MAY 14, 2014
CREATING FUNCTIONAL ART IN EXCEL
AMANDA MAKULEC
DATA VISUALIZATION AT JSI
FOUR THINGS TO CONSIDER
WHO ARE THE STAKEHOLDERS?
WHAT INFO DO THEY NEED?
HOW WILL THEY USE IT?
WHY DO THEY CARE?
BEAUTIFUL VISUALIZATIONS REQUIRE ITERATION
START WITH A SKETCH
Sketch to start…
and you’ll work your way
to something beautiful.
CHOOSE A CHART TYPE THAT MEETS YOUR DATA NEEDS
COUNT THE 5’S
5 6 6 9 5 1 6 8 1 2
6 4 1 2 2 5 7 3 9 4
3 4 8 1 9 4 9 1 5 5
8 7 3 5 6 4 2 1 5 8
7 6 4 9 2 1 9 5 1 4
9 5 6 9 5 8 5 3 6 9
2 2 5 8 7 1 3 6 3 8
5 9 6 5 4 2 7 9 5 2
COUNT THE 5’S
5 6 6 9 5 1 6 8 1 2
6 4 1 2 2 5 7 3 9 4
3 4 8 1 9 4 9 1 5 5
8 7 3 5 6 4 2 1 5 8
7 6 4 9 2 1 9 5 1 4
9 5 6 9 5 8 5 3 6 9
2 2 5 8 7 1 3 6 3 8
5 9 6 5 4 2 7 9 5 2
DRAW ATTENTION TO WHAT’S IMPORTANT: PREATTENTIVE ATTRIBUTES
DRAW ATTENTION TO WHAT’S IMPORTANT: GESTALT PRINCIPLES
COLOR | SHAPES | SIZE
MAPS | SHADING
BUILDING VISUALIZATIONS IN EXCEL
DOWNLOAD THE DATA TO PLAY ALONG
GO TO:
TINYURL.COM/WORLDPOPDATA
DOWNLOAD THE EXCEL
SPREADSHEET AT THE LINK
ANATOMY OF A CHART
STEP ONE
Draw some sketches &
then create electronically.
SKETCH FIRST
LET’S START HERE
STEP TWO
Reduce the clutter
STEP THREE
Add meaningful labels.
STEP FOUR
Emphasize with color.
STEP FIVE
Add meaningful titles.
ON CREATING TITLES
State your takeaway message in the title
Generic Better Best
Readers have to spend precious time decoding charts with generic titles.
The title gives details about what the indicators are, but does not tell a story.
The title tells the story explicitly and clearly, giving your reader the message.
Figure: Total Population Total Population by World Bank Country Income Classification
The proportion of the global population living in middle income countries has grown over the past 50 years, now estimated at 70% of the world's population.
Your title needs may change depending
on your audience: scientific journals
may require a different title than a web-
based communications product.
VIZ MAKEOVER
READY FOR ROUND 2? URBANIZATION DATA VIZ ACTIVITY
% of population living in an urban setting
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
East Asia & Pacific 22.46472 24.84152 27.49883 33.65413 41.21955 51.6696
Europe & Central Asia 55.21195 60.63047 64.68612 67.43591 68.24317 69.97876
Latin America & Caribbean 49.25997 57.01166 64.25289 70.29534 75.44325 78.79903
Middle East & North Africa 34.98355 42.8213 49.55351 54.84566 58.64444 62.58201
Sub-Saharan Africa 14.74854 19.33165 23.62453 27.90688 31.99966 35.93099
South Asia 16.72588 18.65112 22.32985 25.02435 27.33532 30.60301
East Asia & Pacific (developing only) 16.91524 18.77601 21.3357 28.15679 36.64623 47.5415
Europe & Central Asia (developing only) 39.15436 45.88226 51.18321 56.77231 57.55644 59.49709
Latin America & Caribbean (developing only) 48.38572 56.26412 63.68319 69.93737 75.05648 78.45927
Middle East & North Africa (developing only) 33.92184 41.15169 46.94968 51.67239 55.54996 58.98237
Sub-Saharan Africa (developing only) 14.73659 19.32403 23.62208 27.90184 31.99435 35.92825
DESIGN
RESOURCES & TOOLS
BOOKS
PEOPLE TO READ
Stephen Few
Show Me the
Numbers
Edward Tufte
The Visual Display
of Quantitative
Information
Alberto Cairo
The Functional Art:
An Introduction to
Information
Graphics
Cole
Nussbaumer
Storytelling
withdata.com
TOOLS
COLOR-HEX
COLOR ORACLE
COLOR BREWER Simple tool for picking palettes
Originally for maps
Simulates color blindness
Great for checking your viz
Technical info on color models
Generates CSS codes
QUESTIONS?