Representing and communicating data insights is a major challenge in the era of “Big Data.” In 2021, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data were created every day. People, teams, and organizations must wade through a staggering number of data points to transform the deluge of information into actionable insight.
Data visualization is a way to represent complex information with evocative text and simple imagery, used to highlight trends, growth, and changes in variable data to help readers quickly connect to valuable insights. Making use of fundamental tools like charts, indicators, and infographics, data visualization simplifies the stories told by today’s massive datasets, helping teams to identify connections and relationships between data, and enabling better business decisions and more meaningful strategy development.
Summary/Overview
Accomplishing strategic goals through data visualization
Data visualization can benefit many types of teams and organizations across an array of industries. The strategic uses for data visualization and infographics are vast, and can include:
- Simplifying public health research to communicate to diverse populations
- Visually breaking down spending and budget allocations
- Identifying the emerging trends of consumer tastes and preferences
- Depicting the progress of a project
- Analyzing insights from an opinion poll
- Comparing rates of illness among different communities
Narrowing down insights from complex data sets is only part of the equation. Color and creativity are essential to compelling and convincing data visualization. Infographics are an effective and commonly used tool for serving up your data story in ways that grab readers and illuminate insights.
What makes a good infographic?
The secret to making data visualizations and infographics that work? Show, don’t tell.
An infographic allows others to visualize your complex data story and get your point across. They typically feature a concise collection of smaller data visualizations, like charts and graphs, as well as eye-grabbing text, icons, imagery, and additional graphics. Together, they aid in presenting information in visually inviting ways that connect with readers. Infographics can be used across devices and platforms, including PDFs, printouts, social posts, and more.
The best infographic designs represent data, instructions, routines, or systems, while keeping text to a minimum. They can be a fun visualization of a single data point supporting a larger story, or an entire page that uses distinct visuals to share multiple pieces of information about one core topic.
Think about the story you’d like to tell, and what data you’d need to collect to support that story. For example, if you’re trying to show growth in a brand’s social media presence, look for statistics on audience and engagement growth to determine and convey a trend.
Be sure to clearly articulate your main message or insights, leverage the visuals as proof points to your thesis, and let your design and templates do the rest of the work!