CHECKLIST: BEFORE YOU PUBLISH YOUR DATA VISUALIZATIONSFOR CONTENT MARKETERS
By Michał Krajewski
©2014 WSI. All rights reserved.
The definition
Data visualizations such as graphs, charts and infographics can greatly increase the quality and attractiveness of your content, blog posts, documents and tweets.
To ensure the quality of your visuals you always have to check few essential points that are sometimes forgotten and cause problems.
©2014 WSI. All rights reserved.
1st: CORRECT FORM & LOOK
©2014 WSI. All rights reserved.
Correct form & look
Add correct axes labels,Add title and key,Range should almost always start at 0,Remember to add appropriate sources,Different color means difference of meaning in
data,Avoid red & green (for colorblind people),Check if bubble charts are scaled according to
area (not diameter),Don’t use 3D effects,Ensure high resolution of your visuals,
©2014 WSI. All rights reserved.
Correct form & look
Use only solid lines in a Line Chart,Make sure no data is lost or obscured,Space between bars in a bar chart
should be 50% bar width,Show only what’s relevant – don’t
include too much data & details,Arrange your data logically (e.g.
alphabetically, chronologically),Maintain similar style in the whole
document.
©2014 WSI. All rights reserved.
Correct form & look
Graphics: WSI - We Simplify the Internet 2014
©2014 WSI. All rights reserved.
Correct form & look
Graphics: WSI - We Simplify the Internet 2014
©2014 WSI. All rights reserved.
2nd: TECHNICAL TIPS
©2014 WSI. All rights reserved.
Technical tips
Remember to check those technical tips:
Blog Size your images only as large as your blog content width.
Do not scale your graphs too small.
Newsletter Check different browsers AND mobile.
TwitterFacebook
Adding graph to tweets can greatly increase your conversion
Infographics Most infographics have width of 600-1100px and height of 2000-5000+px but there is no strict rule
Slideshare Ensure high resolution and readability
Source: http://blog.bufferapp.com/the-power-of-twitters-new-expanded-images-and-how-to-make-the-most-of-it
©2014 WSI. All rights reserved.
3rd: AUDIENCE & CONTEXT
©2014 WSI. All rights reserved.
Audience & context
Always consider your audience – will they be able to decipher your graphs and understand them. For example a box-and-whiskers plot is difficult for many people to comprehend.
Source: http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/statug/63962/HTML/default/images/ex3aout.png
©2014 WSI. All rights reserved.
Audience & context
Your visualizations should always be relevant to the rest of your content,
Don’t place too many visualizations in one document – it will only make it harder to read,
Use similar fonts across the whole document.
©2014 WSI. All rights reserved.
4th: MOBILE EXPERIENCE
©2014 WSI. All rights reserved.
Mobile experience
In our mobile world it is crucial to create a mobile-friendly documents and data visualisations. Always check your work on a mobile device.
Source: WSI - We Simplify the Internet
©2014 WSI. All rights reserved.
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Hans Rosling
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