Webinar hosted by Tableau, delivered by Andy Kirk on 4th April 2017

1. The 7 Hats of Visualisation
Design: A 2017 Reboot
Andy Kirk
andy@visualisingdata.com
www.visualisingdata.com
@visualisingdata

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Why a ‘2017 Reboot’?
http://www.visualisingdata.com/book/

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“There is not one project I have been involved in that I would
execute exactly the same way second time around. I could
conceivably pick any of them – and probably the thing they
could all benefit most from? More inter-disciplinary expertise”
Alan Smith OBE, Data Visualisation Editor, Financial Times
A truly inter-disciplinary subject

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A sometimes overwhelming subject
Images from http://images.wikia.com/marvel_dc/images/9/93/Adventures_of_Superman_424.jpg and
http://www.adobenido.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/wonder_woman.jpg

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A sometimes overwhelming subject
Talented superstars
Everyday practitioners
What capabilities do
these people have…
that these people should
strive to attain?

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“Invariably, people who are new to visualization want to
know where to begin, and, frankly, it’s understandably
overwhelming. Don’t worry if you feel you don’t have skills
yet; just start from where you are…”
Scott Murray
A sometimes overwhelming subject

7. 7
Lancaster University | 1995 to 1999
UG Degree in Operational Research (OR)
+ Year in Industry 1997/98
Cooperative Insurance Society (CIS) | 1999 to 2001
Business Analyst
West Yorkshire Police | 2001 to 2007
Performance Analyst > Information Manager
University of Leeds | 2007 to 2012
Information Manager
University of Leeds | 2007 to 2009
Masters Degree (Research) in Data Visualisation
Visualising Data Ltd | Part-time 2010, Full-time 2012 –
Freelance Data Visualisation Specialist
My thinking is shaped by OR

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Roles & Mindsets: Edward de Bono’s 6 Thinking Hats
Reference from http://www.debonogroup.com/six_thinking_hats.php

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Roles & Mindsets: Mr Benn’s many magical costumes
Image from http://realtimeshortstories.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/mr_benn.jpg | Video from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMSJNrzQ3PM
Mr. Benn, a man wearing a black suit and bowler hat, leaves his house at 52 Festive Road
and visits a fancy-dress costume shop where he is invited by the mustachioed, fez-wearing
shopkeeper to try on a particular outfit. He leaves the shop through a magic door at the
back of the changing room and enters a world appropriate to his costume, where he has an
adventure (which usually contains a moral) before the shopkeeper reappears to lead him
back to the changing room, and the story comes to an end. Mr. Benn returns to his normal
life, but is left with a small souvenir of his magical adventure.

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Which capabilities do you already possess?
Which capabilities do you not yet possess?
Which capabilities will you likely never possess?
We ALL start from somewhere: Where are you now?

11. DIRECTOR

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Bringing order to the chaos: Where to begin? What path to take?
Image from http://www.mattneuman.com/maze.gif

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Managing the decision-making process
Stage 1
Formulating
your brief
Stage 2
Working
with data
Stage 3
Establishing
your editorial
thinking
Stage 4
Developing your
design solution

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“… in order to design a tool, we must make our best efforts to
understand the larger social and physical context within
which it is intended to function.”
Bill Buxton
Understanding and defining the context
Quote from “Sketching User Experiences” http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0123740371/

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Understanding and defining the context

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Understanding and defining the context

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Defining the project’s vision

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The coordinator – oversees the project
Initiates and leads on formulating the project brief
Identifies and establishes the project’s key circumstances
Defines the vision for the project depending on desired outcome
Manages progress through the workflow and keeps it cohesive
Has a ‘thick skin’: needs patience and empathy
Gets things done: checks, tests, finishes tasks
Pays strong attention to detail
DIRECTOR

19. COMMUNICATOR

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Understands the need to be “audience-centred”
Perceiving Interpreting Comprehending
What does it mean?
Is it good or bad?
Meaningful or insignificant?
Unusual or expected?
What does it show?
Where is big, medium, small?
How do things compare?
What relationships exist?
What does it mean to me?
What are the main messages?
What have I learnt?
Any actions to take?
SUBJECT KNOWLEDGEFORM OF COMMUNICATION AUDIENCE RECEPTIVENESS

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What do you want to tell
them? What do you think
they need to know?
What do you know they
need to know? If you
were them what would
you find relevant? How
much do they know
about a subject?
Understands the need to be “audience-centred”
Image from http://zeldalily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/guess-who.jpg

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Understands the communication setting

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(RIP Hans Rosling, the best of the best communicators)
Even when he had his back to you!
Image taken from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usdJgEwMinM

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Cares about the right functional and subject accessibility
Visualisation from Corriere della Serra http://www.corriere.it/cultura/17_marzo_31/premi-malofiej-vince-la-lettura-56ea698a-163a-11e7-b176-
94ba31b8546a.shtml?refresh_ce-cp

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Cares about the right functional and subject accessibility
Visualisation by Bloomberg http://www.bloomberg.com/infographics/2014-01-16/tracking-super-bowl-ticket-prices.html

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Recognises the importance of good annotation
“The annotation layer is the most important thing we do...
otherwise it’s a case of ‘here it is, you go figure it out’.”
Amanda Cox, New York Times
Quote from http://eyeofestival.com/speaker/amanda-cox/

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Recognises the importance of good annotation

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Recognises the importance of good annotation
Visualisation by Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/b2eced58-a6cc-11e6-8898-79a99e2a4de6

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The broker – manages the human dynamics
Helps to gather and understand requirements
Manages expectations and presents possibilities
Helps to define the perspective of the audience
A good listener with a willingness to learn from domain experts
A confident communicator with laypeople and non-specialists
Possesses strong copy-editing abilities
Launches and promotes the final solution
COMMUNICATOR

30. JOURNALIST

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Curiosity: ‘An eagerness to know or learn something’
Possesses and shapes the critical curiosity

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“What is the pattern of success or failure in the movie
careers of a range of notable actors?”
Possesses and shapes the critical curiosity

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Potent instincts for pattern-matching & sniffing out the story
Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Landmesser

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Potent instincts for pattern-matching & sniffing out the story
Visualisation by Bloomberg http://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/latest

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Potent instincts for pattern-matching & sniffing out the story
Visualisation by New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/05/22/world/europe/europe-right-wing-austria-hungary.html

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“A photo is never an objective reflection, but always an
interpretation of reality. I see data visualization as sort of a
new photojournalism – a highly editorial activity.”
Moritz Stefaner
Makes the critical editorial judgments: What’s our point?
Quote from http://well-formed-data.net/archives/1027/worlds-not-stories

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Makes the critical editorial judgments: What’s our point?
Photos from http://neilleifer.com/portfolio/

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Makes the critical editorial judgments: What’s our point?
Image from http://kottke.org/06/07/independent-infographic

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The reporter – pursues the scent of an enquiry
Defines the trigger curiosity and purpose of the project
Has an instinct to research, learn and discover
Driven by a desire to help others understand
Possesses or is able to acquire salient domain knowledge
Understands the essence of the subject’s data
Has empathy for the interests and needs of an audience
Defines the editorial angle, framing and focus
JOURNALIST

40. DATA ANALYST

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Responsible for the collection of data
Sourcing data to support the enquiry…
“What does the rhythm & architecture of Seinfeld look like?”

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Responsible for the examining and familiarising with the data

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Responsible for the transformation of data

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Responsible for undertaking exploratory data analysis

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Responsible for undertaking exploratory data analysis
Visualisation by New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/upshot/what-good-marathons-and-bad-investments-have-in-common.html

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Responsible for undertaking exploratory data analysis

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The wrangler – handles all the data work
Has strong data and statistical literacy
Has the technical skills to acquire data from multiple sources
Examines the physical properties of the data
Undertakes initial descriptive analysis
Transforms and prepares the data for its purpose
Undertakes exploratory data analysis
Has database and data modelling experience
DATA ANALYST

48. SCIENTIST

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Concerned by the importance of trustworthiness & integrity
Visualisation from New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/president

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Concerned by the importance of trustworthiness & integrity
Images from https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/trump-charts/

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Concerned by the importance of trustworthiness & integrity
Visualisation by LA Times Graphics http://graphics.latimes.com/kobe-every-shot-ever/

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Fundamental knowledge of visual perception
Images from http://yusylvia.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/gestalt_illustration-01.jpg?w=604&h=251&h=251 &
http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/ss/gestaltlaws.html

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Fundamental knowledge of visual perception
Taken from http://www.scribblelive.com/blog/2011/12/13/2ds-company-3ds-a-crowd/

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Fundamental knowledge of visual perception
Image from http://eagereyes.org/basics/rainbow-color-map | Photo from https://twitter.com/espurrkawa/status/829238117848739841

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Fundamental knowledge of visual perception
Visualisation by Stamen http://stamen.com/work/who-immunization/

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Fundamental knowledge of visual perception
colorbrewer2.org

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Fundamental knowledge of visual perception
Map images from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Mercator_projection_SW.jpg and
http://www.vox.com/world/2016/12/2/13817712/map-projection-mercator-globe

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The thinker – provides scientific rigour
Brings a strong research mindset to the process
Understands the science of visual perception
Understands visualisation, statistical and data ethics
Understands the influence of human factors
Verifies/validates the integrity of all data and design decisions
Demonstrates “system’s thinking” approach to problem solving
Undertakes reflective evaluation and critique
SCIENTIST

59. DESIGNER

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To make the best decisions you need to be familiar with all your
options and aware of the things that will influence your choices.
Responsible for the critical design-related decision-making
THINGS YOU
COULD DO
THINGS YOU
WILL DO

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Responsible for the critical design-related decision-making
“Finish”Start Decisions

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Responsible for the critical design-related decision-making

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Responsible for the critical design-related decision-making
http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

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Balances creative flair with discerning judgment
Visualisation by Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/people-shot-to-death-by-police-and-how-they-were-allegedly-
armed/2015/05/30/57a514aa-0715-11e5-bc72-f3e16bf50bb6_graphic.html

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Balances creative flair with discerning judgment
Visualisation by Reuters http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/14/wine/index.html
Visualisation by WSJ http://www.wsj.com/articles/asia-loses-its-sweet-tooth-for-chocolate-1431281818

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Balances creative flair with discerning judgment

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“Good design is thorough down to the last detail...
Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance.”
from Dieter Rams’ ‘10 principles of good design’
A commitment to thoroughness
Quote from https://www.vitsoe.com/gb/about/good-design

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A commitment to thoroughness

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The conceiver – provides creative direction
Establishes the initial creative pathway through a ‘purpose map’
Forms the initial mental visualisation: ideas and inspiration
Has strong creative, graphic and illustration skills
Understands the principles of user interface design
Is fluent with the full array of possible design options
Unifies the decision-making across the design anatomy
Has a relentless creative drive to keep innovating
DESIGNER

70. TECHNOLOGIST

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Possess the critical technical abilities
http://www.visualisingdata.com/resources/

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Balances technical flair with discerning judgment
Visualisation by Cameron Beccario https://earth.nullschool.net/

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Balances technical flair with discerning judgment
Visualisation by Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2012/nov/05/you-decide-the-presidential-election-interactive

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Balances technical flair with discerning judgment

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Balances technical flair with discerning judgment

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Balances technical flair with discerning judgment
From Archie Tse’s talk https://github.com/archietse/malofiej-2016/blob/master/tse-malofiej-2016-slides.pdf

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Balances technical flair with discerning judgment
From Gregor Aisch https://www.vis4.net/blog/posts/in-defense-of-interactive-graphics/

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Pragmatist finding the means necessary to meet the ends…

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Pragmatist finding the means necessary to meet the ends…

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Pragmatist finding the means necessary to meet the ends…

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The developer – constructs the solution
Possesses a repertoire of software and programming capabilities
Has an appetite to acquire new technical solutions
Possesses strong mathematical knowledge
Can automate otherwise manually intensive processes
Has the discipline to avoid feature creep
Works on the prototyping and development of the solution
Undertakes pre- and post-launch testing, evaluation and support
TECHNOLOGIST

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IN SUMMARY

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Director Journalist
Data
Analyst
DesignerTechnologist
Communicator Scientist
The ‘7 hats’ aren’t entirely exclusive

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JOURNALIST
= NOSE
DATA ANALYST
= BACK
COMMUNICATOR
= EARS/MOUTHSCIENTIST
= MIND
DIRECTOR
= LEGS
DESIGNER
= EYE
TECHNOLOGIST
= HANDS
Alternative: The ‘Anatomy of the Visualiser’?

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Addressing your shortcomings
Some require fresh thinking
Some require new attitudes/better discipline
Some require more knowledge
Some require more skills
Some require latent talent (technical, creative)
Some can be compromised on
Some can be gained by collaborating
Most requires further experience/practice

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“Chefs are able to more clearly discern what they taste
because through constant exposure they have developed
improved senses as well as vocabulary to express
and discuss their impressions.”
Oliver Reichenstein
Addressing your shortcomings: Learn, apply, reflect and repeat
Paraphrased from: http://ia.net/blog/learning-to-see/

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Developing effectiveness and efficiency in your
data visualisation work will take time:
It is a journey that never stops because data
visualisation is a subject that has no ending.

88. The 7 Hats of Visualisation
Design: A 2017 Reboot
Andy Kirk
andy@visualisingdata.com
www.visualisingdata.com
@visualisingdata