The impact of Data Visualization in business and industry
In today’s data-driven world, the ability to convey information effectively is crucial. But raw data alone often fails to resonate with audiences and key decision makers in the boardroom. This is where the art of storytelling and data visualization comes into play. Storytelling and data visualization are very powerful tools. They complement each other by combining the emotional power of a story’s narrative and backing it up with the analytical strength of data. When effectively used together they have the power to inform, inspire and persuade any audience.
Many businesses value data as a key commodity for developing their business. We can think of Data as a foundation plan or a blueprint that can help steer the businesses with calculated guidance and direction. Architects use blueprints to design and build buildings from the ground up and businesses operate in the same way using data to design strategies or products that they have inferred from looking at insights and trends. However, blueprints can be read incorrectly if they are not correctly explained or lack context. That is why we must provide correct context when using any data.
According to a study by the Visual Systems Division (1997), visuals are processed by the brain up to 60,000 times faster than written text and classrooms that employed the use of visual aids in classroom saw an improvement in learning by up to 400 percent (Kliegel et al., 1987)
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Dr. Lynell Burmark, an expert in visual literacy and who works as an education consultant commented on the significance of connecting words, concepts, and ideas to images. She suggests that without the connection of words and imagery, information will pass through our minds too quickly and will not be retained. This is because words are stored in the short term memory parts of the brain whereas images tend to have a longer lasting impact as they are stored directly in our long-term memory.
What is the role of data visualization in storytelling and effective communication of insight?
Data visualization has an extremely significant part to play in effectively communicating key insights. It has the power to dramatically increase the receptiveness of your audience to complex information. Often what we need to do with our data points is to simplify them into easily manageable concepts. From the raw numbers and reams of data, visualizations are the easiest and most effective way to introduce those complex patterns and trends into the meeting and get all stakeholders to engage with the topic.
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Your insights and text could be extremely clear and well written but if your audience is distracted or uninterested in the way the information is presented, you miss out on an opportunity to share any key message or narrative. By presenting information in visually appealing charts or graphs we give the audience the opportunity to quickly recognize the key data points and talk about them with the other stakeholders in the meeting.
We spoke earlier about how the use of visuals in presentations are often way more memorable than data that is presented in text or numbers. This means that your presentation will have a lasting impact on the audience and hopefully the key insights and takeaways presented in the meeting will be recalled by the decision makers long after the meeting has ended.
How does Presenting data in visually engaging charts and infographics allow for easier interpretation, especially when showing trends, comparisons
Infographics are really great at condensing complex information and concepts into easily understandable visual elements like icons, color coding, and illustrations to shine a light on important concepts or points and bring attention to the relationships between different sets of data. This is key to helping audiences quickly grasp key insights and concepts without being overwhelmed by reams of poorly presented raw data.
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Infographics unlock the use of storytelling with data. Using a well-designed and beautiful piece of art to guide the viewer through the narrative of the information. Often an infographic follows a particular flow sometimes not being contained on one page encouraging the users to sometimes scroll with their mouse or zoom in. This effective navigation of the content and exploration of the narrative structure helps viewers make connections between data points and the overall context of the information.
There are some easily accessible platforms out there that can help you to create engaging charts without knowing how to code.
Examples:
Tableau Public:
A free version of the popular data visualization software that can create interactive charts and dashboards. It benefits from a large community online that offers support and ways to learn more about the tool.
Visme:
An all in one marketing platform that leverages the power of AI to help you to create presentations, charts and infographics.
Infogram:
Infogram is another online platform that leans heavily on AI to create infographics, charts and reports.
Microsoft PowerPoint:
A very popular presentation software that is primarily used to create slideshows. While a little complicated to use and get the full use of its extensive features and options it is extremely widely used and nearly every business uses it in their meetings to enhances communication and share ideas.
Vizualz:
E-Tabs have created a PowerPoint data visualization tool called Vizualz, This tool seamlessly integrates with Microsoft PowerPoint and enables users to create insightful data-driven infographics with just a click. Vizualz is the only PowerPoint plugin on the market that enables you to implement swift and simple presentation and modification of data in a visually appealing and captivating style directly within your PowerPoint slides. Vizualz being a data-driven tool means that objects will be automatically sized proportionately to the underlying values which is proven to save hours of tedious manual formatting! Vizualz fully integrates with the full E-Tabs products suite, this means you can fully automate full PowerPoint reports which will bespoke and personalized infographics.
Vizualz – get creative with your data today!