Module 6:

Storytelling with Data

By Kevin Hartman
Storytelling with
Data
What we will discuss

• Principles of datavis •

• Sophisticated use of contrast

• Ensuring clear meaning
• Applying visual polish
• Dash-boarding
Lesson 1: Principles of Dataviz
The answer to the simple question ‘what is good dataviz’ is
complicated and requires a few frameworks for clarity
Five things discussed in this lesson:

• Data visualization is an intricate practice where one misstep can have

catastrophic consequences for data stories

• Evaluating the effectiveness of data visualizations can be done through a

framework that accounts for each element of the dataviz’s complex system

• For dataviz to be successful, analysts must ensure the quality of the data
collected, define the objective, design the story, and choose a visual form

• Defining good visual form requires an even deeper analysis and evaluation
framework

• Good visual form features a clear meaning, sophisticated use of contrast, and
refined execution
Source: WSJ and creators Tynan DeBold and Dov Friedman
Source: David McCandless
Analytics Planning
A simple four-step process that balances thinking with action can ensure a robust
approach to data collection and produce successful analysis

Plan (Goal) Collect (Information) Analyze (Story) Report (Visual Form)

• Establish the campaign / brand / • Locate sources that house the required • Produce “tidy”, analysis-ready datasets • Leverage preattentive attributes in
company’s clear, singular objective to data identified in the planning step to ensure your analysis is error-free visual perception to quickly and
be addressed by your analysis effective communicate your meaning
• Utilize data mining tools and techniques • Proactively address data-quality issues
• Define key questions you will be asking necessary to collect required data and concerns • Ensure that recommendations are as
of the data clear and concise as possible
• Select a data management system that • Perform analysis techniques that lead
• Identify the type of analysis you will be balances your needs for power and you to draw conclusions from collected • Follow simple rules of design to
conducting and the resultant data you simplicity data visualize insights with impact
will need • Ensure the effectiveness of future • Compress learnings into easy-to- • Connect to your audience with passion
• Plan your approach to collecting your analysis by limiting bias in the data understand snippets by constantly to ensure your story is memorable
data — the data you require and the asking yourself “what’s the 60 seconds
sources (and tools) you will use story?”
Source: David McCandless
Source: David McCandless
Evaluating Visual Form
Wong reveals that good visual form has three essential elements, each of
equal importance

Sophisticated
Use of Contrast

Clear Refined
Meaning Execution
 Evaluating Visual Form
Wong reveals that good visual form has three essential elements, each of
equal importance.

Separates important
data from the rest
Sophisticated via visual context
Use of Contrast

Clearly communicates
the insight we intend
to convey Clear Refined
Meaning Execution Applies visual polish
to bring deep attention
to detail to the visual
 Evaluating Visual Form
Wong reveals that good visual form has three essential elements, each of
equal importance.

Separates important
data from the rest
Sophisticated via visual context
Use of Contrast

Clearly communicates
the insight we intend
to convey Clear Refined
Meaning Execution Applies visual polish
to bring deep attention
to detail to the visual
 Evaluating Visual Form
Wong reveals that good visual form has three essential elements, each of
equal importance.

Separates important
data from the rest
Sophisticated via visual context
Use of Contrast

Clearly communicates
the insight we intend
to convey Clear Refined
Meaning Execution Applies visual polish
to bring deep attention
to detail to the visual
 Evaluating Visual Form
Wong reveals that good visual form has three essential elements, each of
equal importance.

Separates important
data from the rest
Sophisticated via visual context
Use of Contrast

Clearly communicates
the insight we intend
to convey Clear Refined
Meaning Execution Applies visual polish
to bring deep attention
to detail to the visual
 “On the importance of dataviz”
John Kenny, Chief Strategy Officer of FCB
Chicago, Illinois
Reference List

• McCandless, D. (2014). Information is Beautiful. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Lesson 2: Sophisticated Use of Contrast
Inviting visualizations interpret the content and highlight the
essence of the information for a reader, easing comprehension
Five things discussed in this lesson:

• Using contrast in visuals is critical for analysts to communicate insights quickly

and effectively

• Size, color, shape, and “contrived” (designed) are methods for contrast that
analysts can use when creating visuals

• Each method allows analysts to deliver information without evoking much

thought from audiences, thereby keeping their attention focused

• Using contrast with numbers can be an effective way for analysts to create
effective visuals and to improve audience understanding

• Lost art of sketching visuals with pen and paper can help analysts become
more efficient in the way they create dataviz
Introducing Contrast
A purposeful application of contrast will help ensure the analyst that their data
visualization will communicate meaning to their audience effectively

Size contrast Color contrast Shape contrast Contrived contrast

Introducing different-size Contrasting colors in an Differences in shapes Use of boxes, callouts,

objects on a page captures image can be an effective express the uniqueness of annotations and other
attention. The more striking way to attract attention. A each element instantly. preattentive attributes to
and apparent the size muted color for a chart Icons are a particularly distinguish items in a visual.
difference, the more background can draw effective form of Shape These are purposeful,
attention the objects will attention to important Contrast that immediately planned introductions of
attract. elements in a vibrant color. communicate differences. contrast to attract attention.
 Form Newsletter Chat Email
Phone
Cross-device Profile

submissions sign-ups contacts contacts calls activity fill-outs

Return site Offline dealer Perception App In-app Video

Page

visits lookups change downloads purchases views visits

© LUMA Partners / http://tinyurl.com/thtx3n9
Source: Google (2010)
 5,000,000,000
views per day
YouTube comprises 1/9 of
the world’s Internet traffic

Source: Android Authority (2019); PC Mag (2019)

Reference List

• Luma Partners LLC. (2020). Display LUMAscape. Retrieved from https://

lumapartners.com/content/lumascapes/display-ad-tech-lumascape/

• Marvin, B. (2018, October 15). Netflix and YouTube make up over a quarter of
global internet traffic. PC Mag. Retrieved from https://www.pcmag.com/news/
netflix-and-youtube-make-up-over-a-quarter-of-global-internet-traffic

• Rutnik, M. (2019, August 11). YouTube in numbers: Monthly views, most popular
video, and more fun stats! Android Authority. Retrieved from https://
www.androidauthority.com/youtube-stats-1016070/
Lesson 3: Ensuring Clear Meaning
Through an effective use of common elements good visual form
clearly communicates the insight we intend to convey
Five things discussed in this lesson:

• Ensuring clear meaning in our messages hinges on other elements of our

visuals being successful

• Using titles and subtitles properly is critical when designing charts

• Highlighting messages visually is the most effective way to convey stories

• Using visual cues, labeling items directly, and applying annotations are simple
techniques that help to ensure clarity and reduce confusion

• Eliciting an emotional response from an audience through a story is a high-

risk, high-reward approach for ensuring memorable messaging
 Chart Headlines
Most importantly, Wong offers a set of guidelines for chart titles and subtitles that
have big impact on the way audiences interpret the data being presented

Do Keep the typography simple.

Don’t permit typography to The headline can be either bold
oppress the underlying data. or a couple sizes larger.

Source: Wong, D. (2013) The WSJ Guide To Information Graphics

Headlines

Basic Guidelines Pro Tips

• Use clear, concise language in the headline • Avoid using acronyms or abbreviations in your
headline
• Explain plainly and unambiguously what the
chart presents • Avoid using clever headlines, regardless of
how comfortable you are with the data (you
• Place the headline above the dataviz, aligned
can bring personality to your talk through your
to the left side of the chart
presentation style)
• Print the headline horizontally, make it bold,
• Flip rapidly through the pages of your
and a few font sizes larger than other chart
presentation, reading only the chart headlines.
elements
Did you include all the topics you intended to
cover? Are they in the proper order?
Subtitles

Basic Guidelines Pro Tips

• Include a subtitle on every chart you make • Avoid using acronyms or abbreviations in your
subtitle
• Write your subtitle in plain language that
concisely conveys the insight the audience • Flip rapidly through the pages of your
should take from your chart presentation reading only the chart subtitles.
Did you include all of your insights? Are they
• Avoid intellectually blank statements
in the proper order?
• Place the subtitle directly below the headline,
above the dataviz, and aligned to the left
• Print the subtitle in a “normal” (i.e., not bold)
font a few sizes smaller than the headline
Visual Cues & Direct Labling

Brazil's Google.Com Query Volume

Interest in futbol outweighs interest in anything else
Annotations
Consumer Spending In The United States
Crisis in the economy significantly impacts spending

Social unrest, along with the

OPEC oil price shock and
resultant energy crisis in the
Two Wall Street crashes in the US led to dramatic decline in
span of three years leaves US household spending in
households with little late-1960s and early-1970s
$300 willingness to spend cash
savings into the mid-1960s

$250
Financial mismanagement in
the banking industry leads to
low cash reserves, “runs” on
banks, loss of consumer
$200 confidence and large drop in
spending in early to
Average Spend WWII, low levels mid-1950s
$150 of production limit
per Consumer spend from 1939 -
1945
$100

$50

$0

1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970

Year
 A WORD ON EMOTION
• Eliciting an emotional response from an audience through a story is a high-risk, high-reward
approach for ensuring memorable messaging

• Making emotional connections with audiences through the data we describe, the insights
we reveal, and the style in which we present can help ensure our messages are memorable.
Consistently eliciting the same emotion throughout chart presentations will help ensure
audiences understand our messages. 

• Reciting facts won’t secure emotional connections with audiences. Plan the emotions you
want to elicit with each chart in your presentation and rehearse drawing those emotions
from  your audience. One caveat: The emotion must be authentic. Eliciting emotions from
an audience is a powerful venture, but can alienate people quickly if they don’t agree with
the emotional response you’re trying to manufacture (or, perhaps worse, react with a
different emotion). Use this high-risk, high-reward approach when you’re comfortable with
your material and how an audience will react to your presentation
Reference List

• Wong, D. M. (2013). The Wall Street Journal guide to information graphics: The dos
and don’ts of presenting data, facts, and figures. New York, NY: W. W. Norton &
Company.
Lesson 4: Applying Visual Polish
Careful attention to detail – and Wong’s guidelines – will ensure
dataviz is effective and efficient in communicating insight
Source: Oscars
Source: Oscars
Source: Oscars
2017
2018
Reference List

• Oscars. (2017, April 3). “Moonlight” wins best picture. Retrieved from https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCQn_FkFElI
Lesson 5: Dashboarding
Dashboards are a great way to present analysis but too often are
“data pukes” … use these rules to create dashboards that rock
Five things discussed in this lesson:

• Dashboards are an important communication channel in today’s digital

marketing world, although they are rarely used properly

• Common “sins” derail the analyst’s intentions, but once understood they can
be easily avoided

• Analysts should adhere is 5 rules for creating valuable dashboards

• The “Action Dashboard” designed by Avinash Kaushik will help ensure impact
and actionability

• Many open source, free, or low-cost options for dashboards exist today
 Common dashboard mistakes

SIN #1
Too much data, too little insight

Source: Kaushik, “The ‘Action Dashboard’” (2008)

 Common dashboard mistakes

SIN #2
TL;DR: Too Long; Didn’t Read

Source: Kaushik, “The ‘Action Dashboard’” (2008)

 Common dashboard mistakes

SIN #3
Pretty, but empty-headed

Source: Kaushik, “The ‘Action Dashboard’” (2008)

 5 rules for high impactful visuals that drive
actionability

1. Benchmark & Segment

2. Isolate Your Critical Few Metrics

3. Don’t Stop at Metrics—Include Insights

4. Respect The Power of a Single Page

5. Churn (and stay relevant)

Source: Kaushik, “Five Rules for High Impact Web Analytics Dashboards” (2007)
 Rule 1: Benchmark & Segment

• Never report a metric all by itself…Period.

• Use benchmarks (internal or external), goals, or even

prior performance to give some kind of context

• Use segmentation as a key tactic for understanding

what might be causing a great performance or a bad
one

• Apply color to distinguish segments over time to

eliminate questions and accentuate insights

Source: Kaushik, “Five Rules for High Impact Web Analytics Dashboards” (2007)
 Rule 2: Isolate Your Critical Few Metrics

• Understand exactly what critical few metrics drive

the business

• Find three or five (at most!) killer metrics that define

success for the whole business

• Round out the dashboard with fewer than 10 metric

Source: Kaushik, “Five Rules for High Impact Web Analytics Dashboards” (2007)
 Rule 3: Don’t Stop at Metrics—Include Insights

• Avoid creating dashboards that are a collection of

numbers, dials and graphs, thereby leaving too much
room for interpretation

• Include a set of insights (in words) to summarize

performance and recommend action in every
dashboard

• Allow intelligence from the analyst to bubble up to

the highest level by including a section for insights

Source: Kaushik, “Five Rules for High Impact Web Analytics Dashboards” (2007)
 Rule 4: Respect The Power of a Single Page

1. …

• Realize that a ‘dashboard’ which does not fit on one page is

a report, not a dashboard

• Encourage rigorous analysis and succient thought by forcing

dashboards to fit on one page

• Never reduce font size below 10 points for metrics and 12

points for goals, benchmarks, recommendations, etc.

Source: Kaushik, “Five Rules for High Impact Web Analytics Dashboards” (2007)
 Rule 5: Churn (and stay relevant)

1. …

• Do not approach your dashboard as a permanent artifact

• Evolve your metrics to keep step with business change,

priority shifts, competitive moves, etc.

• Keep a small subset of metrics (~25 percent) stable for a

long period of time (1 year or more) and churn the rest

• Eliminate metrics as soon as it is discovered that they are no

longer relevant

Source: Kaushik, “Five Rules for High Impact Web Analytics Dashboards” (2007)
 In response, Kaushik offers the ‘Action Dashboard’
Dashboard topic, owners,
and status indicator
This quadrant shows the This quadrant is to add
trend for the metric ideally value by interpreting the
segmented, as is the case trends and adding context;
here, cart abandonment is It says there that some
illustrated for four key things are up or down (in
customer segments english)

This quadrant is key to This quadrant forces the

driving action; No leaving Analyst to get out and talk to
things to interpretation or Marketers, VP’s, etc. to get
blaming others…You are tribal knowledge, identify
recommending what root causes for trends in the
actually needs to get done metric and recommend solid
action to take
Source: Kaushik, “The ‘Action Dashboard’” (2008)
 In response, Kaushik offers the ‘Action Dashboard’

Source: Kaushik, “The ‘Action Dashboard’” (2008)

 In response, Kaushik offers the ‘Action Dashboard’
Dashboard topic, owners, and
status indicator

This quadrant shows the trend

for the program’s critical few
metrics display visually
following the tenets of DataViz

This quadrant adds value by This quadrant is key to driving

interpreting the trends and action; No leaving things to
adding context; It says that interpretation or and questions
some things are up while other unanswered…You are sizing the
things are down (in english) This quadrant forces the Analyst to impact of your recommendation
get out and talk to others to get
tribal knowledge, identify root
causes for trends in the metric, and
recommend a solid course of action
Source: Kaushik, “The ‘Action Dashboard’” (2008)
 1. Benchmark & Segment

2. Isolate Your Critical Few

Metrics

3. Don’t Stop At Metrics —

Include Insights

4. Respect The Power Of A

Single Page

5. Churn To Stay Relevant

Source: Kaushik, “The ‘Action Dashboard’” (2008)

Reference List

• Kaushik, A. (2008, April 30). The “Action Dashboard”. Occam’s Razor. Retrieved
from https://www.kaushik.net/avinash/the-action-dashboard-an-alternative-to-
crappy-dashboards/

• Kaushik, A. (2007, March 12). The Five Rules for High Impact Web Analytics
Dashboards. Occam’s Razor. Retrieved from https://www.kaushik.net/avinash/five-
rules-for-high-impact-web-analytics-dashboards/