Best Practices in Data Visualization

Poorly designed visualizations (graphs, reports, charts, slides etc.) can lead to confusion and in the worst case erroneous business decisions. End users are constantly seeking the best ways to understand the data behind the data. The most effective way to help end users is by making it visual for them. This module is aimed at taking participants through the basics of data visualization and design whether you are creating Power BI interactive reports, generating charts in Excel or management presentations in PowerPoint. This module will help you to:

• Effectively engage with the end users to properly define reporting context
• Understand the importance of narrative and storyboarding as part of the design process
• Understand what design elements engage inconic, short and long term memory
• Matching visualizations to data, including best practices and implementation hacks (Excel and Power BI) for:
  • Interactive text, Data tables, Data table heatmaps, Scatterplots and bubble plots, Line charts, Bar Charts (Vertical & Horizontal), Stacked Bar Charts (Vertical & Horizontal), 100% Bar Charts (Vertical & Horizontal), Area Charts, Waterfall Charts, Treemaps, Funnel Charts, Key Performance Indicator Gauges, Data Geographical Maps and Choropleth Maps
• Charts and visualizations to avoid
• Fully understand the basic rules of Design and Layout including:
  • Gestalt Principles, Pre-attentive Attributes, Decluttering your charts, dashboards and reports, Size and positioning, Basic colour rules and introduction to colour wheel calculations