Presentation shared at the #MA4Health Data Visualization workshop cofacilitated with my colleague Tahmid Chowdhury. Our aim was to empower participants with simple principles they can apply to any graph or chart to improve its effectiveness in communicating information, and to share resources on viz design relevant to global health practitioners.

2. Amanda Makulec
Program Manager & RME Associate
John Snow, Inc.
Passionate about
how visualizing data
effectively can
empower people to
make decisions.

3. This Summit has
been all about
collecting, sharing, quality-checking,
streamlining, improving, visualizing
data.

5. Data shows us
diversity.

8. Effective
visualizations help
stakeholders use
that information for
decisionmaking.

10. Designing
visualizations that
communicate clearly
doesn’t have to be
complicated.

11. A basic understanding
of design best
practices are all you
need to get started.

12. Disseminate
& share
Build your
chart
Find the
story in
your data
Identify
your
audience &
context
START

13. Who is your audience?

14. On the most common visualization mistakes
“Time isn’t adequately
spent on is just what is the
question that you’re trying
to answer and what does
your audience need
to know?”
Cole Naussbaumer
StorytellingwithData.com
From: http://cxcafe.maritzcx.com/storytelling-with-data-dashboarding-with-cole-nussbaumer/

15. Different
stakeholders
have different
data needs.

16. Consider your
stakeholders’
literacy,
numeric literacy,
and what data
they need to
make decisions.

17. For more complex data
analysis tools like dashboards,
it is especially important to
engage your end user to
understand their needs.
Image credit: Beth Kanter

18. Identify the story you want to tell &
consider additional available data.

19. The most important
question in visualization:
Read more at: http://stephanieevergreen.com/most-important-question/
Stephanie Evergreen
Evergreen Data
What’s your point?

20. Start with the data
you’ve collected.

21. Then, identify
additional data
available that would
help you tell your
story better visually.

22. Edit your data as
necessary to tell
your story.
e.g. create percentages
from raw numbers,
check quality, etc.

23. Design your chart or graph

24. Consider the kind of data
story you have.
Distribution Part to Whole Correlation
Time Series Compare
Categories
Ranking
Image credit: Column Five Media’s Visage Data Visualization 101

25. Consult with great resources for
choosing the right chart type.
The Graphic Continuum
Jon Schwabish & Severino Rebecca
policyviz.com/presentations/graphic-continuum-video
Chart Chooser
Juice Analytics
labs.juiceanalytics.com/chartchooser/index.html
Data Visualization 101
Visage | visage.co/data-visualization-
101-design-charts-graphs/l

26. And consider consulting
your colleagues
M&E Advisor
Graphic Designer
Technical Expert
Communications Expert

27. Plan for how you’ll share your
visualization when it’s complete.

28. In “about five to eight
seconds, someone’s
going to make the
decision of do they
devote any more time to
looking at what you’ve
got in front of them or
do they move on to the
next thing.”
Cole Naussbaumer
StorytellingwithData.com
From: http://cxcafe.maritzcx.com/storytelling-with-data-dashboarding-with-cole-nussbaumer/

29. Simple design
principles
or “leveraging our lizard brain”

30. “What really makes a
chart effective are font,
color, and design, and
the depth of critical
analysis displayed.”
Dona M. Wong
The Wall Street Journal Guide to
Information Graphics

31. Decluttering
Consider removing:
• Border
• Grid lines
• Background shading
• Axis (if you plan on
labeling the data points)
Does it enhance or
distract from your
data story?

32. Title & labels
Are you clear and
succinct (6-12 words),
telling your reader the key
takeaway & including
labels that are essential?
Recommendation of 6-12 words from the Data Visualization Checklist http://stephanieevergreen.com/dataviz-checklist/

33. Color
To add emphasis Or to create the
confusing effect of
Skittles on a page.

34. Practice with existing
graphs and charts
How could these charts
communicate more
effectively?

36. District 1
District 2
District 3
32%
District 4
24%
District 5
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
District 4 was the only district where coverage
declined during the five year project.

37. Change in BMI status of women 20-49
years from 1980 to 2008 by region
1980 2008
Data table from: Black RE, Victora CG, Walker SP, Bhutta ZA, Christian P, de Onis M, Ezzati M, Grantham-McGregor S, Katz J, Martorell R,
Uauy R. Maternal and child undernutrition and overweight in low-income and middle-income countries” The Lancet 2013; (06 June
2013) DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60937-X.

38. The proportion of women who are overweight has
increased in low and middle income countries.

39. Graph from https://www.urbanreproductivehealth.org/sites/mle/files/issu_mid-term_research_brief_english.pdf

41. Graph from https://www.urbanreproductivehealth.org/sites/mle/files/issu_mid-term_research_brief_english.pdf

42. Use of implants and injectables has increased
among women using family planning.

43. The proportion of family planning users
choosing implants & injectables has increased.

44. About our
activity today

45. A few resources for building your data viz skills
People & their blogs:
Cole Naussbaumer | Storytelling with Data
Alberto Cairo | The Functional Art
Stephanie Evergreen | Evergreen Data
Jon Schwabish | Policy Viz
Ann K. Emery | Emery Evaluation
Favorite posts & resources from these experts:
Decluttered Excel Templates from Cole
Excel Tutorials (video!) from Ann
Remakes of Visualizations from Jon
Communities around data viz:
Data Viz for Development at DataVizHub.co
HelpMeViz to crowdsource data viz expertise
Two online viz tools I recommend:
Piktochart (great for making icon matrices)
Visage
Books worth buying:
On basic visualization principles:
The Wall Street Journal Guide to
Information Graphics | Dona M. Wong
Show Me the Numbers | Stephen Few
On designing presentations with visual
content (including graphs & charts):
Slideology | Nancy Duarte

46. For the simple graph icons from the Visage Data Visualization 101 eBook and
allowing us to share their eBook during our activity today.
Visage was born out of Column Five, an industry-leading infographics and visual
content agency with offices in Irvine, CA and Brooklyn, NY. Visage is a simple
design platform that enables content marketers to create beautiful, on-brand
data visualizations and visual content. Our leadership team has been working
together for more than 5 years, and our focus is to help companies use
visualization and great design to communicate more effectively.
Thanks to…
For providing the space & time to host this workshop.
The Measurement and Accountability for Results in Health (#MA4Helath)
Summit brought together world leaders to construct a common agenda to
improve and sustain country measurement and accountability systems for
health results in the post-2015 era. Our thanks to USAID, WHO, and the
World Bank who lead the organization and coordination of the event.

47. DataVizHub.co
Amanda Makulec
amakulec@jsi.com
@abmakulec | More resources on Slideshare
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