What does a good data visualization look like?
Data visualization success is in user engagement and actionable insights. A good place to start is by looking at the reports and dashboards that end users are currently using and mapping those to the data visualization services.
General characteristics of good data visualization are that they are:
- Quick Using data visualization should help you share crucial findings faster than examining large tables of data. Many business intelligence systems, like Power BI, use real-time data and send alerts as events occur.
- Clear Data visualization should accentuate patterns, not obscure them. Clarity is typically achieved by emphasizing key trends while hiding or removing complex datasets.
- Engaging Colors, patterns, and spacing help to simplify data processing, identify trends, speed up knowledge transfer, and drive use and development.
- Shareable Data visualization must function for the team as well as their suppliers and customers in a world of dispersed employees and contractors working together in business processes.
- Actionable What do you want users to take away from the visuals? Do the informative graphs make that point? Do they provide enough analytics insights to take confident actions?