Titles | Depict Data Studio

Are Viewers Expecting a Story? Lightning Talk from the DATAcated Expo

Jan 11th, 2022 / Data Visualization

How do you modify a graph so that it’s just right for your audience? Surely a group of scientists will need something different from a group of policymakers. Some audiences adore data. Others don’t. Some audiences have plenty of time. Others don’t. In this blog post, you’ll learn about: the differences between default, traditional, and storytelling graphs; which techniques can help you tell a story with data (e.g., dark colors); and when to use each type of graph.

Dashboards for 10-Year-Olds: Connecting Data to Students’ Lived Experience

Oct 12th, 2021 / Data Visualization

Bob Coulter is the director of the Litzsinger Road Ecology Center, a 38-acre field site in suburban St. Louis. He’s also a Depict Data Studio student and when he shared his work in our graduation ceremony, I knew it needed to be showcased. Keep up the great work Bob!

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.

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.

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.

How to Objectively Measure Text Readability (and Lower Your Graph’s Reading Level)

Jun 12th, 2018 / Data Visualization, Presentations, Reports

If viewers can’t read your graph, why bother making it? Accessibility is at the top of my priority list. A lot of things go into a data visualization’s readability. In this post I’ll explain how to objectively measure text readability (and lower your graph’s reading level).

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