Use Your Words
Lesson 20 from: Data Storytelling: Deliver Insights via Compelling StoriesBill Shander
Use Your Words
Lesson 20 from: Data Storytelling: Deliver Insights via Compelling StoriesBill Shander
Lessons
Introduction
1Class Introduction
03:29 2Do The Exercises
00:37 3Communication Challenges and Solutions
05:20 4Exercise: 4X4 Model
04:31 5Exercise Solution: 4X4 Model
03:25 6Introduction - Quiz
Thinking Like a Communicator
The Power of Story
06:48 8Six Ways to Tap Into Your Inner Storyteller
12:32 9The Importance of Understanding Your Audience
03:42 10How to Understand Your Audience
04:35 11How to Embrace Emotion (to review)
04:38 12How to Tap Into Your Inherent Creativity
05:55 13Exercise: An Emotional Story
01:29 14Exercise Solution: An Emotional Story
01:12 15Thinking Like a Communicator - Quiz
Telling Data Stories
16Basic Data Analytics Tactics
08:54 17Basic Journalism Tactics
04:56 18Defining Your Story
05:37 19Sketching and Storyboarding
07:05 20Use Your Words
04:20 21Telling Data Stories - Quiz
Essential Design Principles
22The Power of Visuals
07:44 23How to Pick the Right Chart for Your Data
05:19 24Exercise: Chart Selection
06:27 25Exercise: Visualization
02:59 26Basic Chart Designs Principles
08:21 27Research Driven Design Principles
06:27 28Exercise: A Data Story
03:50 29Essential Design Principles - Quiz
And Now What?
30Great Data Stories for Your Inspiration
05:53 31Tips and Tricks
03:53 32How to Sell Data Storytelling Services
03:56 33A Conversation Guide for Talking to Prospects About Data Storytelling Projects
05:30 34Course Summary
02:48Final Quiz
35Final Quiz
Lesson Info
Use Your Words
a screaming toddler throwing a tantrum is often admonished by her parents to use your words, but that's not what I'm talking about when I use that phrase. However, some people when thrown into a spreadsheet of data come close to tears and tantrums. So maybe it's not such a crazy comparison. When I say use your words I'm talking about a very simple but extremely powerful idea. I've created hundreds of information designs and data visualizations and data story experiences nearly every time. At some point in the process, I end up saying to my clients essentially, why don't you write down the paragraph of text that will go on the page with the visual, tell the story in complete sentences exactly how you want to say it. Then I'll make the visual with that in mind. This runs counter to how I often start the project. When I say you can come up with the final copy later, but here's the thing. Both are right. The final copy isn't necessary to do the visual. However initial copy, a clear and eve...
n overly detailed description of what the visual is meant to represent always helps. So you're thinking wait a second in order to get to a visual. I need to use words. Yes, because being visual means getting in touch with meaning, core story elements, important details and your use of descriptive language and those details in the data that you know, you want to include will help you capture everything that needs to be included. Individual for instance, will help here, I think. Let's go back to the arms trading data that I've mentioned previously. Consider the following sentence Over the past 10 years. Saudi Arabia's investment in weapons has been growing steadily and spiked considerably in 2012 and has stayed at a higher and still growing rate. Since then, This sentence is explicitly saying that I'm going to show all 10 years of data that I have and really want to show that spike in 2012. So this sentence is just begging for a line chart that looks something like this, right? All 10 years we see the spike. It's everything I'm saying in a sentence, Compare that to the sentence in 2006. Saudi Arabia invested $ million 2015 it had increased by almost 1800% to almost $3.2 billion dollars Here. My sentence is ignoring the 10 years of data and the spike in 2012 and just emphasizing the overall change. So perhaps this slope graph is the best visual to show. It's greatly simplified just as my sense would imply. Now this brings up an important point when I say use your words, I'm talking about your need to write very long and detailed and data rich sentences for your own consumption that are simply meant to help you figure out what visual will work. However, the sentence you put on the page or the screen may be much less detailed should probably be much less detailed And you need to really think about whether the visual and the sentence can be complimentary rather than redundant. For example, I may decide to use that second sentence about the overall increase from 2015 and yet still show the entire 10 years of data. So the visual may reveal more data than the onscreen sentence I end up showing. That's okay. So you may edit down your sentence to a more concise story while allowing your visual to contain richer data. Just make sure that when you use your words to decide on what data you want to show, you're really thinking about what you're showing and now what you're going to write. And if you decide to simplify your text and allow the visual to speak for itself in this way that you're doing so thoughtfully carefully and in consideration of your audience and the truth, of course, behind the data.
Ratings and Reviews
Student Work
Related Classes
Business Basics