Telling Stories with Data - Data Points: Visualization That Means Something - page 8

to you to find them. Of course, before expert storytellers write novels, they
must first learn to construct sentences.
What to Look For
Okay, stories. Check. Now what kind of stories do you tell with data? Well,
the specifics vary by dataset, but generally speaking, you should always be
on the lookout for these two things whatever your graphic is for: patterns
and relationships.
Patterns
Stuff changes as time goes by. You get older, your hair grays, and your
sight starts to get kind of fuzzy (Figure 1-5). Prices change. Logos change.
Businesses are born. Businesses die. Sometimes these changes are sud-
den and without warning. Other times the change happens so slowly you
don't even notice.
FIGurE 1-5 A comic look at aging
Whatever it is you're looking at, the change itself can be interesting as can
the changing process. It is here you can explore patterns over time. For
example, say you looked at stock prices over time. They of course increase