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Data Viz Exploration: Visualizing KU Basketball’s 11 Straight Big 12 Titles

KU Men’s Basketball recently won its eleventh straight Big 12 title, which made us curious to know how their feat stacks up against streaks of some of the most famous teams of all time. The …

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Tableau 201: How to Change Date Aggregation Using Parameters

Problem: Tableau makes selecting and changing the aggregation of a date dimension very easy while you are building a view. However, unless an end user is viewing an individual sheet in Tableau Desktop, they can’t …

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Data Propaganda: An Introduction to Avoiding Data Lies

Propaganda is defined in Merriam Webster’s Dictionary as: Manipulation of information to influence public opinion. By this definition, propaganda can be intentionally or unintentionally spread, with the repercussions being an uninformed/misinformed public . This is the …

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Data Driven Storytelling Tip #15: Tell A Story

Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.– Robert McAfee Brown In an ideal scenario, the stories in your data are so compelling that they are self-explanatory. Unfortunately, this is rarely …

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Data Driven Storytelling Tip #14: Freeform Dashboard Design

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.– John F. Kennedy Using freeform dashboard design is an easy way to tie several of our data visualization tips together including Use the Golden …

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Data Driven Storytelling Tip #13: Eliminate Chartjunk (but Not Graphics)

Chartjunk is a term coined by Edward Tufte in his book, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. In it, Tufte defines chartjunk as “non-data-ink or redundant data-ink”. Our interpretation of chartjunk is that it is …

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Tableau 201: How to Make Donut Charts

When used properly, donut charts can be an effective way to communicate comparisons in a unique way. When used improperly, they are the butt of jokes mentioned in the same vein as pie charts. In …

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Data Driven Storytelling Tip #12: Balance Data and Design

Data should always be the heart of any data visualization. Obviously, you cannot have a data visualization without data – and it is imperative that the data is accurate and honest. If we had to …

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Tableau 201: How to Make a What-If Analysis Using Parameters

Parameters are one of the most powerful tools available in Tableau for exploring your data and providing interactivity to your end users. The best way to think of parameters is that they act as wildcards. …

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Data Driven Storytelling Tip #11: Allow Discovery

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn. – Benjamin Franklin We’ve always loved the above quote from Benjamin Franklin, and especially in the context of data visualization, …

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