Bellevue - DataVis/Infographics Study Group

Topic: The Many Hats You Wear When Doing DataViz

Making a data visualization, like most creative acts, means wearing different hats:

1. The 'Find-the-idea(s)-you-want-to-communicate' hat
2. The 'Take-a-few-passes-at-it-and-see-what-happens' hat
3. The 'This-looks-decent-how-do-we-improve it' hat
4. The 'Get-the-last-details-right' hat

We're going to look at each hat, get some idea of how each one works and then using a dataset, try wearing each hat. This will give each of us a chance to see which hat fits most comfortably and which ones we'll need more practice wearing :-) Oh and I'm adding a secret twist to this exercise - you'll have to show up to see what it is :-)

Your Assignment

a) Make up 4 lists

b) At the top of each one write "Tasks to do while wearing the ______ hat." Put a different 'hat' in each blank.

c) Build your 4 lists; write down the work, tasks, steps or anything else you think of that you would do while making a dataviz and wearing that hat. HINT: Do them out of order.

Bring the lists with you to study group and we'll compile these during the first part of the session.