Demonstrating Editorial Focus and Learning About Your Data - Data Visualization: A Successful Design Process - page 57

It is the hidden battle. As Simon Rogers quantifies at the start of this section, if you
imagine a visualization design project as an iceberg, the final design would be the
bit we see sticking out of the water and the ugly data preparation work would be
the vast amount hidden beneath the surface.
There is a good chance that you will have expended most perspiration in the many
thankless, uncelebrated duties you have to undertake in this part of the process.
However, just know that the value of your efforts and the associated rewards will
emerge in due course, so try not to lose enthusiasm or patience.
Refining your editorial focus
The following is a quote from Amanda Cox, New York Times
( http://seekingalpha.com/article/66269-an-amazing-graphic-on-box-
office-receipts ):
"Different forms do better jobs at answering different questions."
Now that we have prepared our data, we revisit the matter of editorial focus.
To avoid being prematurely tempted into diving into the construction of a
visualization design, we first need to do more work to fine-tune our analysis
of what are the important messages.
In the first section, we explained the importance of taking responsibility to make
sense of data, to find stories and tell stories to your intended audience. This
demonstrates a level of care. It shows that you are not just going through the
motions of communicating; you are taking it seriously, seeking to help your
audience unlock insights from the subject matter.
The journalistic capability for unearthing the most relevant stories from data
is a talent that any designer should aspire to develop.