Before, we started with a single map… with 2 variables. Counts and rates. A bubble map on top of a heat map.

After, we’ll use small multiples: 2 separate maps, 1 for each variable. The headings, color-coding, takeaway sentences, bolding, and annotations will help to explain our patterns, too.

What’s Inside

0:00 Welcome to Dataviz On The Go!

0:16 Before: Map with 2 Variables (Circles AND Shading)

1:07 After: Small Multiples!

1:24 Call-Out Boxes (aka “Annotations”)

1:46 The Before-After Makeover

2:12 Your Questions??

The post How to Fix Dense Maps (with Small Multiples) appeared first on Depict Data Studio.

One per program, school, or state?

Copying and pasting is tedious and destined for typos.

Instead, produce a series of matching dashboards through the magic of lookup functions and drop-down menus.

Save time with my automation process.

You’ll create one template and then auto-magically populate it with the rest of the data.

Want to give it a try?! Here’s how.

Step 0: Get Your Dataset into Excel

Let’s pretend we want one dashboard per program.

Our dataset might look something like this.

(These are fictional numbers, and they don’t add up to the correct denominators, so don’t look toooo closely, ha!)

Step 1: Build the Drop-Down Menu

Click on the cell where you want to create a drop-down menu.

Go to the Data tab.

Click on Data Validation.

Allow a List.

Choose the Source (e.g., the first column of the Data sheet).

It’ll look like this:

Step 2: Build the List of Variables

In the Variable Name column, use Paste Special to transpose the headers from the Data sheet into this Charts sheet:

In the Column # column, tell Excel where that variable lives in the Data sheet.

For example, the Program name is in the first column of the Data sheet, so type 1.

In the Value column, use vlookup to transfer the information from the Data sheet into the Charts sheet.

Step 3: Build the Charts

The charts are simply linked to the values off to the left, like this:

We’re obviously not limited to bar charts.

In real-life examples, I’ve used waffles, icon arrays, lines, donuts, lollipops, histograms, and choropleth maps.

I just wanted to keep the charting piece as simple as possible for this example (so your brain could focus on the links between the drop-downs, lookup formulas, and charts).

Once the charts are finished, use concatenation to write sentences, like this:

Time for the final touches. You’ll add a title and subtitles; color-code by category; and set everything to be printer-friendly and PDF-friendly, like this:

Everything is linked!

When you select the program name from the drop-down menu…

That program’s data feeds into the Values column (thanks to the lookup formula)…

And that program’s data feeds into the charts.

Don’t worry; the recipients won’t see the formulas behind the scenes. And they won’t see the Page 1 watermark-ish mess.

They’ll see their own PDF, with their own data, like this:

In real-life projects, we sometimes add all these dashboards to the appendices of technical reports (simply by using Acrobat to combine PDFs).

Work Hard Once

With this process, you can create one template and auto-magically populate dozens or hundreds of matching dashboards.

No typos!

No tedious copying-and-pasting from Excel into Word or PowerPoint!!

Work hard once!!!

Create one template, and then let the drop-down menus do the heavy-lifting.

Real-World Case Studies

I’ve used this process in consulting projects to:

• Design matching 2-pagers for every state, territory, and tribal area that offers home visiting services (State A had its own 2-pager, State B had its own 2-pager, etc.)
• Design matching 4-pagers for each grantmaking area for a foundation’s board meetings (Focus Area A had its own 4-page dashboard with key metrics, Focus Area B had its own dashboard, etc.)
• Design matching 10-page survey results tables for every university that responded to a survey (University A saw their own survey results, University B saw their own survey results, etc.)
• …and a dozen more over the past decade.

Your Turn

What sorts of how-to questions do you have for me?

Comment below and I’ll answer as many as I can.

The post How to Make a Series of Matching Dashboards in Excel appeared first on Depict Data Studio.

Sometimes, it’s easier to understand several small graphs than a single graph.

I was recently working with an organization to visualize which states were using their software programs.

States might use:

• Software A
• Software B
• Or, both software A and B

Before: A Single Multicolor Map

Here’s what their visualization looked like.

They had a single U.S. map with one color for each scenario:

• one color for states using Software A
• another color for states using Software B, and
• another color for states using A and B.

Fairly straightforward, right?

It took us a while to spot patterns, though. Three colors is a lot to understand at once. It’s not impossible, but we had to think about it for a moment.

Multicolor (well, multi-hue) maps take a while to interpret.

Multi-hue maps aren’t colorblind-friendly. Here’s a simulation of what the map would look thanks to https://www.color-blindness.com/coblis-color-blindness-simulator/.  

Multicolor maps aren’t grayscale-friendly, either.

After: Small Multiples Maps with One Color Each

In lieu of a multicolor map, try small multiples!

In the redesign, we created three maps instead of one.

Now, we’re showing a single variable on each map, so the audience can understand it at a glance.

Small multiples binary maps (your dark brand color + light gray) are often faster to read than multi-hue maps. It’s counterintuitive, I know. We’re asking people to read three maps instead of one. But, three fast maps will beat one slow map any day of the week.

Small multiples binary maps are colorblind-friendly. Everyone can spot the dark brand color vs. the light gray.

Finally, small multiples binary maps are grayscale-friendly. Everyone can distinguish the dark gray vs. light gray.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Both styles fit on a single page (a goal in their project).

Both styles have room for explanatory sentences (something I recommend in all one-pagers).

Only the small multiples version is colorblind-friendly and grayscale-friendly.

I’d argue that the small multiples version is faster to read, too.

Download the Files

Want to explore my Excel file and Word doc?

You’ll see:

• How I formatted the Excel table that feeds into the maps
• How I arranged everything inside good ol’ Word

Download them here: https://depictdatastudio.gumroad.com/l/SmallMultiplesMapsInExcel

Your Turn

Have you split your multicolor map into small multiples?! Get in touch when you apply this technique to your own projects.

The post Do You Need a Single Map, or Several Maps? appeared first on Depict Data Studio.

I also had the good fortune of attending some of Ann’s in-person presentations about data visualization at a conference for Continuous Quality Improvement hosted by the California Department of Social Services, which had an unquantifiable impact on the personal project I will be sharing with you today. 

Although I signed up for learning from Ann to benefit my professional life, I was also able to apply the learnings in my personal sphere as you will see below! 

Although this example was in the personal realm, I think there are potentially a lot of other applications for visualizing data in this way.

The Challenge

At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, my mom and aunt had to fire my grandma’s caregiver due to a personality mismatch and not being on the same page about grandma’s needs.  

This was the second time it happened in a few months and it seemed like part of the challenge was in the matching process and educating the caregivers about grandma’s unique needs, and her personality.

Getting Everyone on the Same Page

I wanted to do something to help, so I created a 11×17 one sheet introduction for the new caregiver with input from my grandma, auntie and mom. 

My grandma’s previous caregivers were not native English speakers, so I wanted to make something that was approachable, and also captured my grandma’s personality. 

I remembered in one of Ann’s presentations that she told us about the icons at The Noun Project website, so I used icons accompanied by brief descriptions. 

It made sense to me to organize the info into two columns, and I made the text as clear and simple as possible.

The Result

Here’s the one-pager that I made for my grandma’s caregivers.

Outcome

Unfortunately, grandma is no longer with us. 

But I’m happy to report that after providing the caregiving agency with the 11×17 sheet, she was matched with a caregiver that she LOVED, and who told us she loved our grandma too. 

The caregiver was with her for a year and a half, until she passed. 

I can’t tell you how comforting it was to know that she was in the hands of someone who was not only competent, but genuinely cared for her. 

The caregiving agency kept a copy of the sheet in grandma’s file and shared it with substitute caregivers when the primary caregiver had time off.  This helped the substitute caregivers provide more consistent care for grandma.

Potential Applications

Since its creation, I’ve shared this sheet with many of my friends who have made similar sheets for their loved ones. 

Some of my friends have all joked that they need something like this for their dating life.  Maybe it has other applications too?  What do you think? 

Sharing with Gratitude

Here is an editable Word copy that you can use for your own purposes! 

Download the One-Pager

Connect with Mieko Yeh

linkedin.com/in/miekoyeh

The post Humanity in Data Visualization: Designing a One-Pager for My Grandma’s Caregivers appeared first on Depict Data Studio.

Like most of us, they’re inundated with tons of data. My job was to make the data easier to “see” and understand. Rather than expecting them to read a 50+ page report prior to the meeting, we’re going to condense a few key facts into a single handout.

The anonymized data for this blog post:

• These aren’t the exact states.
• These aren’t the exact health indicators.
• These aren’t the exact numbers or percentages.

Pretend that health indicator 1 is something like fertility rate (births per woman). I realize the numbers are too high to represent actual fertility rates. It’s fake data. But you get the gist of what this dataset might show you.

Exploring with Spark Lines

I began exploring the data table with spark lines and spark columns.

Just highlight the row or column you want to visualize (e.g., C3 through M3), and find the icon that says Insert Sparklines.

Exploring with Conditional Formatting

Conditional formatting is the 8th World Wonder.

Rather than color-coding cells by hand, you just highlight a row or column (like B3 through M3), click the Conditional Formatting icon (typically in your Home tab), and start clicking on whatever you feel like. You don’t need to know what you’re doing. You won’t break anything.

In this example, I selected Color Scales. (Data Bars are also a personal favorite–I teach you how to make them here). After creating Color Scales, I adjusted the print settings so that the heat table could serve as a one-page meeting handout in itself. I’ve been using heat tables a lot recently, so I’ll post more examples in future posts.

One Chart, Oops

I tried highlighting the entire table and adding a single chart.

The computer instinctually knows this is a bad idea.

Excel gets confused because we’ve got too many different units: years, and numbers, and percentages, all together.

The messed-up graph looks like this:

Small Multiples

Since we can’t put everything onto one chart, we’ll need small multiples.

The formatted version would look like this. You might recognize the edits:

• Icons for each state (with the StateFace font; see a tutorial here)
• One color for each state (see color-coding blog posts here)

Download the File

These are Excel charts, pasted into PowerPoint for easier arrangement.

Then, I would Save As a PDF and share that PDF with the audience.

Want to explore the file on your own? You can download it here: https://depictdatastudio.ck.page/SmallMultiplesAreaCharts

The post From a Single Chart into Small Multiples: Behind the Scenes appeared first on Depict Data Studio.