Datum Design: Rethinking Data Visualisation for Business

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Datum Design Rethinking Data Visualisation for Business Amit Kapoor amitkaps.com

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In the last few months... — Helping a startup — Reviewing multiple dashboard products — Understanding the tools landscape

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“We have a functional BI product, and we will put a dashboard on it”

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“Business Dashboards are a solved problem”

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This made me very uncomfortable — Is it all so simple? — Why do I rarely see good dashboard design? — Explain the glaring gap between data journalism and business?

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“Information Seeking Mantra: Overview ﬁrst, then zoom and ﬁlter, and details on demand” — Ben Shneiderman

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“Business Information Seeking Dashboard Mantra: Overview Aggregate ﬁrst, then zoom chart and ﬁlter link, and details table on demand” — Ben Shneiderman Every BI Designer Tool

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BI Dashboard Design Approach — Load a data table

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BI Dashboard Design Approach — Load a data table — Create aggregate measures

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BI Dashboard Design Approach — Load a data table — Create aggregate measures — Make 1D or 2D charts

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BI Dashboard Design Approach — Load a data table — Create aggregate measures — Make 1D or 2D charts — Put them in a block layout

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BI Dashboard Design Approach — Load a data table — Create aggregate measures — Make 1D or 2D charts — Put them in a block layout — Link them with a few ﬁlters

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BI Dashboard Design Approach — Load a data table — Create aggregate measures — Make 1D or 2D charts — Put them in a block layout — Link them with a few ﬁlters — Add a table list for details

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Now this is too easy! — Task Layer: Unlock data using a Dashboard

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Now this is too easy! — Task Layer: Unlock data using a Dashboard — Data Layer: Columnar data storage

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Now this is too easy! — Task Layer: Unlock data using a Dashboard — Data Layer: Columnar data storage — Visual Layer: Reusable charts in blocks

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Now this is too easy! — Task Layer: Unlock data using a Dashboard — Data Layer: Columnar data storage — Visual Layer: Reusable charts in blocks — Annotation Layer: Just the basics

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Now this is too easy! — Task Layer: Unlock data using a Dashboard — Data Layer: Columnar data storage — Visual Layer: Reusable charts in blocks — Annotation Layer: Just the basics — Interaction Layer: Brushing and Linking

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Creating simple used to be hard! Making a set of killer charts

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"There is a difference between simple and easy. Do not confuse the two. The simpler the thing is to understand, often the more difﬁcult it is to do."

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“Age of Technology driven Interactive Charto-mania”

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Technology driving Design UpSide - Increased visual analytics - Better simple charts - Improved aesthetic - Modular and Scalable design

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Technology driving Design DownSide - Over-indexed on Singular Design Pattern - Shape of data is lost - Insight and Narrative is missing - Impersonal and Dry

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“We need to rethink data visualisation for business”

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Datum Design A set of principles to apply when building data visualisation

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Datum Design 1. Amplify Cognition 2. Think Datum First 3. Show Single & All 4. Visualise Uncertainty 5. Towards Compositions 6. First Class Annotation 7. Layer Interactions

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1. Amplify Cognition

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1. Amplify Cognition

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1. Amplify Cognition

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1. Amplify Cognition1 1 Up and Down the Ladder of Abstraction - Bret Victor

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2. Think Datum First

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2. Think Datum First2 2 The Architecture of a Data Visualisation - Giorgio Luipi

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3. Show Single & All

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3. Show Single & All

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3. Show Single & All3 3 Responsive Data Visualisation - Nick Rabinowitz

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4. Visualise Uncertainty

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4. Visualise Uncertainty

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4. Visualise Uncertainty4 4 Visualising uncertainty about the future - David Spiegelhalter, Mike Pearson, Ian Short

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5. Towards Composition

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5. Towards Composition

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5. Towards Composition5 5 Sandbox - John Le

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6.First Class Annotation

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6.First Class Annotation6 6 Making Annotations First-Class Citizens in Data Visualization - Elijah Meeks

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7. Layer Interaction

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7. Layer Interaction

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7. Layer Interaction7 7 Vega - Airport Connection

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Upside Datum Design 1. Build a mental model 2. Understand the single story 3. Have a micro and macro picture 4. Know that data and model are uncertain 5. See the picture as a whole 6. Have a narrative to see 7. Move between layers of abstraction

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Principles of Datum Design 1. Amplify Cognition 2. Think Datum First 3. Show Single & All 4. Visualise Uncertainty 5. Towards Compositions 6. First Class Annotation 7. Layer Interactions

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One human life, closely observed, is everyone’s life. In the particular is the universal. — Roger Ebert

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Datum Design Rethinking Data Visualisation for Business Amit Kapoor amitkaps.com @amitkaps