Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals

by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic

Being able to visualize data and tell stories with it is key to turning it into information that can be used to drive better decision making.

When we’re at the point of communicating our analysis to our audience, we really want to be in the explanatory space, meaning you have a specific thing you want to explain, a specific story you want to tell—probably about those two pearls.

It is important to have a good understanding of who your audience is and how they perceive you.

You should be clear how you want your audience to act and take into account how you will communicate to them and the overall tone that you want to set for your communication.

In general, those communicating with data need to take a more confident stance when it comes to making specific observations and recommendations based on their analysis.

Suggesting possible next steps can be a great way to get the conversation going because it gives your audience something to react to rather than starting with a blank slate.

The 3-minute story is exactly that: if you had only three minutes to tell your audience what they need to know, what would you say?

The Big Idea boils the so-what down even further: to a single sentence.

When you have just a number or two that you want to communicate: use the numbers directly.

There’s no hard-and-fast rule here, but in general the bars should be wider than the white space between the bars.

Instead, think about whether one of the following approaches will meet your needs:

We tend to think of objects that are physically close together as belonging to part of a group.

Objects that are of similar color, shape, size, or orientation are perceived as related or belonging to part of a group.

We think of objects that are physically enclosed together as belonging to part of a group.

The closure concept says that people like things to be simple and to fit in the constructs that are already in our heads.

when looking at objects, our eyes seek the smoothest path and naturally create continuity in what we see even where it may not explicitly exist.

When design is thoughtful, it fades into the background so that your audience doesn’t even notice it.

Before-and-after

First, preattentive attributes can be leveraged to help direct your audience’s attention to where you want them to focus it. Second, they can be used to create a visual hierarchy of elements to lead your audience through the information you want to communicate in the way you want them to process it.

Studies have shown that we have about 3–8 seconds with our audience, during which time they decide whether to continue to look at what we’ve put in front of them or direct their attention to something else.

I typically design my visuals in shades of grey and pick a single bold color to draw attention where I want it.

There are a number of sites and applications with colorblindness simulators that allow you to see what your visual looks like through colorblind eyes.