Four Pillars of Data Visualization

Four Pillars of
Data Visualization
Noah Iliinsky • @noahi
IBM Center for Advanced Visualization
When are visualizations successful?
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What does success look like?
1. Has clear purpose and focus.
2. Contains (only) the right
information.
3. Is structured correctly.
4. Has useful formatting.
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What does success look like?
Formatting
Structure
Content
Purpose
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http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pound_layer_cake.jpg
Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
For creators, do you know:
• Why am I creating this visualization?
• Who is it for?
• What do they need to understand?
• What actions do you need to enable?
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Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
How will it be
consumed?
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http://www.apple.com
Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
Purpose dictates the deliverable.
Different destinations require different maps.
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http://maps.google.com
Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
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http://many-eyes.com/manyeyes/page/Visualization_Options.html
Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
• What data matters?
• What relationships matter?
• Informed by purpose!
• What’s excluded is as important as
what’s included.
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Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
10 http://bmander.com/dotmap/index.html#4.00/40.00/-100.00
Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
11 http://bmander.com/dotmap/index.html#4.00/40.00/-100.00
Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
12 http://bmander.com/dotmap/index.html#14.00/45.5122/-122.7040
Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
• How do we best reveal the most
important data and relationships?
• Choose meaningful layout and axes!
• Use both axes! (Both, not three…)
• Informed by purpose and content!
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Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
Structure fail.
14 http://ilovecharts.tumblr.com/post/33308788744/from-the-boston-metro-oct-10th-hannabeth-well
Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
Structure fixed.
15 http://ilovecharts.tumblr.com/post/33308788744/from-the-boston-metro-oct-10th-hannabeth-well
Structure: Position is everything.
16 http://hipmunk.com
Structure: Position is everything.
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17 http://hipmunk.com
absolute & relative departure time (continuous)
absolute & relative arrival time (continuous)
absolute & relative length of trip (continuous)
stopovers (binary)
absolute & relative stopover duration (continuous)
absolute & relative stopover start & stop time (continuous)
sort order (ranked)
Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
18 http://many-eyes.com/manyeyes/page/Visualization_Options.html
Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
• How should it look and feel?
• How will it be consumed?
• Makes data and relationships
accessible.
• Makes importance visible.
• Informed by purpose, content, and
structure!
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Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
•  Structure is geographical
map.
•  Colored shading encodes
category.
•  Dot size represents
quantity.
•  Outlines call attention to
interesting areas.
20 http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/01/02/us/chicago-killings.html
Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
21 http://complexdiagrams.com/properties
Checklist
• Is the purpose well-defined?
• Does the content support the purpose?
• Does the structure reveal the content?
• Does the formatting facilitate
consumption?
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Creating effective
visualizations
Choosing the right visual properties
Learn how to properly choose the visual property
(position, shape, size, color and others) to encode the
different types of data that will be presented in a
visualization.
Download your copy
http://bit.ly/successfulvis
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Engage IBM Visualization Luminaries
IBM Many Eyes: Learn and Create
•  Learn visualization best practices, insights and futures
from IBM visualization luminaries
•  Create a visualization in three steps
•  ibm.com/manyeyes
Follow IBM visualization luminaries
•  @manyeyes
•  @noahi
Watch our luminaries
•  youtube.com/IBMVisualAnalytics
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