"A picture says more than a thousand words"". This sounds like a true statement. While it's true that it is easier to tell a story with visuals than with words, it makes a huge difference which visual you are using for which story. What is the real story behind a visual. Using the wrong visual to tell a certain story can reduce the benefit of a visual to zero. In this presentation we will go through the challenges & pitfalls of Data Visualization.

1. nlOUG Tech Experience 2018
Challenges and Pitfalls
of Data Visualization
7 June 2018 - 14:00 - 14:45 / De Rijtuigenloods, Amersfoort

2. Welcome
Daan Bakboord
http://www.daanbakboord.com
https://twitter.com/daanbakboord
https://nl.linkedin.com/in/daanbakboord
http://blog.daanalytics.nl
#obihackers

3. Agenda
• Introduction
• Mind
• Perception
• Psychology
• Thinking
• Dashboard Design
Challenges and Pitfalls of Data Visualization

4. Initiatives
IT IT IT
Reliable Information / Insights
A BChange / Policy / Strategy
Data

6. A picture says more
than a thousand words

8. Visual Perception

9. Visual Perception

10. Visual Perception

11. Visual Perception -
Process
Register Observe & Interpret

12. Visual Perception
• Iconic Memory
• letters, colors, digits, shapes, etc.
• e.g. Computer buffer
• Short Term memory
• chunks of information FiFo
• e.g. Random Access Memorie (RAM)
• Long Term memory
• recognise people, events, patterns, etc.
• e.g. Computer harddisk

13. “Gestalt” Psychology
Overall picture before perception of components
Figure /
Ground
Law of GroupingWhole
is more than
Sum of Parts

14. It’s all about Perception

15. Gestalt Principles of
Perception
Closure
Proximity
Similarity
Continuation
Prägnanz (Good Figure,
Simplicity)

16. Optical Illusion

17. Optical Illusion

18. Two System Way of Thinking
• System I
• Thinking Fast
• Intuitive, “Gut” reaction
• Jump to Conclusion
• “Always On”
• System II
• Thinking Slow
• Reflection
• Problem solving
• Analysing

19. Dashboard Design
• Present information Logical and Ordered
• Signaling should be Clear and Unambiguous
• Choose the right Visualization
• Don’t give System I the opportunity to go wrong
• Optimal balance between System I & System 2
• Focus on the core message

20. Subconscious Attributes
• Color (Intensity)
• Shape
• Positioning
• Motion

21. Using Color
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47294901837900298265150137
98675321098739873947612902
16438902451209137828462010
08345601395660087414383020
47294901837900298265150137
Count the number ‘5’

23. Color Blind
Experience Color Blindness via Color Oracle

24. Right
Wrong
Using Color
Associations
B & W Printing
Too much color –where to focus?

25. Data Ink Ratio
Edward Tufte

26. Data Ink Ratio
• Minimize the Data Ink
Ratio as much as
possible
• Increase the Data Ink
Ratio if necessary to
tell the story

27. Graphs

28. Graphs

29. After a demo by an Account Manager
Visuals

30. Report

31. Stephen Few
http://www.perceptualedge.com/

32. Stephen Few
Bullet GraphSparkLine

33. JQuery

34. See the Signals
• Our Brains are better suited to
process Images
• Turn complex data sets into Easy
to Digest and Supporting Insights
• Identify interesting Patterns and
Opportunities and Previously
Unknown Trends

35. Questions?

36. Thanks!