/ @VickeKaravanVicke Cheung How Visualising
Data Helps Us See Designing Creative Content

We create pieces of content
to earn attention for our clients

Getting coverage requires either: 1.
breaking news 2. new insight

We tend to focus on:
1. breaking news 2. new insight

New insight means allowing people
to see something in a new way

This is where visualising data
comes in

Simplifying the complex Visualising data
provides insight by

concerthotels.com/100-years-of-rock

wikipedia.org

wikipedia.org

We took a complex dataset

…and simplified it

concerthotels.com/100-years-of-rock shortlisted for_______________________________________ featured in
___________________________________________  122,708  8,366  558

Simplifying things makes it easier
to consume and draw insight

Putting things into context Visualising
data provides insight by

We aren’t good at wrapping
our heads around big numbers :(

On average, there are 60
million photos uploaded to Instagram each day

Impressive stat, but pretty meaningless
by itself

Let’s make it concrete!

photoworld.com/photos-on-the-web

Physical frames of reference allow
us to “see” the size of Instagram in a new way

hereistoday.com
Monday 19, October

Give insight by putting things
into context

Fear not: Putting things into
context isn’t about fancy animations

Simple static images can do
the job just as well [more on this later…]

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14975549

howithappened.com

howithappened.com

Revealing patterns Visualising data provides
insight by

Can money buy happiness?

Data taken from Cabinet Office
Wellbeing & Policy Report 2014

bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26671221 The BBC wrote an
article about this

This was their insight
bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26671221

It’s hard to draw insight
from this

We wanted to do more
with it

michaelpage.co.uk/minisite/salary-vs-happiness

Curve of best fit

Plotting the data and the
curve allowed us to identify outliers

Outlying occupations

Outlying sectors

The interest is in the
outliers, which were only identifiable through visualisation

Another great example of revealing
patterns and clusters…

nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/03/us/20110503-osama-response.html

Visualising the data brought the
hidden patterns and relationships to light

One big caveat

Any data can be
visualised

But not all data should
be!

You need to know where
you’re adding value

Wow vs. Aha

You just listened to Wikipedia!

Listen to Wikipedia
listen.hatnote.com

The value is not to
learn about Wikipedia

The value lies in the
novelty of the execution and experience

This is “Wow”
listen.hatnote.com

“Isn’t this just lovely?”

“Well, this is mesmerising”

shows you something you’ve literally
never seen before Wow

Moving on to
“Aha”

Data is easy to come
by, but insight is not

priceonomics.com/the-hipster-music-index

It shares insight by applying
a new meaning to the two sets of data

huffingtonpost.com/benjamin-moore/overrated-underrated-movies_b_5319488.html

huffingtonpost.com/benjamin-moore/overrated-underrated-movies_b_5319488.html
overrated

huffingtonpost.com/benjamin-moore/overrated-underrated-movies_b_5319488.html
underrated

It’s about what they mean,
not how they look

This is “Aha”

shows you something in a
new light Aha

“Wow” and “Aha” are not
often as clear-cut

The Wow & Aha Spectrum
Wow Aha

Listen to Wikipedia The Wow
& Aha Spectrum Wow Aha

Hipster Music IndexListen to Wikipedia
The Wow & Aha Spectrum Wow Aha

100 Years of Rock Listen
to Wikipedia Hipster Music Index The Wow & Aha Spectrum Wow Aha

If you printed all the
Instagram photos… Listen to Wikipedia Hipster Music Index 100 Years of Rock The Wow & Aha Spectrum Wow Aha

Listen to Wikipedia Hipster Music
Index 100 Years of Rock If you printed all the Instagram photos… Happiness vs. Salary The Wow & Aha Spectrum Wow Aha

Listen to Wikipedia Hipster Music
Index 100 Years of Rock If you printed all the Instagram photos… Happiness vs. Salary The Wow & Aha Spectrum Wow Aha

Regardless of what value you
choose to offer

Don’t make your audience work
for it

findproperly.co.uk/tube-map.php

Where’s the data?

Oh, didn’t even see that…

Still no actual prices!

…until you hover again

Don’t make your
audience work!

thrillist.com/lifestyle/london/london-underground-rent-map Thrillist made their own
version

It’s a big hit

It succeeded where the other
failed

Unnecessary
friction

Reward doesn’t match the effort
required

Tried to do too much:
option- overload

Overcooked
execution

Allows for quick scanning and
locating data points of interest

No learning
curve

Reward
surpasses
effort required

Simple and
intuitive

It can be tempting to
try to do too much at once

What’s the one thing you
want to show?

Gender pay gap

V1.

V1. Not showing the one
thing we want it to

V2.

Better, but could still be
improved

Pay gap made more obvious

Introduced visual metaphor

Ask yourself: What’s the one
thing I want to show?

And follow up with: Am
I really showing this?

Sometimes you need to show
people how to see it

“The annotation layer is the
most important thing we do… otherwise it’s a case of here it is, you go figure it out” Amanda Cox, NYT Graphics Editor

Annotation layer = labels, introductions,
explanatory text, captions

Surely the visualisation itself is
more important than the annotations anonymous sceptic

Indecipherable without annotations

nytimes.com/interactive/2014/06/05/upshot/how-the-recession-reshaped-the-economy-in-255-charts.html?_r=0

Annotations can help you deliver
insight without making your audience work for it

Recap

The value in visual content
is in helping people see things they couldn’t previously see by…

Simplifying the complex

Putting things in context

Revealing patterns

Know where you’re adding value
Listen to Wikipedia Hipster Music Index 100 Years of Rock If you printed all the Instagram photos… Happiness vs. Salary Wow Aha

Don’t make your audience do
the work That’s your job! But above all else…

Vicke Cheung, Distilled Thank you!
vicke.cheung@distilled.net / @VickeKaravan