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Idea Journal Submission #3:
Wild Card
Telling stories with data visualization
Bill Sanders at Lynda.com "Data Visualization: Stotorytelling" course argues that storytelling is essential even in data visualization. He argues that without the story, no matter how well the data is presented, it will not be memorable, because the more parts of the brain are activated during the engagement, the more impactful the data will be in the audience. For example, neutral words like "poverty" are only triggered the language portions of the brain, while words like "coffee" would trigger portions that process smell or taste. In other words, if visuals are used to activate the visual cortex and other sensory inputs are affecting the data visualization would be more impactful. Similar concept was also mentioned in the readings and in lectures.
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​Example of a non-neutral word impact
Key takeaways:
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It is important to Know What You want to Say, Know What the Data is Saying and Know What the Audience Needs to Hear. Sketch what you are trying to say with the visualization, what is the message, what are the stories.
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In order to find a story in the data, one should bookmark the parts that are interesting about the data, for example, figuring out why did a certain outlier occurred.
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Engage as many sensory inputs as possible with visualization.
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Make sure it is a fair "apple to apple" comparison.
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Allow for progressive depth: start simple and provide options to dig deeper for the audience. This is an opportunity to add interactivity to the data visualization.
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The story is about making the audience see themselves in it. The story is originally a way to increase chances of survival. In that way, if the story/ data could provide something that an audience could relate to in their daily lives the more impactful it will be.
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Eye candy is important as attention spans shrink. However, they must not undermine accuracy.
Lectures takeaway:
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Reducing to just one color channel reduces ‘cognitive load’ and mental ‘information processing’.
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Communicate the same message by offsetting new information into a different sensory modality which reinforces the intended meaning you want to convey: communicate the same message by offsetting new information into a different sensory modality which reinforces the intended meaning you want to convey, as illustrated in the next slide.
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Avoidance of Red/Green for Color Blind People
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Green Reserved for Parks (non-essential info)
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Use of Blue/Orange and Yellow/Purple Complementary Colors
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90° and 45° Angles Popular w/ Transit
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Motivated Alignment Transitions
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