Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals

by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic

I almost always use dark grey for the graph title. This ensures that it stands out, but without the sharp contrast you get from pure black on white (rather, I preserve the use of black for a standout color when I’m not using any other colors).

I often see forecast and actual data plotted together as a single line, without any distinguishing aspects to set the forecast numbers apart from the rest. This is a mistake.

We can leverage visual cues to draw a distinction between the actual and forecast data, easing the interpretation of the information. In Figure 6.2, the solid line represents actual data and a thinner dotted line (which carries some connotation of less certainty than a solid, bold line) represents the forecast data. Clear labeling of Actual and Forecast under the x-axis helps reinforce this (written in all caps for easy scanning), with the forecast portion set apart visually ever so slightly via light background shading.

When it comes to focusing the audience’s attention, red is used as the single attention-grabbing color (primary red tends to be too loud for me, so I often opt instead for a burnt-red shade as I did here). Everything else is grey. Numeric data labels were used—an additional visual cue signaling importance given the stark contrast of white on red and large text—on the points we want the audience to focus: the increasing percentage of projects missing goals. The rest of the data is preserved for context, but pushed to the background so it doesn’t compete for attention. Slightly different shades of grey were used so you can still focus on one or the other series of data at a time, but it doesn’t distract from the clear emphasis on the red series.

The words at the top right reinforce what we should be paying attention to

If we consider the path our eyes take with Figure 6.4, mine scan the title, then go directly to the big, bold, black numbers and follow them to the right to the text that tells me this represents “Unmet need (gap).” My eye then goes downward, reading the text and glancing back leftward to the data each describes, until I hit the final series, “Attrition,” at the bottom. At this point, my eyes sort of bounce back and forth between “Attrition” and “Unmet need (gap)” portions of the bars, noting that there is some increase in the total number of directors over time as we look left to right (likely as the overall company grows and the need for senior leaders increases as a result), but that the majority of the unmet need is due to attrition of the current director pool.

McKee says there are two ways to persuade people: The first is conventional rhetoric. In the business world, this typically takes the form of PowerPoint slides filled with bulleted facts and statistics. It’s an intellectual process. But it is problematic, because while you’re trying to persuade your audience, they are arguing with you in their heads. McKee says, “If you do succeed in persuading them, you’ve only done so on an intellectual basis. That’s not good enough, because people are not inspired to act by reason alone” (Fryer, 2003).

The second way to persuade, according to McKee, is through story. Stories unite an idea with an emotion, arousing the audience’s attention and energy.

What exactly is story? At a fundamental level, a story expresses how and why life changes. Stories start with balance. Then something happens—an event that throws things out of balance. McKee describes this as “subjective expectation meets cruel reality.”

McKee goes on to say that stories can be revealed by asking a few key questions: What does my protagonist want in order to restore balance in his or her life? What is the core need? What is keeping my protagonist from achieving his or her desire? How would my protagonist decide to act in order to achieve his or her desire in the face of those antagonistic forces? After creating the story, McKee suggests leaning back to consider: Do I believe this? Is it neither an exaggeration nor a soft-soaping of the struggle? Is this an honest telling, though heaven may fall?

Frame your story in terms of their (your audience’s) problem so that they immediately have a stake in the solution.

audience’s attention through this part of the story by addressing how they can solve the problem you introduced.

audience what you want them to do with the new understanding or knowledge that you’ve imparted to them.