your world is not red or green… · every minute in 2012: 571 new websites were created the web...

Your World is not

Red or Green…Good Practice in Data Display and Dashboard Design

References Tufte, E. R. (2001). The visual

display of quantitative information (2nd Ed.). Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press.

Few, S. (2012). Show me the numbers: Designing tables and graphs to enlighten (2nd Ed.). Burlingame, CA: Analytics Press.

Few, S (2009). Now you see it: Simple visualization techniques for quantitative analysis. Oakland, CA: Analytics Press.

Why This Presentation?

Many projects in different organizations

Many presentations of data

Many dashboard designs

A lot of ineffective ones

Poor visualization

No consideration of users’ perceptions or capacity for understanding

A lot of bad use of data

Ineffective

Misleading

Harmful

An Example

One indicator, discussed weekly at a meeting of executives and

managers at a big telecomm:

This week, we celebrated!

This week, much wailing and gnashing of teeth…

This Week MTD YTD Target

CSM 28.01 27.57 27.62 28.00


CSM 27.83 27.55 27.61 28.00

Indicators

Gauges v “Idiot Lights”

Why the Idiot Lights?

In 2011, a study by EMC Corporation found that the world’s

information was doubling every two years

Estimated that 1.8 million zetabytes would be created and

replicated in 2011

200 billion HD movies

Fill enough iPads to build the “Great iPad Wall of China – twice the

height of the original; or build a mountain of iPads 25x higher than

Mt. Fuji

Source: http://www.emc.com/about/news/press/2011/20110628-01.htm

Every Minute in 2012:

571 new websites were created

The Web picked up 217 new users

YouTube users uploaded 48 hours of video

Email users sent 204,166,667 messages

Google received over 2,000,000 search queries

Facebook Users shared 684,478 items

Flikr& Instagram users added 6,625 new photos

Tumblr Bloggers published 27,778 new posts

Apple received about 47,000 app downloads

Twitter users sent over 100,000 tweets

Source: http://www.mashable.com/2012/06/22/data-created-every-minute

That was 2012!

In 2013, a study by IBM estimated that 90% of all the data

existing in the world had been generated within the past two

years!

That rate has held; we generate 2.5 quintillion bits of data

per day.

0

We’re Up to our Eyeballs in Data!

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What’s Needed?

A way to make sense of the data

Data + Analysis = Information

Information + Display = Communication

Goals:

Understanding

Better Decisions

The purpose of analysis is insight!

Visual Perception Facts

We do not attend to everything we see. Visual perception is

selective.

Our eyes are drawn to familiar patterns. We see what we know

and expect.

Memory plays an important role in human cognition, but working

memory is extremely limited

Few, S. (2009). Now You See It: Simple Visualization

Techniques for Quantitative Analysis. Oakland, CA: 94620-0313

Pre-attention

Some aspects of the world are perceived “pre-attentively;” i.e.,

we don’t have to think about them to see them.

Pre-Attentive Attributes

Longer = Greater Higher or Farther

to the Right =

Greater

Adapted from Few, S. (2009). Now You See It: Simple

Visualization Techniques for Quantitative Analysis.

Oakland, CA

For Precision with Quantitative Measures:

Comparisons Across Categories

Northeast

West Coast

Southeast

Midwest

Southwest

Deep South

Hawaii-Alaska

Category

Sales by Region

Sales 84 36 28 22 1 4 1 2 4

Percent 42.0 1 8.0 1 4.0 1 1 .0 7.0 6.0 2.0

Region

Haw

aii-Ala

ska

Deep S

outh

Sout

hwes

t

Mid

wes

t

Sout

heast

Wes

t Coas

t

North

east

90

80

70

60

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40

30

20

1 0

0

Sale

s (i

n M

illi

on

s)

Sales by Region

Another Pie Chart…

Bad Bar Chart…Better Bar Chart…

Time Series

We analyze time series is to discover trends, or behavior over

time

The purpose: to try to predict, based on past behavior, what

might happen in the future

As with everything else, there are effective ways to gain this

insight, and ineffective ways…

Remember: Working memory can only hold so much

One Way…

Month DecNovOctSepAugJulJunMayAprMarFebJan

4000

3000

2000

1 000

0

To

tal

Vo

lum

e

201 0

2009

Year

Sales Volume, 2009-2010

Another Way…

A Little Cleaner…

Cleaner Yet…

What About Tables?

Op 1 8.2 8.4 14.3 9 8.4 12.1 14.7 12.2 14.1 12.8 11.1 14.8 12.1 9.6 14.1 12.9 13.9 10.2 8.9 16.3

Op 2 16 15.3 18.2 15.8 15.5 13.4 16.2 14.7 14.6 15.7 17.1 16.5 13.6 20 14.5 12.3 14 14.4 14.5 12

Op 1 8.2 8.4 14.3 9 8.4 12.1 14.7 12.2 14.1 12.8 11.1 14.8 12.1 9.6 14.1 12.9 13.9 10.2 8.9 16.3

Op 2 16 15.3 18.2 15.8 15.5 13.4 16.2 14.7 14.6 15.7 17.1 16.5 13.6 20 14.5 12.3 14 14.4 14.5 12

Op 3 15.2 10.8 13.9 15.3 15.5 12.2 12.1 16.1 11.4 15.6 14.1 16.2 15.6 16.7 17.8 13.8 14.6 17.6 12.6 11.5

Op 4 19.8 17.2 16.4 23.1 19.2 19.9 20.5 14.7 17.9 21.3 15.2 16.4 17.4 14.4 17.3 16 17.2 18.9 19.1 21.7

201 81 61 41 21 08642

20

1 8

1 6

1 4

1 2

1 0

8

Hour

Data

Op 1

Op 2

Variable

Op 1 , Op 2

Line Graph

More Operators…

201 81 61 41 21 08642

25

20

1 5

1 0

Hour

Cycle

Tim

e

Op 1

Op 2

Op 3

Op 4

Variable

Cycle Time: Op 1 , Op 2, Op 3, Op 4

No Help…

Hour 201 91 81 71 61 51 41 31 21 11 0987654321

25

20

1 5

1 0

5

0

Cycle

Tim

e

Op 1

Op 2

Op 3

Op 4

Operator

Cycle Time by Operator

No Help…

A Different View…

201 241 68201 241 681

25

20

1 5

1 0

Hour

Cycle

Tim

e

Op 1

Op 2

Op 3

Op 4

Operator


With Color…

80726456484032241 681

25

20

1 5

1 0

Index

Cycle

Tim

e

Op 1

Op 2

Op 3

Op 4

Operator


No Help…

Operator

Hour

Op

4

Op

3

Op 2

Op 1

201 91 81 71 61 51 41 31 21 11 0987654321201 91 81 71 61 51 41 31 21 11 0987654321201 91 81 71 61 51 41 31 21 11 0987654321201 91 81 71 61 51 41 31 21 11 0987654321

25

20

1 5

1 0

5

0

Cycle

Tim

e

Op 1

Op 2

Op 3

Op 4

Operator


Clearer

80726456484032241 681

25

20

1 5

1 0

Index

Cycle

Tim

e

Op 1

Op 2

Op 3

Op 4

Operator


Clearer Still…

© 2001, SPC Press. Used by Permission

Back to Tables for a Minute…

RegionSales

Volumes

Percent Change

from Last Quarter

Percent Change

from Same Quarter

Last Year

Performance

Index

Region A 1148 17.6% very good 20.6% very good ++++

Region C 1337 11.7% good 11.8% very good +++

Region B 806 17.2% very good -8.2% bad +

Region F 702 -5.5% bad 4.7% good 0

Region D 781 -3.2% bad -2.6% bad -- --

Region E 359 -19.7% very bad -22.3% very bad -- -- -- --

Table 5: Quarterly Sales Volumes, Fourth Quarter, Year Five

Region D Summary

Last Quarter

NowLast Year


Quarterly Sales for Region D

500

550

600

650

700

750

800

850 539 558 591 556 540 590 606 643 657 602 596 640 691 723 701 802 749 762 807 781

W&P – 149


400

450

500

550

600

650

700

750

800

850

900

Region D, Trended Limits

588.2+/-93.5

725.2+/-93.5

W&P – 150© 2001, SPC Press. Used by Permission

Trend: +13.7 Units/Quarter

Red-Green Again…


CSM 28.01 27.57 27.62 28.00

1 2/5/2

011

9/26/2

011

7/18/2

011

5/9/

2011

2/28/

2011

1 2/20/

2010

1 0/1 1/

2010

8/2/2

01 0

5/24/

2010

3/15

/2010

1 /4/2

010

35

30

25

20

1 5

Week of

Ind

ivid

ua

l Va

lue

_

X=26.78

UCL=36.29

LCL=17.27

1 2/5/2

011

9/26/2

011

7/18/2

011

5/9/

2011

2/28/

2011

1 2/20/

2010

1 0/1 1/

2010

8/2/2

010

5/24/

201 0

3/15

/2010

1 /4/2

010

1 0.0

7.5

5.0

2.5

0.0

Week of

Mo

vin

g R

an

ge

__MR=3.58

UCL=11.68

LCL=0

Weekly Score

The Real Story…

The Real Story…

We can confidently predict much wailing and gnashing

of teeth, without significant management action…

The Real Story… For two years, the system had been stable

They had top weekly net promoter scores from 17.3% to 36.3%

of their customers (closer to 26.8% than farther away)

Without action, they would continue to see about 65 weeks out

of 100 with a “Red” indicator

So…how useful is this?


CSM 28.01 27.57 27.62 28.00

Can They Be Useful? YES!

your world is not red or green… · every minute in 2012: 571 new websites were created the web...

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