Substance and Style

Whether you own your own business, run a nonprofit, or work in marketing, you will need to present data to someone at some point. Your customers, investors, staff, and donors have an attention span that grows shorter every day. It is vital that you be able to convey information efficiently and memorably. 

Information Design is a way of presenting data visually so that it can be easily understood. It’s the process of taking facts that are complicated (or even boring), and creating a visual shortcut so people can understand the significance of the information without having to wade through the data. Graphs, diagrams, flow charts, and information in the shape of a picture are all examples of information design.

Before You Begin:

1. Think about the audience. Your customers, your staff, and your donors are going to care about different aspects of your business. They don’t all need the same information, and they certainly don’t all want the same information. Your first step is to identify your audience’s needs. If you are working on a big project with multiple data sets and multiple audiences, like an annual report, you will want to divide the document into several sections so people can find the parts that apply to them.
2. Think about what you want to accomplish by presenting the data. You should have already drawn conclusions about the meaning of the data for yourself (example: our sales are up, people who use our service are reaching 10X as many customers, etc.). You want to think about how to present the data in a way that will make the audience draw the same conclusion. That said, it’s important to not force that conclusion through manipulation. Do not, for example, compare a chart with a zero baseline to a chart with a 50,000 baseline.
3. Think about what action, if any, you want your audience to take beyond understanding the data. You will want to make this action apparent in your design.
4. Choose the most compelling data. Avoid overwhelming your audience. Do not present every single piece of information you have all at once. Choose the data that paints the picture and let the picture tell the story.

As You Design:

1. Choose a way to present the data that makes sense. You can present information in a wide variety of ways. The only limit is your imagination, but you need to think about what will be easiest for your audience to absorb. If you’re showing rises and drops in revenue, the peaks and valleys of a line graph will be immediately understood. If you’re showing percentages of a whole, a pie chart will help the reader understand. Your goal is to simplify things for your audience. There are many creative and clever ways to present data, but if your audience struggles to understand, it isn’t worth it.
2. Follow general design principles. Use a lot of negative space and keep the space balanced. Don’t have too many things competing for the eye’s attention. Make the most important parts stand out. The function and form (the substance and style) should complement each other.
3. Use software you’re comfortable with. You don’t need to use complicated design software to visually represent data. You can make charts and graphs in the software that comes with your Mac (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) or with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel,  and Powerpoint). In most cases, these will be sufficient to convey your information in a way that is pleasing to the eye. You can always get fancier, but remember that the information is the most important part. You don’t want it to be lost in the design. You also don’t want to spend hours struggling with a program you don’t understand when you can use the tools you already know. 
4. If you’re fairly comfortable in Keynote or Powerpoint, animating data can be an especially effective way to show changes over time. Keynote is a surprisingly good (and underused) tool for animation, and you already have access to it if you have a Mac, iPad, or iPhone. Look for a post about animating information design next week!