Data visualization is the art and science of making information visible. On paper and in our imaginations, it’s a language of shapes and colors that holds our best ideas and most important questions. As we find ourselves swimming in data of all kinds, visualization can help us to understand, express, and explore the richness of the world around us. No matter your age or background, this book opens the door to new ways of thinking and sharing through the power of data visualization.
Data Visualization for People of All Ages is a field guide to visual literacy, born from the author’s personal experience working with world-class scholars, engineers, and scientists. By walking through the different ways of showing data—including color, angle, position, and length—you’ll learn how charts and graphs truly work so that no visualization is ever a mystery or out of reach. It doesn’t stop at what fits on a page, either. You’ll journey into cutting-edge topics like data sonification and data physicalization, using sound and touch to share data across the different senses. Packed with practical examples and exercises to help you connect the dots, this book will teach you how to create and understand data visualizations on your own—all without writing a single line of code or getting tangled up in software.
Written with accessibility in mind, this book invites everyone to the table to share the joy of one of today’s most necessary skills. Perfect for home or classroom use, this friendly companion gives people of all ages everything they need to start visualizing with confidence.
Author(s): Nancy Organ
Series: AK Peters Visualization Series
Publisher: A K Peters/CRC Press
Year: 2024
Language: English
Pages: 322
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Series Editor Foreword
About the Author
Welcome!
1 What is Data?
Data Vocabulary
Collecting Data into a Table
Data Types
Chapter Summary
It’s your Turn!
2 What is Data Visualization?
Data Visualization in your World
Why is Data Visualization Important?
Chapter Summary
It’s your Turn!
3 Length and Height
Examples from Everyday Life
The building Blocks of Length and Height
Making a Bar Chart
Bar Charts the Right Way
Stacked Bar Charts
Introducing Legends
Introducing Axes
Titles and Captions
Using Length to Show Distance, Change, and Time
Chapter Summary
It’s your Turn!
4 Size and Area
Shapes of Different Areas
Making Legends for Size
Using Size for Words
The Problem with Area
Chapter Summary
It’s your Turn!
5 Position
Remembering Axes
Scatterplots
Bubble Charts
Connecting the Dots
Scatterplots with Categories
Fixing Crowded and Overlapping Points
Chapter Summary
It’s your Turn!
6 Color for Categorical Data
Using Colors to Show Categories
Creating a Categorical Color Palette
Categorical Colors in Scatterplots and line Charts
Stacked and Grouped Bar Charts
Using Colors to Draw Attention
Chapter Summary
It’s your Turn!
7 Color for Numerical Data
What are Gradients?
Low-to-high Gradients
Low-middle-high Diverging Gradients
Multi-color and Rainbow Gradients
Chapter Summary
It’s your Turn!
8 Color for Ordinal Data
Stoplight Colors: The Original Ordinal Palette
Low-to-high Ordinal Palettes
Accidental Ordinal Colors Can Cause Confusion
Low-middle-high Diverging Palettes
Introducing Small Multiples
Multi-color and Rainbow Ordinal Palettes
Chapter Summary
It’s your Turn!
9 Shapes and Patterns
Shapes for Categories
Using Shapes and Colors Together
Using Shapes and Colors Separately
Solid and Dotted Lines
Filling Areas with Patterns and Textures
Chapter Summary
It’s your Turn!
10 Making Colorblind-Friendly Visualizations
How We See Color at All
Why Colorblindness Happens
Different Types of Colorblindness
How to be Colorblind-friendly
Colorblind-friendliness Helps Everyone
Chapter Summary
It’s your Turn!
11 Angle
Examples from Your Everyday Life
Bending Axes
Donut and Meter Charts
Using Angle and Position Together
Using Angle, Position, and Color
Chapter Summary
It’s your Turn!
12 Connections and Networks
Networks and Trees
Trees of all Shapes and Sizes
Parallel Coordinate Graphs
Sankey Diagrams
Chord Diagrams
Chapter Summary
It’s your Turn!
13 Visualization Whoopsies
You can’t Always Believe Your Eyes
Double Axes
Backward Axes
Bar Charts that don’t Start at Zero
Very Tall or Flat Graphs
Using Extra Dimensions for no Reason
Sometimes 3D Does Make Sense
Not Telling the Whole Story
Just Plain Wrong, Aka Lying
Chapter Summary
It’s your Turn!
14 Sound and Touch
Data you Can Hear
Pitch
Instrument
Volume
Other types of Data Sonification
Data You Can Touch
Texture
Temperature
Weight
Other Types of Data Physicalization
Sharing Data in more Ways
Chapter Summary
It’s your Turn!
15 Wrapping Up
Encoding All Along
Making Comparisons
Messing with Encodings
Know Your Purpose
Know Your Audience
Putting It All Together
Congratulations and Good Luck!
Chapter Summary
It’s your Turn!
Appendix 1 – Glossary of Words
Appendix 2 – Glossary of Graphs
Appendix 3 – Solutions Guide
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
