DataViz Tip #7: Tools to Transform Data

Last week we have shown that transforming our data can help us create different and, likely, better visualizations. Let’s cover some tools that can help us in the process… Pivot Tables Pivot Tables is a great feature that lets you slice and dice the data you have in your spreadsheet. In Microsoft’s own words: PivotTables […]

DataViz Tip #6: Transform and “Massage” Your Data

The data you store and get back is often the most granular – that’s always great to have but not necessarily the best data to expose to users and comprehend. Suppose you have data for daily site visitors, page views and sales. You can expose all of this data as is in 3 line graphs […]

DataViz Tip #5: Sketch and Prototype Your Charts Before Coding

After seeing beautiful amCharts demos, you may have an urge to drop straight into your code editor and start coding. While sometimes you know precisely what chart represents your data best, other times it may not be as obvious. While developing a visualization with amCharts is easy, it is still more work than doing a quick […]

DataViz Tip #4: What Would Viewers Tweet About Your Chart?

An excellent way to start thinking about your visualization is to ask yourself “what would I want my viewers to tweet about this chart?” Consider this chart of visits to a fictional website: What would someone tweet after looking at this chart? Maybe something like “Most visits to the website come from the USA, followed […]

We Are Giving Away Data Visualization Books!

We are starting a new monthly newsletter with data visualization tips, tricks, and other useful information. Subscribe here to get on the list for a no-nonsense high-value content delivered to your inbox monthly. In addition to sending data visualization content to your email inbox, we will be sending a physical data visualization book to one […]

DataViz Tip #3: Start Your Column/Bar Charts at Zero

Consider the following chart which represents monthly visits to a fictional website. Based on your first quick impression, how many more visits did the site get in April compared to February? I’d say about 50 times more. Now, look at the values on the axis. As you can see the correct answer is less than […]