Storytelling with data : a data visualization guide for business professionals

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Title:

Storytelling with data : a data visualization guide for business professionals

Author:

Knaflic, Cole Nussbaumer author.

ISBN:

9781119002253

Physical Description:

xiii, 267 pages : illustrations (some color), charts ; 24 cm.

Contents:

The importance of context -- Choosing an effective visual -- Clutter is your enemy! -- Focus your audience's attention -- Think like a designer -- Dissecting model visuals -- Lessons in storytelling -- Pulling it all together -- Case studies -- Final thoughts.

Subject Term:

Information visualization.

Business communication.

Computer graphics.

Business presentations.

Summary:

Storytelling with Data teaches you the fundamentals of data visualization and how to communicate effectively with data. You'll discover the power of storytelling and the way to make data a pivotal point in your story. The lessons in this illuminative text are grounded in theory, but made accessible through numerous real-world examples--ready for immediate application to your next graph or presentation. Storytelling is not an inherent skill, especially when it comes to data visualization, and the tools at our disposal don't make it any easier. This book demonstrates how to go beyond conventional tools to reach the root of your data, and how to use your data to create an engaging, informative, compelling story. Specifically, you'll learn how to: understand the importance of context and audience; determine the appropriate type of graph for your situation; recognize and eliminate the clutter clouding your information; direct your audience's attention to the most important parts of your data; think like a designer and utilize concepts of design in data visualization; [and] leverage the power of storytelling to help your message resonate with your audience. --

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	001.4226 KNA	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove)	001.4226 KNA	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	001.4226 KNA	Searching... Unknown

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On Order

Summary

Don't simply show your data--tell a story with it!

Storytelling is not an inherent skill, especially when it comes to data visualization, and the tools at our disposal don't make it any easier. This book demonstrates how to go beyond conventional tools to reach the root of your data, and how to use your data to create an engaging, informative, compelling story. Specifically, you'll learn how to:

Understand the importance of context and audience Determine the appropriate type of graph for your situation Recognize and eliminate the clutter clouding your information Direct your audience's attention to the most important parts of your data Think like a designer and utilize concepts of design in data visualization Leverage the power of storytelling to help your message resonate with your audience

Together, the lessons in this book will help you turn your data into high impact visual stories that stick with your audience. Rid your world of ineffective graphs, one exploding 3D pie chart at a time. There is a story in your data-- Storytelling with Data will give you the skills and power to tell it!

Author Notes

Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic has been analyzing data and using it to tell stories for over a decade, through analytical roles in banking, private equity, and at Google. She delivers presentations and workshops for organizations seeking to improve data presentation and pens the popular blog www.storytellingwithdata.corn.

Reviews (2)

Choice Review

At a time when powerful computing, publishing, and spreadsheet analysis tools are widespread, why are data visualizations--charts, graphs, and data tables--so frequently terrible? According to Knaflic, much of it comes down to a focus on using software instead of telling stories. The author urges readers to focus on the message and venture beyond the default settings in common spreadsheet applications to create powerful visualizations. Other volumes on data visualization introduce many of the same concepts but with much broader examples. A limited scope of coverage works to the book's advantage. The user-friendly chapters are structured around a series of compelling, easy-to-follow examples. In each, the purpose, the design principle, and step-by-step incremental improvements are presented. The results are crisp, clear, and persuasive without being overwhelming. Absent is only step-by-step guidance for creating visuals in spreadsheet applications, but all but the most inexperienced spreadsheet user should be able to duplicate the results. A valuable introduction to data visualization for novices. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates to professionals. --Steve Gove, University of Vermont

Library Journal Review

For many business professionals, being asked to "show the data" often results in frustration, pressure, and feeling inadequate. Knaflic, known for her blog, -storytellingwithdata.com, proposes using concepts from storytelling and visual design to illustrate data effectively. Most of the book is focused on presenting data visually. The author, who gives workshops on the subject, demonstrates how design principles can make standard visuals most effective, offers alternative designs, addresses when not to use an image, and convincingly evangelizes on why pie charts are not recommended. Later, she addresses narrative structure and rules for writing. Throughout, the author emphasizes how to incorporate data, whether as a visual or not, as part of an overall idea. For those interested in more information, Knaflic supplies books, authors, and websites for further reading. The author's style is friendly, chatty, and informal, though also at times clunky and unclear. This isn't an issue, however, as she employs numerous figures and illustrations to support her points. VERDICT While the topics promoted here aren't new, Knaflic doesn't claim them to be otherwise. This recommended work asserts that storytelling is a successful way to communicate information and effectively promotes the practical necessity of clarity and maintaining credibility.-Robert Mixner, Bartholomew Cty. P.L., Columbus, IN © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Foreword	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
About the author	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Chapter 1 The importance of context	p. 19
Chapter 2 Choosing an effective visual	p. 35
Chapter 3 Clutter is your enemy!	p. 71
Chapter 4 Focus your audience's attention	p. 99
Chapter 5 Think like a designer	p. 127
Chapter 6 Dissecting model visuals	p. 151
Chapter 7 Lessons in storytelling	p. 165
Chapter 8 Pulling it all together	p. 187
Chapter 9 Case studies	p. 207
Chapter 10 Final thoughts	p. 241
Bibliography	p. 257
Index	p. 261

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Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (2)

Choice Review

Library Journal Review

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