In the recent years, the internet has seen a surge in the number of dashboards and visualizations – some that communicate a message succinctly yet far too many that are colorful and pretty but don’t serve their intended purpose all too well. Thanks to the availability of data and the proliferation of “big data” visualization tools, it has become extremely easy for data enthusiasts – both amateurs and experts alike to create dashboards and share them across the web. While the growing enthusiasm about data visualizations is definitely encouraging, it is important to better understand the framework that underpins a great visualization to make a meaningful impact. The problem begins when we skip learning concepts and jump directly to learning tools.
Personally, until a few months back, I was under the impression that I could learn the art of visualizing data by simply learning a tool such as Tableau or QlikView. However, over the course of the past few weeks, I have come to realize how important it is to understand the underlying foundations and frameworks to create an effective visual that truthfully communicates a trend or a claim. For example, I’d never given too much thought into who my audience was and how my visualizations were driven by them and not the other way around. It is worth noting that the fundamental concepts of visualization and framework remain the same, no matter what tools we use. Hence, tools without frameworks are mere tools that serve little purpose.
Reference:
www.daydreamingnumbers.com/blog/learn-concepts-not-only-tools/