celebrating (almost) 100 posts with 10 tips
As I was looking at the underbelly of my blog the other day (the side only I see that has info on posts, pageviews, etc.), a number caught my eye: 99
This number described the number of posts I have published on this blog. Which meant that my next post (the one you're reading currently) would be my 100th. This seems like a significant number.*
*Upon closer evaluation, 99 actually describes total posts... published + drafts. Removing my drafts makes this the 91st published post. Since 100 was a somewhat arbitrary number anyway, I decided to go ahead with this post now instead of wait for the actual 100th post. I guess we can consider this a celebration of 91 posts published!
It's amazing to me how the time since I began writing this blog has gone by...I've been sharing my thoughts on the same topic for a time quite suddenly better measured in years than months, with my interest in learning and teaching and writing about communicating effectively with data continuing to grow.
I thought I'd use this (almost) 100th post as an excuse to look back at storytellingwithdata posts over the past two years and handpick my top 10 tips for telling a visual story with data. Here they are, in rough order of my general approach to the visualization process (click the link for the full relevant post):
cole's 10 tips for effective storytelling with data
- Set aside time for the visualization process.
- Start with a blank piece of paper.
- Keep your audience top of mind.
- Generally avoid pie charts.
- Always label your axes.
- Leverage preattentive attributes.
- Declutter your visuals.
- Consider cutting gridlines.
- Employ visual editing.
- Use words to make your visual accessible.
Thank you very much for reading and I hope you'll join me for the next 100+ posts!