what makes a data-story work?

What makes a data-story work?

Amit KapoorKavitha Ranganathan

Emotion & Empathy

I am blind

Emotion & Empathy

It is spring &I am blind

Persuasion

Logos + Ethos + Pathos

Data-Story-Visual

Data Story

Visual

Graph Art

Tale

*

analysis SYNTHESIS

numbers

argument

VISUALISE

STORY

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Synthesis -Visualise-Story

Narrative is Powerful

Source: Pitch Interactive

logic | EMPATHY

Data & Stories

The focus of stories is on individual people rather than averages,

on motives rather than movements, on point of view rather than the view

from nowhere, context rather than raw data.

Teller

Story

Listener

Storytelling Triangle

ˌvɪʒʊəlaɪˈzeɪʃən (noun)

Derived from the Latin verb videre, "to look, to see"

The act or instance to

form a mental image or

picture (without an

object)

Visualization

The act or instance to

make visible or visual

(with an object)

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Data-Story Framework

See the Data

Show the Visual

Tell the Story

Engage the Audience

See the DataPattern

Deviation Outlier

Trend

Data Abstraction

Show the VisualFraming

Transition

Medium & Visual Representation

Tell the StoryOrdering & Structure

Messaging(Verbal & Text)

Point of View& Relatability

TRF JQL

VWX DFR

RGT DEF

ZEF LXR

Engage the Audience

TRF JQL

VWX DFR

RGT DEF

ZEF LXR

Emotion

Takeaway

Interactivity

Single Frame Dominates

Source: Walmart & Target Store Expansion

Establish & Focus

Source: OECD Better Life

Stories through Annotation

Source: Napolean’s Campaign

Source: Hans Rosling | Joy of Stats

Power of Verbal Messaging

Idea-driven Mileu-driven

Character-driven Event-driven

Source: Working Capital Profiler

Build your own story

Source: Wealth Inequality

Emotions are key

“I think people have begun to forget how powerful human stories are,

exchanging their sense of empathy for a fetishistic fascination with data,

networks, patterns, and total information... Really, the data is just part of the story. The human stuff is the main stuff, and the data should

enrich it."

—Jonathan Harris

Think Stories

Amit KapoorPartner, narrativeVIZ Consultingamit@narrativeviz.com@amitkaps

Kavitha RanganathanAsst. Professor, IIM Ahmedabadkavitha@iimahd.ernet.in