TIPS TO CREATE GOOD VISUALS

domingo, 30 de octubre de 2011

Using Graphs and other Visuals

Just picture is worth a thousand words, a good visual replaces a thousand words. It's important for users to produce high-end graphics that are intuitive and easy to understand. For instance data mining plays an important role in producing visualizations. With piles and piles of data available, it allows to find trends and stories in their data. Also a market analysis can find patterns in data identifying which products are commonly purchased together in groceries stores. In both cases the tools more useful could be a pie chart or bar chart.

Nowadays computers give the ability to generate powerful visuals, but it is up to the user to understand the data and use the most accurate graphic for the data. It's unethical to use graphics to mislead people with a visual that uses made-up or skewed data to support an agenda. One way to validate graphs is to try several different types and determine if the visualizations are similar.
Visuals help make numbers meaningful and thus help communicate your points.

In this blog you will find some tips that is going to help you to identify with graph is good for your visual, what aspects you should into account during an oral presentation among other things.

EXAMPLES

Here you examples of what are good or bad charts, so you will have a better idea how to present your visuals accurately.

FIRST EXAMPLE

RIGHT AND WRONG PIE CHARTS
Good pie charts have labels outside them, while wrong pie charts have labels inside them.

SECOND EXAMPLE

WRONG PIE CHARTS
It has many segmentations when it's recommendable the pie chart has no more than seven segments

CORRECT PIE CHARTS
Right pie charts have at least 7 seven segments, as the rule says.

THIRD EXAMPLE

WRONG LINE GRAPHS
It's not recommendable to use more than 3 different lines in one graph.

CORRECT LINE GRAPHS
A line graph is correct when it has no more than 3 lines in one graph.

FOURTH EXAMPLE

CORRECT BAR CHART
When it has a chronological order

INCORRECT BAR CHART
When it does not follow an order

FIFTH EXAMPLE

A GOOD TABLE
When it has boxhead and stub

A WRONG TABLE
When it does not have boxhead and/or stub

SIXTH EXAMPLE

AN INCORRECT TABLE
It's better to round off units

A CORRECT TABLE
When you use understandable units

SEVENTH EXAMPLE

RIGHT AND WRONG TABLES

HERE WE HAVE 3 VIDEOS TAKEN FROM YOUTUBE WHERE CAN GIVE YOU MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS TOPIC.

WHEN TO USE VISUALS

The ease of creating visuals by computer may make people use them uncritically. Use them only to achieve a specific purpose. Never put numbers, just because you have them; use them to show data the audience needs or wants.

In your rough draft, use visuals:
1. To see that ideas are presented completely.
2. To find relationships.

In the final presentation or document, use visuals:
1. To make points vivid.
2. To emphasize material.
3. To present material more compactly and with less repetition.

The numbers of visuals will depend on your purpose, the information and the
audience.

INTEGRATING VISUALS IN YOUR TEXT

1.- Put the visual as soon after your reference as space and page design permit. If the visual must go on another page, tell the reader where to find it:
2.- Summarize the main point of a visual before you present the visual itself. Then when the readers get to it, they'll see it as confirmation of your point.
3.- When you discuss visuals, spell out numbers that fall at the beginning of a sentence.
4.- Put numbers in parentheses at the end of the clause or sentence to make the sentence easy to read.

TABLES

Use them only when you want the audience to focus on specific numbers. Graphics give less information but are more memorable. Tables should have boxehead, the label on top, and the stub, the label on the side.

1.- Use understandable units. Round them off.
2.- Give column and row totals and revelant if they're relevant
3.- Put items you want readers to compare in columns instead if rows to facilite mental subtraction and division.
4.- When you have many rows screen alternate entries after every five entries to help readers line up items correctly.

BAR CHARTS

Bar charts compare distance along a common scale. Use horizontal bar when labels are long. When the labels are short horizontal or vertical bars are allowed.

1.- Order the bars in a logical or chronological order
2.- Put bars close enough together to make comparison easy
3.- Put labels inside or outside the bars
4.- Make all the bars the same width
5.- Label both horizontal and vertical axes
6.- Avoid using perspectives, due to it make difficult comparison
7.- Use different colors for the bars only when meanings are different

TYPES OF BAR:

Grouped bar chart: allow you to compare several aspects of each or several items over time.
Segmented, subdivided or stacked bars: sum o the components of an item
Deviation bar chart: show positives and negatives values
Paired bar chart: show correlation between 2 items
Histograms or Pictograms: use images to create the bars

TIPS TO CREATE GOOD VISUALS

domingo, 30 de octubre de 2011

Using Graphs and other Visuals

EXAMPLES

1.- CHECK THE SOURCE OF THE DATA

4.- FOLLOW THE CONVENTION FOR DESIGNING TYPICAL VISUALS

2.- DETERMINE THE STORY YOU WANT TO TELL

5.- USE COLOR AND DECORATION WITH RESTRAINT

3.- CHOOSE THE RIGHT VISUAL FOR THE STORY

6.- BE SURE THE VISUAL IS ACCURATE AND ETHICAL