Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals

✍️ Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic

Tags: cole-nussbaumer-knaflic , dataviz , woman , lang-en

I really liked the book and Cole Knaflic writing style. She walks us through the whole pipeline of creating a visual. From conceiving the idea to delivering the message to the audience during a presentation. The book has two distinct parts: the initial chapters can be seen as a walkthrough the pipeline. In the final chapters, she reviews all the steps using case studies and create (or makeover) several presentations.

Another positive of the book are the makeover examples where Cole presents very bad graphics and improves them using the principles stated in the book: clutter reduction, reasonable use of color, among others. In addition to the best practices for design graphics, we also learn a very important aspect of data analysis which is how to tell the story and convey the information presented in the graphic. Lots of valuable advice in the book. The preattentive attributes section is also a gem.

A lot of lessons are taught. I’ll mention three:  1. Before start designing the graphics, always ask: Who is the audience? What do you need them to know or do? Also, don’t start with software. Do some mock ups with pencil and paper. 2. Before adding information to a visualization, ask why it is necessary. Always remember that less is more. 3. Always try to get feedback and iterate as much as possible before delivering your final ‘product’.

This book is an excellent complement to Alberto Cairo’s “Truthful Art”. While Cairo focuses on the quality of the data and information to be conveyed, this book focuses on the form and narrative.