Color-Coding by Category | Depict Data Studio

My Favorite Source for State Icons to Use in Data Visualizations

Jun 25th, 2019 / Data Visualization

Does the first draft of your report or slideshow have way too much text? Are you looking for strategies for transforming your wall of text into an effective visual? If so, I wrote this article for you! This is one of many techniques for transforming words into visuals.

Visualizing Your Annual Survey Results: Four Makeovers That Didn’t Work, and the Fifth That Did

Apr 11th, 2019 / Dashboards, Data Visualization

Virtually every organization conducts satisfaction surveys of one kind or another. I’m going to show you the before version followed by five makeovers. The first makeover didn’t work. The second makeover didn’t work. The third makeover didn’t work. The fourth makeover didn’t work. Just as I was about to give up, I found a winning design with my fifth attempt!

Stop Making People Read Across Multiple Pie Charts (& Here’s What to Do Instead)

Mar 14th, 2019 / Data Visualization

If you’ve read this blog before, or heard me speak, then you know that designing data visualization makeovers is one of my favorite activities of all time. I love redesigning pie charts, in particular.

Students Receiving Free and Reduced Meals: From Nested Donuts to an Icon Array

Dec 12th, 2018 / Data Visualization, Presentations

You’ve heard that pie charts are garbage data visualizations… but what about donut charts? Go behind the scenes as we transform nested donut charts into more accurate and engaging data visualizations.

How to Consolidate Redundant Tables and Graphs

Oct 23rd, 2018 / Data Visualization, Presentations

We’ve all encountered redundant tables and graphs: You see a table. And then you see a graph nearby. You scan the table, and then you scan the graph, and then you scan the table again, zig-zagging your eyes around the screen and trying to figure out whether the table and graph are telling you the same information or whether they’re about two different topics entirely. Redundancies steal precious time from our days and force us to read two visuals instead of one—the table and the graph—when all we need is a single well-designed graph.

How to Visualize Demographic Data: From Boring Bullet Points into Great Graphs

Sep 11th, 2018 / Data Visualization, Presentations

There’s nothing more boring than a slide full of bullet points! Bullet points scream, “I cared so little about my audience that I made these slides on the airplane last night.” In this article, I’ll share the step-by-step process I followed to get rid of bullet points and replace them with engaging visuals.

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