Visual Analytics Fundamentals: Creating Compelling Data Narratives with Tableau

✍ Scribed by Lindy Ryan

• Publisher: Addison-Wesley
• Year: 2023
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 288
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Master the Fundamentals of Modern Visual Analytics--and Craft Compelling Visual Narratives in Tableau!

Do you need to persuade or inform people? Do you have data? Then you need to master visual analytics and visual storytelling. Today, the #1 tool for telling visual stories with data is Tableau, and demand for Tableau skills is soaring. In Visual Analytics Fundamentals, renowned visual storyteller and analytics professor Lindy Ryan introduces all the fundamental visual analytics knowledge, cognitive and perceptual concepts, and hands-on Tableau techniques you'll need.

Ryan puts core analytics and visual concepts upfront, so you'll always know exactly what you're trying to accomplish and can apply this knowledge with any tool. Building on this foundation, she presents classroom-proven guided exercises for translating ideas into reality with Tableau 2022. You’ll learn how to organize data and structure analysis with stories in mind, embrace exploration and visual discovery, and articulate your findings with rich data, well-curated visualizations, and skillfully crafted narrative frameworks. Ryan's insider tips take you far beyond the basics--and you'll rely on her expert checklists for years to come.

Communicate more powerfully by applying scientific knowledge of the human brain
Get started with the Tableau platform and Tableau Desktop 2022
Connect data and quickly prepare it for analysis
Ask questions that help you keep data firmly in context
Choose the right charts, graphs, and maps for each project--and avoid the wrong ones
Craft storyboards that reflect your message and audience
Direct attention to what matters most
Build data dashboards that guide people towards meaningful outcomes
Master advanced visualizations, including timelines, Likert scales, and lollipop charts

This book has only one prerequisite: your desire to communicate insights from data in ways that are memorable and actionable. It's for executives and professionals sharing important results, students writing reports or presentations, teachers cultivating data literacy, journalists making sense of complex trends. . . . practically everyone! Don't even have Tableau? Download your free trial of Tableau Desktop and let's get started!

✦ Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

About the Author

1 Welcome to Visual Analytics

    A Visual Revolution

    The Evolution from Data Visualization to Visual Data Storytelling

    A Brief Look at the State of the Industry

    From Visual to Story: Bridging the Gap

    Summary

2 The Power of Visual Analytics

    The Science of Storytelling

        The Brain on Stories

        The Human on Stories

    The Power of Stories

        The Classic Visualization Example

        Using Small Personal Data for Big Stories

        The Two-or-Four Season Debate

        Napoleon’s March

        Stories Outside of the Box

    Summary

3 Getting Started with Tableau

    Using Tableau

    Why Tableau?

    The Tableau Product Portfolio

        Tableau Desktop

        Tableau Server

        Tableau Cloud

        Tableau Prep

        Tableau Public

        Tableau Reader and Tableau Viewer

    Getting Started

    Installing Tableau Desktop

    Connecting to Data

        Connecting to Tables

        Live Versus Extract

        Connecting to Multiple Tables with Relationships and Joins

    Adding and Replacing Data Sources

    Basic Data Prep with Data Interpreter

    Navigating the Tableau Interface

        Menus and Toolbar

        Data Pane

        Shelves and Cards

        Legends

    Understanding Dimensions and Measures

        Dimensions

        Measures

        Continuous and Discrete

    Summary

4 Keeping Visual Analytics in Context

    Context in Action

        Harry Potter: Hero or Menace?

        Ensuring Relevant Context

    Exploratory Versus Explanatory Analysis

    Structuring Visual Analytic Stories

        Story Plot

        Story Genre

    Audience Analysis for Storytelling

        Who

        What

        Why

        How

    Summary

5 Fundamental Data Visualizations

    The Bar Chart

        Tableau How-To: Bar Chart

    The Line Chart

        Tableau How-To: Line Chart

    Pie and Doughnut Charts

        Tableau How-To: Pie and Doughnut Charts

    The Scatter Plot

        Tableau How-To: Scatter Plots

    The Packed Bubble Chart

        Tableau How-To: Packed Bubble Charts

    The Tree Map

        Tableau How-To: Tree Maps

    The Heat Map

        Tableau How-To: Heat Maps

    Summary

6 Fundamental Maps

    Connecting to Geographic Data

    Assigning Geographic Roles

    Creating Geographic Hierarchies

    Proportional Symbol Maps

    Choropleth Map

    Summary

7 Design Tips for Curating Visual Analytics

    Visual Design Building Blocks

    Color

        Sequential Color

        Diverging Color

        Categorical Color

    Color Effects

        Opacity

        Mark Borders

        Mark Halos

    Pre-attentive Colors

    Important Color Considerations

    The Truth About Red and Green

    Lines

        Formatting Grid Lines, Zero Lines, and Drop Lines

        Formatting Borders

    Formatting, Shading, and Banding

    Shapes

        Shape Marks Card

        Custom Shapes

    Summary

8 Structuring Analytics for Storytelling: Prep, Dashboards, and Stories

    Basic Data Prep in Tableau: Data Interpreter

        Data Interpreter in Action

        Handling Nulls in Tableau

        Pivoting Data from Wide to Tall

        A Note on Preparing Survey Data for Visual Analysis

    Storyboarding Your Visual Analytics

        Understanding Stories in Tableau

        The Storyboarding Process

    Summary

9 Beyond Fundamentals: Advanced Visualizations

    Timelines

    Bar-in-Bar Charts

    Likert-Scale Visualizations

        A 100% Stacked Bar Chart

        Divergent Stacked Bar Chart

    Lollipop Charts

        Labeled Lollipops

    Word Clouds

    Summary

10 Closing Thoughts

    Five Steps to Visual Data Storytelling

        Step 1. Find Data That Supports Your Story

        Step 2. Layer Information for Understanding

        Step 3. Design to Reveal

        Step 4. Beware the False Reveal

        Step 5. Tell It Fast

    The Important Role of Feedback

    Ongoing Learning

        Teach Yourself: External Resources

        Companion Materials to This Text

Appendix A Tableau Services

Index