Microsoft Word | Depict Data Studio

Designing Templates to Improve Workflow and Efficiency

Jul 4th, 2022 / Reports

One of the most useful and time-saving tricks that Stephanie Gentle learned was how to set up theme colors and theme fonts. She set up customized colors and fonts for each of the publication types that she regularly produces, so that she can quickly select the appropriate style for any new communication product.

Humanity in Data Visualization: Designing a One-Pager for My Grandma’s Caregivers

Jun 6th, 2022 / Reports

At the beginning of the pandemic, Mieko Yeh’s family had to fire her grandma’s caregiver due to a personality mismatch. Mieko designed an 11×17 one-pager about her grandma’s needs to share with incoming caregivers.

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.

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.

Could Your Long Report become a City Billboard? Use Data Viz Techniques to Create High-Impact Materials

Feb 5th, 2019 / 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.

Reenvisioning a University’s Annual Report with Saturation, Annotations, and Icons

Aug 21st, 2018 / 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.

Blog