Designing with a Purpose - Data Points: Visualization That Means Something - page 341

I don't try to define what visualization is because the definition doesn't
affect how I work. I consider the audience, the data in front of me, and ask
myself whether the final graphic makes sense. Does it tell me what I want
to know? If yes, then great. If no, I go back to the drawing board and figure
out what would make the graphic better so that it answers the questions
I have about the data. Ultimately, it's all about your goals for the graphic,
what story you want to tell, and who you tell it to. Take all of the above into
account—and you're golden.
Wrapping up
A lot of data people see design as just a way to make your graphics look
pretty. That's certainly part of it, but design is also about making your
graphics readable, understandable, and usable. You can help people
understand your data better than if they were to look at a default graph.
You can clear clutter, highlight important points in your data, or even evoke
an emotional response. Data graphics can be entertaining, fun, and infor-
mative. Sometimes it'll just be the former, depending on your goal, but no
matter what you try to design—visualization, information graphic, or data
art—let the data guide your work.
When you have a big dataset, and you don't know where to begin, the best
place to start is with a question. What do you want to know? Are you look-
ing for seasonal patterns? Relationships between multiple variables? Out-
liers? Spatial relationships? Then look back to your data to see if you can
answer your question. If you don't have the data you need, then look for
more.
When you have your data, you can use the skills you learned from the
examples in this topic to tell an interesting story. Don't stop here, though.
Think of the material you worked through as a foundation. At the core of all
your favorite data graphics is a data type and a visualization method that
you now know how to work with. You can build on these for more advanced
and complex graphics. Add interactions, combine plots, or complement
your graphics with photographs and words to add more context.