CHART is a guide to unleashing creativity in data visualization. It takes you on a journey along the spectrum from an ordinary chart to data art, packed with ways to bring more creativity into any visualization. It will help to make your visuals more compelling and memorable, long after the numbers have been crunched.
Drawing from over a decade of experience, the author shares thirteen hands-on, tool-agnostic lessons, each filled with actionable insights and unique perspectives. Between these core lessons, you’ll find tips, mini-chapters, and dozens of real-world examples from both client and personal projects. The book also includes exclusive glimpses into early sketches, works-in-progress, and in-depth design stories that reveal how creativity in data is often a messy, non-linear, but ultimately rewarding process.
CHART: Designing Creative Data Visualization from Charts to Art is designed for journalists, data analysts, business professionals, and newcomers alike, these lessons empower readers to push beyond the default. By the end of the book, you’ll have the tools and inspiration to transform typical charts and graphs into visuals that not only inform but also captivate and connect with your audience.
This book invites you to break the mold and think outside the chart.
Introduction
Part I | Staying Close to Ordinary Charts
1. Give a Chart Something Unique | “The topic or subject of the data can be great inspiration to elevate a straightforward chart”
2. Consider Uncommon Chart Types | “Nontraditional charts can be more expressive and communicate certain data insights more effectively”
I. MINI CHAPTER | Broaden Your Horizon of Visual Forms
3. Combine Charts | “Fusing chart types together can create distinctive and compelling visuals”
II. MINI CHAPTER | Use Circular Shapes
Part II | Getting Creative
4. Amplified Encoding | “Present the same variable in diverse ways to achieve something more visually captivating”
III. MINI CHAPTER | Projecting Your Data onto Other Visuals
5. Sketch Designs First | “Use plain pen and paper to sketch rough concepts to develop more expressive ideas”
6. Don’t Think in Chart Types | “Think less in “chart types” and more about what information, patterns, and stories to reveal when going for more creative visuals”
Part III | Aiming for Visual Diversity
7. Show All the Data | “Show the most granular level of detail in the data set to present intriguing context”
8. Show Aggregate Values with Granular Data | “If you need to show aggregated insights, reveal them using more granular data and clever design tricks”
9. Add More Variables | “Enhance your visuals by thoughtfully adding additional variables to provide greater depth and interest to the main story”
IV. MINI CHAPTER | Refining Your Use of Color
10. Big Datasets, Big Possibilities | “Bigger datasets lend themselves more easily to creative data visualization”
V. MINI CHAPTER | Creative Legends
Part IV | Diving into Data Art
11. Find Inspiration from Your Interests | “Pull artistic inspiration—as well as techniques and tools—from other creative areas of your life to give your data visuals some flair”
12. Add Randomness into the Mix | “Randomness broadens your visual possibilities and will reveal unexpected, refreshing outcomes”
V. MINI CHAPTER | Sketching Your Data Art Ideas
13. Let the Subject of the Data Guide Your Design | “In data art, the overarching theme or topic of the data holds more design significance than the precise figures”
Outro
Think Outside the Chart
Acknowledgements
Index
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