Visualize Your Data

Visualize Your Data

At Springtide, we spend a lot of time thinking about how to convey our research findings in clear, easy- to-understand ways. Often, that means we’re working hard to translate our data into visualizations that people can quickly and easily grasp. You can see some of what that looks like right on our homepage. You don’t have to scroll far to see a sample of infographics that clearly convey the story of our data and our brand.”

Over time, we’ve developed a top ten checklist of things we keep in mind when thinking about data visualization that helps us deliver on our brand promise and allows our audience to consume content without getting bogged down in numbers.

Don’t forget the qualitative: Numbers are great, but quotes from interviews and focus groups helps your quantitative data come to life. Just make sure you don’t get caught in the trap of thinking that numbers are “data” and everything else is just story. If collected and analyzed rigorously, your qualitative data is just as robust as your numbers. Words are data, too!

Bold Colors: A key to data visualization is your audience being able to quickly see the differences between two data points. For this reason, bold colors are your friend.

One clear message: Make sure each infographic or data visualization has one clear message. People can quickly become overwhelmed by statistics. Keep it simple.

Avoid double negatives: The human brain has tremendous difficulty making sense of double negatives. When you combine that natural inability that with the fear many people have about numbers, it’s a recipe for disaster. Avoid communicating findings such as “Fewer than half of people who don’t vote are suffering from a lack of social interaction.” This can be reframed and simplified, even if the data stays te same: “40% of non-voters lack social interactions.”

Think in symbols: Words can be your friend when it comes to visualizing data, but only if used sparingly. Think symbolically. Instead of a bar chart that needs to be labeled, could you replace the bar with an icon that represents what the finds are about?

Use numbers sparingly: This might seem strange for data, but listen. People get overwhelmed quickly with numbers. Think about using shaded images, icon sizes, and other creative options for communicating what might normally be left to numbers. You can give the visual impression of “half” in lots of ways that aren’t just by saying, “50%”.

Remember your audience: You might think that a particular research finding is incredibly interesting, but always ask yourself: Will my audience care about this? Your data visualizations should be aimed at things your audience will care about.

?White space is your friend: The power of data visualization is related to the amount of information it can convey in a very condensed space. Resist the temptation to fill up every inch of the page with these dense information containers. Give your audience some “space” to think, process, and understand.

Tell stories: The best data visualizations tell a story. One illustration leads to the next and to the next. For example, in Springtide’s report, The State of Religion & Young People 2020, we tell a story about religious affiliation and disaffiliation in our key findings section. Although each data point could be consumed independently, when they are put together, there is a clear narrative.

Color consistency: Think about the important ways that keeping your colors consistent throughout your document can help readers make sense quickly. When a family foundation approached us about doing a Catholic Edition of the 2020 report mentioned above, our designer had the brilliant idea of highlighting any new, specifically Catholic data points and insights in their own, consistent color. This helped the reader quickly and easily identify the ways Catholic young people might compare to young people in general.

As you work more and more to visualize your data, you will certainly come up with some standards and best practices that work for you and your organization. Keep track of these. Use the ones above and the ones you come up with as a checklist before putting something out into the world. You probably don’t need to check every box for every visualization, but the more consistent you are in these principles, the more clearly and powerfully you’ll tell the story of your organization and impact. In other words, the more effective you’ll be as a thought leader.

You can easily implement these same tactics in your own organization. If you need any help doing so, don’t hesitate to be in touch. Email Megan Bissell, Head of Research for Springtide Research Institute: [email protected].