Data Storytelling & Communication Use text appropriately > Crafting effective narratives with data

Cheat Sheet While too much text can add clutter, text can also be an extremely effective tool at highlighting insights within your
visualizations. Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, Author of Storytelling with Data, provides an excellent example with the Know the audience
following visualization.
Learn more online at www.DataCamp.com To communicate effectively, you need to know who your audience is, and what their priorities are. There is a range of
Please approve the hire of 2 FTEs possible audiences you may encounter when presenting, and crafting an audience specific message will be important.
to backfill those who quit in the past year
Examples of audiences you may present to are:
Ticket volume over time 2 employees quit in May. We nearly kept up with incoming

volume in the following two months, but fell behind with the

> What is data storytelling?

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Number of tickets
increase in Aug and haven’t been able to catch up since.

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Data storytelling is often called the last mile of analytics. Sound communication skills, allows data professionals to 50 50 104

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drive action out of their insights. According to Brent Dykes, Author of Effective Data Storytelling: How to Drive Change Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
with Data, Narrative, and Visuals—Data Storytelling is a combination of data, visuals, and narrative. 2014
Data source: XYZ Dashboard, as of 12/31/2014 | A detailed analysis on tickets processed per person
and time to resolve issues was undertaken to inform this request and can be provided if needed.

How text can be a useful visual tool when crafting effective visuals

(Source: Storytelling with Data by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic)
Executive Data Leader Business Partner
Basic data literacy skills Data expert Advanced data literacy skills
Using text in data visualizations Prioritizes outcomes & Prioritizes rigour & Prioritizes tactical 

decisions insights next steps
When applicable, label axes and titles for clarity
Data Visuals Narrative Label important data points when necessary Cares much more about Cares much more about Cares much more about
The three elements of data storytelling 
 Provide useful context around insights within the title or subtitle business impact than a 1% how your arrived at your how your analysis impacts
(Source: Effective Data Storytelling: How to Drive Change with Data, Narrative, and Visuals by Brent Dykes) Adjust font size when highlighting specific messages within your labels incremental gain in a insights and to battle test their workflow, and what
When applicable, try to answer common audience questions with labels machine learning model them for rigour should be their main
accuracy or a new takeaway from the data
technique you’re using story
> Crafting effective visuals Use colors effectively
Considerations when crafting audience specific messaging
Choose the best visualization for your story The fundamentals of color theory in data visualization
Aspect What do you need to consider?
Color is one of the most powerful tools available for emphasizing different aspects of your data visualization. Here are k
Prior nowledge What context do they have about the problem?
Each plot type is suited for communicating specific things about specific types of data. Start by choosing an different properties to keep in mind when choosing an appropriate color palette for your visualization.
appropriate plot type. What is their level of data literacy?
Hue represents the range of possible colors, from red, through orange, green and blue, to purple and back to red. Priorities What does the audience care about?
Line plot Bar plot Scatter plot Histogram Chroma is the intensity of the color, from grey to a bright color. How does your message relate to their goals?
Luminance is the brightness of the color, from black to white. Who is driving decision-making within your audience?
Constraints What is the audience’s preferred format?
There are three common types of color palettes, that depend on these dimensions. How much time does an audience have to consume a data story?

Type Purpose What to vary Example

Qualitative Distinguish unordered Hue A bar chart of 2022 smartphone sales for
Show changes in numeric
values over time.
Visualizes numeric values Show the relationship
between two numeric
Show the distribution of
numeric values.
categories different smartphone manufacturers Choose the best medium to share your story
by categories. It can be
ranked or unranked values. Sequential Showcase intensity of a Chroma or luminance A map showcasing Covid-19 vaccination
single variable prevalence
There are different ways you can deliver a data story. The importance of each is different depending on the audience
To learn about all the types of visualizations you can use, check out our Data Visualization Cheat Sheet. Diverging Compare between two Chroma or luminance with two hues Voter registration prevalence by political party of your data story and the setting you’re delivering your data story in.
groups in the USA
Type Important considerations
Keep visualizations minimal and avoid clutter Presentation Ensure the length of your presentation is appropriate

Do not mislead with data stories Leave any highly technical details to the appendix
Ensure there is a narrative arc to your presentation
Ruthlessly edit your plots to remove or minimize elements that distract from the message of the plot. In particular,
make non-data elements (parts of the plot that don't directly represent a data value, like the grid lines) less distracting. Long-form report Be extra diligent about providing useful context around data visualizations
A great example comes from Darkhorse Analytics, which showcases exactly the value of decluttering visualizations. and insights
The fastest way to lose credibility when presenting data stories is to inadvertently (or intentionally) mislead with your
data insights. Here are top best practices to avoid misleading with data stories. Leave any highly technical details to the appendix
Calories per 100g Notebook Ensure that you provide useful context on how you arrived at a certain
Same Data, Different Y-Axis conclusion

607
Dashboard Make use of the dashboard grid layout
542
533 Interest rates Interest rates Organize data insights from left to right, top to bottom
Provide useful summary text of key visualizations in your dashboard
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296
260 3.152% 3.00%

3.150% 2.50%
French
Potato
Bacon Pizza Chili Dog 3.148% 2.00%
Fries Chips
3.146% 1.50%
3.144% 1.00%
Learn more about data storytelling at
Decluttering a visualization in action
 3.142% 0.50%

(Source: Darkhorse Analytics) 3.140% 0.00% www.DataCamp.com

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Data visualization decluttering best practices

Starting the y-axis at the smallest value or at zero dramatically changes the story told by the plot
Use just enough white space to keep the visualization from looking busy
Remove chart borders when applicable Best practices to avoid misleading with data stories
Remove or minimize gridlines or axes when applicable
If you are visualizing times series data, make sure your time horizons are large enough to truly represent the data
Clean up axis labels when applicable
If the relative size of each value is important, then ensure that your axes start with zero
Label data directly (as opposed to using a legend)
Ensure that axes scales are appropriate given the data you’re treating
Remove data markers when applicable
If you are sampling data for descriptive purposes, make sure the sample is representative of the broader population
Use special effects (bold, underline, italics, shadows) sparingly
Use centrality measures such as mean or median to provide context around your data