How to Check Whether Your Graphs are Grayscale-Friendly
Oct 15th, 2019 / Data Visualization
Here’s how to quickly see what your graphs are going to look like when printed in grayscale–without having to actually waste ink by printing a draft.
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How to Aggregate Information Across Sites
Aug 20th, 2019 / Data Visualization
When you’re working in the weeds of a spreadsheet, it can be hard to step back and find the bigger picture. Here’s the approach I used in a recent training with a government client.
More »Could Your Long Report become a City Billboard? Use Data Viz Techniques to Create High-Impact Materials
Feb 5th, 2019 / Data Visualization, Reports
Do you have a long report that took a lot of time and effort, but you’re not really sure how anyone is going to use it? Annual progress reports, data publications, strategic planning documents… many of us spend a lot of time writing these documents, and they’re necessary to capture a lot of detailed information. Here is an example of how I turned a long report into accessible, graphic summaries.
More »Reenvisioning a University’s Annual Report with Saturation, Annotations, and Icons
Aug 21st, 2018 / Data Visualization, Reports
Last fall I had the honor of keynoting the Southeastern Library Assessment’s Conference in Atlanta. We talked about a few data visualization principles, like showcasing your takeaway message with dark colors and clear text. Then, we worked together to transform the graphs, dashboards, and reports that the conference attendees had submitted ahead of time.
More »A Two-Hour Turnaround: How to Transform a Text-Heavy Report into a Visual-Lite Report
Aug 7th, 2018 / Data Visualization
Most of my early reports looked exactly like this: a few pages of 11-point font and some bullet points here and there.
Except… Mine were way worse! I loved to write 100 pages of 11-point font and bullet points instead of these four summarized pages. If you’re a full-time graphic designer, then you have 40 hours a week to get fancy with covers and other visuals. If not, your time to mess around with reports is limited. I’m going to walk you through five easy steps that you can tackle in just two hours.
More »How to Write Your Reports in PowerPoint Instead of Word: Nine Tips for Getting Started
Apr 3rd, 2018 / Data Visualization, Reports
While PowerPoint may not be your first thought when it comes to creating reports, guest blogger Nick Visscher shares nine tips on how to get started writing reports in PowerPoint.
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