 | Vital Shpakouski Philologist with higher education, professional translator, former volunteer and teacher, entrepreneur, and salesperson with 13 years of experience. Now I’m a copywriter in Internet marketing, writing about everything that helps businesses grow and develop. In my free time, I create music and songs that no one hears and take photos and videos that no one sees. |
Data visualization is a way of presenting information that turns large and small data into visuals that are more accessible to the brain of humans.
The idea of using visuals to analyze data has existed for a very long time, ever since maps and graphs were first introduced in the 17th century and the pie chart was developed in the early 1800s.
Modern computers process massive amounts of data very quickly. Data visualization today is a cutting-edge fusion of science and art that will remain trendy in the near future.
Why visualize?
The average human attention span, according to Microsoft research, is 8 seconds, which is, incidentally, one second less than the average focus and concentration of a fish.
Compared to other forms of stimulus, pictures have the best effect on people. Visual information is processed by the human brain 60,000 times quicker than text. 90% of the data that is sent to the brain is visual input. Every industry uses visualization since it is an important phase in data analytics and enables businesses to assess information and customer needs.
Therefore, it is very important to pay special attention to data visualization design. And it is better to entrust this work to professionals with extensive experience.
What types of visualization exist?
Many tools available for data visualization exist. Let’s consider the main ones.
Graphs and diagrams.
Probably the most familiar type for us. Used for both data presentation and analysis. You can meet them both at work, in a journal, and in a scientific report. There are about 15 well-known types of charts, and there are more than 60 in total, while their number is increasing every day – people come up with new types to visualize complex and unusual data.
Infographics and schemes.
Infographics have become very popular in recent years, although they have been around for a long time. Infographics refer to data journalism, where graphs and charts explain some facts about a chosen topic. Usually, infographics are static and are a long “sheet” with pictures and text. A distinctive feature of infographics is that it provides ready-made conclusions, that is, the reader is guided by the hand on the chosen topic and at the same time seasoned with numbers and pictures.
Presentation and data analysis.
This approach is called also Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA). Is mainly used only by business analysts and scientists. Here, the so-called rapid prototyping is applied – that is, the creation of a large number of different visual representations of the same data. It allows finding, at first glance, hidden relationships, and dependencies, as well as the initial assessment of the data set for the possibility of using more complex analysis tools in the future. The visualization here can be “rough” and ugly, but it is done quickly and by one person or a small working group.
Interactive storytelling.
This is the presentation of some useful information in the form of an interesting story with which the listener can interact. It differs in that the user can control the display of information and find those dependencies that the author did not find. The data here is pre-processed and presented in a form convenient for analysis, and there are also hints or predefined usage scenarios. Strong examples can be found in major media outlets or as individual projects.
Business analytics and dashboards.
Visualization is actively used in business. The principle of “talk to data” helps companies earn more and customers receive a better service. To track routine KPIs, dashboards are used – displays that display all the necessary indicators in one place in the form of graphs, charts, and tables. Dashboards are also used for personal use (fitness trackers, analysis of personal expenses, etc.)
Maps and cartograms.
One of the earliest methods of seeing the environment is through maps. A map having information displayed on it in the format of color or another fashion is called a cartogram. Cartograms may be used to show a variety of information, like population density and the frequency of expletives in each part of the nation. Any of the visualizations we covered above can make use of them.
Conclusion
Information analysis is becoming more intensive today. Visual tools facilitate this process, speed it up, and let you quickly identify the most important information. The key to predictive stats and a crucial component of analytics tools is data visualization. It is useful to assess the worth of the information or data being produced today.
