What is Data Visualisation?
It has been proven that one of the very best ways for businesses and organisations to display their information is through visual stimuli. Creating fun, interactive and vibrant content that displays who you are and what you do in a visual and graphic way can help to better your audience’s understanding of you! Data visualisation is the field of study that looks to analyse the way that graphic representation impacts people in different ways.
These graphics can represent complex information, but the way that it is presented makes it far easier for us to comprehend and understand. This is not necessarily a new concept, and for many years numerical information has been represented by using graphs and other visual representations, helping people better understand something that may be quite complex through graphical depictions.
What is Data Visualisation Used for?
Data visualisation is used in many different ways and within different industries, from the financial sector to marketing. Data visualisation has proven to impact the way that consumers interact with information, helping them to better understand information as it is presented in more visual ways. Data visualisation can help consumers, workers and anyone within a wide range of industries to better align certain information with certain goals.
If you are looking at a graph that outlines a business’s current revenue, you can see exactly where the most amount of money is coming from. This can help in immeasurable ways as companies can analyse why this happens and try and replicate it in other parts of the business! Information represented in this way opens up new doors and helps people better relate to data in ways that would not have been possible had the information been presented in a confusing spreadsheet. Data visualisation is also great when it comes to image SEO, as the images that are developed can be used to portray information on a website, allowing for customers to more easily understand who you are and what you do!
What are the Main Goals of Data Visualisation?
One of the main goals of data visualisation is to better present information that would otherwise seem complicated to understand. Our brains are able to better process information when it is presented to us in visual ways, and data visualisation helps to achieve this!
How Does Visualising Data Improve Decision Making?
When we can fully understand something quickly and easily, we are far more likely to make a decisive decision if needed. When it takes time to properly comprehend something that we read, our minds are already second-guessing whether we actually fully comprehend the numbers and words that may be in front of us. Data visualisation helps people to take more decisive action, as they are able to comprehend better what is in front of them and make more meaningful connections with the information.
What are the Types of Data Visualisations?
Data visualisation is only growing, and with this growth comes the need to better understand the different types of data visualisations. There are tons of ways that people can display information, and the kind of data visualisation that is used for specific information may depend on what a person is trying to show and what type of information they have to work with. The following is a look at just a few of the most popular types of data visualisations!
- Data visualisation tables: When it comes to displaying numerical information, one of the best ways to visually construct this type of information is through tables. Tables clearly outline relationships between certain numbers and can help those who view them better understand the structure of information. Tables graphically construct information by using rows and columns, placing data and numerical information in a way that highlights trends and different relationships between the data. As far as data visualisation infographics go, tables are one of the best and most common ways to display information.
- Data visualisation graphs: Graphs are another type of data visualisation and there are many different kinds of graphs that can be used for different information. The type of graph that is used may depend on the information type and how it correlates with the other variables that need to be included. Graphs are easy to understand because they help to establish relationships, be it time with data or even the number of sales within a certain space of time. A graph is a great tool to use when it comes to data visualisation and many businesses use it to better display information to both customers and employees.
- Heat maps: When it comes to graphically represent locations, heat maps offer a great solution! Certain colours are used to represent specific information, helping people to better understand the data that they have been presented with. For example, a business may need to display where the people who most often make purchases live, highlighting areas where their products or services are most effective. This can help understand buyer patterns and even help a business to better promote certain aspects of their product or service in other areas!
What are the Benefits of Data Visualisation?
Data visualisation has been proven to help people better understand information, processing it in a way that makes more sense than just a jumble of information presented in a paragraph. It is often used in educational settings to help students grasp ideas and have a better understanding of certain topics, but it is now moving into more than just education! The benefits of data visualisation are only proving to be more pertinent, especially when it comes to marketing!
What are the Stages of Visualisation?
- Know your audience: In order to create the best visualisation graphics, you need to ensure that you have a good idea of what your audience would react to and understand.
- Collect your data: The data collection process is probably one of the most important and researchers need to be sure that they are not just collecting accurate information, but also data that is relative. When completing your research on your target audience, you will find out what these people are most interested in hearing about and what is most important to them. It may be the cost, the durability, the size or even the location that matters, and once you have this information you can begin the process of data collection!
- Find meaningful relationships: Now that you have collected your data, it is time to construct meaningful relationships between the information. It is important that this information be presented in a meaningful way that is also easy to understand. The relationships between the information should be clear and concise, while still remaining eye-catching! Finding the best data visualisation techniques to suit the information you are gathering is vital when it comes to creating meaningful relationships between certain groups of information.
- Create the graphic: Now is the part where you create the actual graphic. The type of data visualisation model that you use will depend on the information you are showing as well as the audience you are targeting, so remember to keep this in mind as you develop your visualisation graphic!
What are the Best Practices for Data Visualisation?
With tons of different data visualisation blogs to follow, it is becoming easier to understand how this form of graphical representation works. The following is a look at a few of the best practices in data visualisation!
- Make sure your visuals have a purpose: It is pretty pointless to go through the process of analysing your target audience and gathering your data if the visual does not have a specific purpose. You should be answering relevant questions and using meaningful information, whether you are targeting customers or even explaining something to your employees. The importance of data visualisation should not be overlooked and ensuring that the graphics you create are done so with purpose can be extremely helpful, no matter what industry you are in.
- Carefully consider the type of graphic you use: how the information is presented can make a big difference when it comes to the relevance of a graphic display. The main point of representing the information graphically is to create an informative way for the data to be understood, and this is only possible when the correct type of graphic is used. You can use various tools to create this information, as will be explained in the following paragraph!
The Best Free Data Visualisation Tools
As with many things in the world of marketing, there have been brands who have come up with tools to help users take advantage of things like data visualisation. The following are just a few of the best free data visualisation tools on the market today!
- Tableau Public: One of the best free data visualisation tools available is Tableau public! With a bunch of different features that allow you to create interactive graphics and charts, it’s not hard to see why this is the preferred tool when it comes to data visualisation.
- Google charts: Another fantastic tool to use is Google Charts! As with many of the programs and tools that Google has developed over the years, this data visualisation platform is incredibly easy to use and offers its users the chance to find the best template to suit the data set that they are attempting to represent!
