data visualization & information design: one learner's perspective

DATA VISUALIZATION & INFORMATION DESIGN ONE LEARNER’S PERSPECTIVE…

BY SHEILA

B ROBIN

SON

DATA VISUALIZATION IS HOT HOT HOT!!!

A Google search returns over 3.4 million hits on the term.

3,179

6,725

15,588

25,492

"Information Design" "Data Visualization" Infographics TOTAL

Over 25,000 SlideShare presentations are devoted to these 3 topics combined!

PowerPoint was born.

It’s original purpose was to work something like this…

….or this

But now presentations are more about this…

…and this

But we in education just haven’t quite caught up.

You see… •  While PowerPoint itself is not necessarily passé, using it in

“traditional” ways is. •  This is a “traditional” slide. It has too much text, an

overused too small font, bullet points, and complete sentences.

•  It also has an inappropriate and distracting slide background and a cheesy piece of clip are stuck in the lower right corner that adds nothing to the slide.

•  A presenter might even read these full sentences to the audience while presenting leading to a potentially fatal phenomenon known as “Death by PowerPoint.”

•  We don’t want our audiences to die, now do we? •  We also don’t want them tuning out of our presentations,

and into their own electronic devices. •  Yet, slides like this persist, especially in education – in

meetings, presentations, and professional development workshops.

Slide titles and bullet points soon rain down upon audiences with hurricane force. Weary viewers face the equivalent of digitized books projected onto walls… or worse, they suffer the terror of presenters reading books projected onto walls.

(http://office.microsoft.com)

Even knows this!

Using PowerPoint like that is like making a phone call like this:

So, this slide deck is about some of the new ideas I’ve learned about presentations.

One idea per slide, please.

(with limited text)

Slides are free!

More slides ≠ more time presenting!!

Psst! Look closely…it’s chocolate!

So, why just one idea?

People can read faster…

Why?  …than they can process your speech.

No bullets needed! (Why? …because you won’t have enough text

to need them. Get it?)

Interesting stock photos are in!

Clip art is O-U-T! Don’t use it!

USE FREE STOCK PHOTO SITES

flickr.com istockphoto.com

stock.xchng (sxc.hu) …and many, many more

DON’T STEP ON TOES! Look for Creative Commons Licensing Follow the rules

Visit creativecommons.org to learn more

But seriously, what if I really want the audience to see more than 1 idea on a slide?

LAYERING

Layering is like feeding the audience by the spoonful.

When to use layering: •  I want to present these 3 big ideas, and I

want to have the audience see all 3 at once (but without all this text and bullets, of course).

•  With layering, I can present important points one at a time, and then show them all at once.

•  And I don’t need to program in slide transitions to do it (because transitions don’t work well in all environments).

First, I’ll talk about this idea.

Next, I’ll add this idea.

Now, I’ll present idea #3.

And the audience now sees all 3!

Hint: Design this slide first!

17  6   10   10   9  

38  

7  15   21   25  

67  

71  

73  72   71  

63  

101  87   82   80  

Statement  A   Statement  B   Statement  C   Statement  D   Statement  E  

Here’s a layering example with graphs. This is the whole graph, but I have a lot to explain to the audience, so layering will work well here.

17  6   10   10   9  

Statement  A   Statement  B   Statement  C   Statement  D   Statement  E  

The greatest number of respondents “strongly disagreed” with statement A.

You see, I will want to elaborate on this point, and I don’t want the audience focusing on interpreting the whole graph while I’m talking.

17  6   10   10   9  

38  

7  15   21   25  

Statement  A   Statement  B   Statement  C   Statement  D   Statement  E  

Now I can add a layer and explain this point

while (I hope!) keeping their attention.

Statement A in fact, had the most disagreement among respondents.

17  6   10   10   9  

38  

7  15   21   25  

67  

71  

73  72   71  

Statement  A   Statement  B   Statement  C   Statement  D   Statement  E  

Since they have already had a chance to process the last 2 points, I can now add this one.

Similar numbers of respondents agreed with each statement.

17  6   10   10   9  

38  

7  15   21   25  

67  

71  

73  72   71  

63  

101  87   82   80  

Statement  A   Statement  B   Statement  C   Statement  D   Statement  E  

The majority of respondents, however, agreed or strongly agreed with Statement B.

OK, love the visuals (slides are fun to design now) but I do want the audience to see some of the information in print.

So, I’ll just print all these slides, 3 up

with the lines next to them, right?

Like this!

WRONG!!!

Prepare handouts for lengthier text you want the audience to read later. Distribute these after the presentation.

So, about that data visualization?

I just usually create something like these:

NOT!!!

I’m a learner, remember?

I’m a learner, remember?

I’m learning simple skills with basic software.  

I’m a learner, remember?

I’m learning simple skills with basic software.  

Here’s what I’ve learned about some of the basics:  

I’m a learner, remember?

I’m learning simple skills with basic software.  

Here’s what I’ve learned about some of the basics:  

DEFAULT GRAPHS ARE SO 2010!

#  of  Men,ons  

0  

50  

100  

150  

200  

250  

Category  1  Category  2  

Category  3  Category  4  

Category  5  Category  6  

Category  7  

210  

110  100   100  

80  70  

60  

Number  of  Men=ons  of  Each  of  the  7  Categories  on  the  Professional  Development  Survey  

#  of  Men,ons  

Would YOU have known this pyramid = 210? I wouldn’t have!

Boring title = Junk!

Unnecessary gridlines = Junk!

Unnecessary legend = Junk!

Unnecessary axis labels = Junk!

3D shapes you can’t accurately interpret = Junk!

210  

110  100   100  

80  70  

60  

Category  1   Category  2   Category  3   Category  4   Category  5   Category  6   Category  7  

Category  1  received  the  most  men=ons  by  survey  respondents.  

NOW WE’RE TALKIN’ MODERN!

LOOK MA, NO CHARTJUNK!

PIE IS PASSÉ!

210  

110  

100  

100  

80  

70  

60  

#  of  Men=ons  

Category  1  

Category  2  

Category  3  

Category  4  

Category  5  

Category  6  

Category  7  

Do these look the same size to you?

AND LEAVES US WITH A BAD TASTE.

Default colors are to graphs as

avocado green and goldenrod

are to appliances.

Us Guys 35%

Them Guys 46%

The Other Guys 19%

Nearly half of the participants were them guys.

BUT, LIKE BANANA CREAM OR PECAN…

…PIE IS FINE IN MODERATION AND WHEN YOU HAVE JUST A FEW SLICES.

TOO MUCH TO TAKE?

No worries. Help is on the way!

Check out my list of teachers. You can learn from them too.

And as for me? Ancora imparo…

THANKS TO MY TEACHERS!

EDWARD  TUFTE  NANCY  DUARTE  GARR  REYNOLDS  

STEPHEN  FEW  ALBERTO  CAIRO  

NATHAN  YAU  DAVID  MCCANDLESS  

HANS  ROSLING  SUSAN  J.  KISTLER  

STEPHANIE  EVERGREEN  ANN  K.  EMERY  

DAVID  SHELLARD  JON  SCHWABISH  

…AND  MANY  OTHERS    

THESE ARE SOME OF THE INNOVATIVE AND TALENTED FOLKS TO WHOM I AM DEEPLY INDEBTED FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FIELDS OF DATA VISUALIZATION, INFORMATION DESIGN, AND PRESENTATIONS, AND SPECIFICALLY TO MY LEARNING.

Image credits via Flickr

Thanks to:

Lif… John Ayo akrabat geojanitor Harkko Jonas Tana Roberto Verzo Claremont Colleges Digital Library Kevin dooley roujo MartinaYach Alex.ragone Cgfaulkner 1950sunlimited Phil.d Austin Kleon Mkandlez Lauren Manning Hey Christine Davidcoxon Leonard John Matthews Ann Davis Colemama Certified su Melissa Maples Rutger de Moddertukker mischiru John Ayo Gwynn Michael DQMountaingirl Dsselof Rosefirerising Johncpiercy St. Boniface’s Catholic College, Plymouth Dcysurfer WarmSleepy

Sheila B Robinson