our Start with a Sketch session for building custom dashboards.
THANK YOU
We’d love to hear your thoughts about today’s workshop.
YOUR FEEDBACK
Data Dozen is on a mission of continuous improvement. We’re eager to incorporate your feedback as we build future workshops. Click the survey below to answer a few quick questions. Thank you!
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