a guide to selecting the best visualizations for reports

Manchester, NH 2019@NEDreamin #NEDreamin

With special thanks to our Platinum sponsors

Talk Data To Me:A Guide to Selecting the Best Visualizations for

Reports and Dashboards


Kathryn Baker Parks Greg Etling

Consultant Senior Project

Manager

MEET THE SPEAKERS


What difference does it make?

Selecting A Visualization


https://eazybi.com/blog/data_visualization_and_chart_types/

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

https://eazybi.com/blog/data_visualization_and_chart_types/


https://www.fusioncharts.com/blog/10-dashboard-design-mistakes/

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

https://www.fusioncharts.com/blog/10-dashboard-design-mistakes/


What question do I want to answer?

Decision Tree


How do I decide?

Chart Deep Dive


Comparison

Between Groups• Column Chart• Bar Chart• Dot Plot

• Radar

Trending (Over Time)• Line Chart

• Dot Plot

• Calendar Heat Map

Columns: Best for smaller numbers

of categories.

Bar: Good when you have longer

labels.


Comparison

Between Groups• Column Chart

• Bar Chart

• Dot Plot• Radar


• Dot Plot


A dot plot uses size + color to

display multiple dimensions and

measures. Use dot plots to visualize

related data to compare or locate

unusual values.


Comparison


• Bar Chart

• Dot Plot

• Radar


• Dot Plot


(aka) Spider Chart. Comparisons

with multivariate data with 3 or

more quantitative variables.

Avoid having too many variables

(>5) because it's difficult to read.


Comparison


• Bar Chart

• Dot Plot

• Radar

Trending (Over Time)• Line Chart• Dot Plot


Can reveal insights in trends and

changes over time while also

showing relationships within data.

Avoid clutter (limit lines 5-7)


Comparison


• Bar Chart

• Dot Plot

• Radar


• Dot Plot• Calendar Heat Map

Can be useful for outliers as noted

before


Comparison


• Bar Chart

• Dot Plot

• Radar


• Dot Plot


Visualize specific activities over

periods of time.

Adjust granularity as needed for

time-based grouping (month, week,

day)


Relationship

Scatter Plot

Use a scatter chart to visualize

correlation between two groups of

data.

Best for when you have enough

data points to see clear results.


Composition

Static• Donut Chart• Funnel Chart

• Bar Chart

• Trending Line

• Tree Map

• Origami Chart

Avoid data with too many segments.

Not good when segments are

similar in size.


Composition

Static• Donut Chart

• Funnel Chart• Bar Chart

• Trending Line

• Tree Map

• Origami Chart

Visualizing sequential / ordered

data.

Commonly used for sales pipeline.


Composition


• Funnel Chart

• Bar Chart• Trending Line

• Tree Map

• Origami Chart

Better than column when you have

many items to compare.

Avoids clutter with a long label.


Composition


• Funnel Chart

• Bar Chart

• Trending Line• Tree Map

• Origami Chart

Display relationships in how data

changes over a period of time.

Avoid too many lines, which can

confuse readers.


Composition


• Funnel Chart

• Bar Chart

• Trending Line

• Tree Map• Origami Chart

Use a treemap to visualize

hierarchical quantitative data,

where containing rectangles

designate relationship using color

and "leaf" rectangles represent

quantity using area.


Composition


• Funnel Chart

• Bar Chart

• Trending Line

• Tree Map

• Origami Chart

Horizontal view to identify high and

low value data with a single

measure and single grouping.


Distribution

General• Matrix• Pyramid

• Heat Map

• Scatter Plot

Location• Map

• Geo Map

• Bubble Map

Essentially a table that represents

measures visually to spot extreme

values or patterns.


Distribution

General• Matrix

• Pyramid• Heat Map

• Scatter Plot

Location• Map

• Geo Map

• Bubble Map

Highlight relative sizes of stacked

dimension values.


Distribution

General• Matrix

• Pyramid

• Heat Map• Scatter Plot

Location• Map

• Geo Map

• Bubble Map

Essentially a table to visually

enhance high and low value data

with a single measure and multiple

dimensions.


Distribution

General• Matrix

• Pyramid

• Heat Map

• Scatter Plot

Location• Map

• Geo Map

• Bubble Map

Visualize correlation between two

groups of data (or doesn’t correlate).

Also show data distribution /

clustering trends and help spot

outliers.


Distribution - Location

General• Matrix

• Pyramid

• Heat Map

• Scatter Plot

Location• Map• Geo Map• Bubble Map

Map: Can shade areas in proportion

to mapped values.

Geo Map: Visualize data that

contains geographical coordinates

(latitude / longitude) to precisely

place visual elements.

Bubble Map: Visually

indicate measure values

in geographic areas.


Metrics

• Rating• Gauge• Polar Gauge• Flat Gauge

Tipoff: KPIs (Key Performance

Indicators)

Shows progress toward a goal.

Represents a % measure.


Conclusion



Q & A



Appendix


Composition

Donut Treemaps

Bar/Column Trending


Comparison

Column Chart

Bar Chart

Column height shows measurement

differences between data.

Radar Chart

Visually represent a dimension among

multiple measure axes with different scales.

Dot Plots

Horizontal or vertical. Size and colors are

used to compare related dimensions and

measures.

Trending Line

An ordered set of data with one or more

values to show.

Calendar Heat Map

Recurring discrete activities over long

periods of time.

Bar length displays comparison of values

between categories. Better for larger

category groups than column.

a guide to selecting the best visualizations for reports

Documents