Table Of ContentQuestions in Dataviz
Tis book takes the reader through the process of learning and creating
data visualisation, following a unique journey with questions every step
of the way, ultimately discussing how and when to bend and break the
“rules” to come up with creative, unique, and sometimes unconventional
ideas. Each easy-to-follow chapter poses one key question and provides
a selection of discussion points and relevant data visualisation examples
throughout.
Structured in three parts: Section I poses questions around some fun-
damental data visualisation principles, while Section II introduces
more advanced questions, challenging perceived best practices and
suggesting when rules are open to interpretation or there to be broken.
Te questions in Section III introduce further themes leading on to
specifc ideas and visualisation projects in more detail.
Questions in Dataviz: A Design-Driven Process for Data Visualisation
will appeal to any reader with an interest in creative or unconventional
data visualisation and will be especially useful for those at a beginner
or intermediate level looking for inspiration and alternative ways to
deploy their data visualisation skills outside of conventional business
charts.
AK Peters Visualization Series
Tis series aims to capture new developments and summarize what is known
over the whole spectrum of visualization by publishing a broad range of text-
books, reference works, and handbooks. It will contain books from all subfelds of
visualization, including visual analytics, information visualization, and scientifc
visualization. Te scope will largely follow the calls of the major conferences such as
VIS: techniques, algorithms, theoretical foundations and models, quantitative and
qualitative evaluation, design studies, and applications.
SERIES EDITORS:
Tamara Munzner, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Alberto Cairo University of Miami, USA
RECENT TITLES:
Visualization Analysis and Design
Tamara Munzner
Information Teory Tools for Visualization
Min Chen, Miquel Feixas, Ivan Viola, Anton Bardera, Han-Wei Shen, and
Mateu Sbert
Data-Driven Storytelling
Nathalie Henry Riche, Christophe Hurter, Nicholas Diakopoulos, and
Sheelagh Carpendale
Interactive Visual Data Analysis
Christian Tominski and Heidrun Schumann
Data Sketches
Nadieh Bremer and Shirley Wu
Visualizing with Text
Richard Brath
Mobile Data Visualization
Bongshin Lee, Raimund Dachselt, Petra Isenberg, and Eun Kyoung Choe
Questions in Dataviz
A Design-Driven Process for Data Visualisation
Neil Richards
For more information about this series please visit: https://www. routledge.com/
AK-Peters-Visualization-Series/book-series/CRCVIS
Questions in Dataviz
A Design-Driven Process for Data
Visualisation
Neil Richards
First edition published 2023
by CRC Press
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
and by CRC Press
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
© 2023 Neil Richards
CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Reasonable eforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and
publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their
use. Te authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material repro-
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Richards, Neil (Data visualization expert), author.
Title: Questions in dataviz : a design-driven process for data
visualisation / Neil Richards.
Description: First edition. | Boca Raton : AK Peters/CRC Press, 2023. |
Series: AK Peters visualization series
Identifers: LCCN 2022019497 (print) | LCCN 2022019498 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032146201 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032139449 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003240211 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Information visualization.
Classifcation: LCC QA76.9.I52 R53 2023 (print) | LCC QA76.9.I52 (ebook) |
DDC 001.4/226—dc23/eng/20220810
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022019497
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022019498
ISBN: 978-1-032-14620-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-13944-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-24021-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.1201/9781003240211
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Contents
Preface...................................................ix
Author.................................................. xv
Introduction............................................ xvii
SECTION I First Questions
Chapter 1.1 — Should the data drive the visualisation? ........... 3
Chapter 1.2 — What’s in a colour? ...........................11
Chapter 1.3 — What does data visualisation have in common
with psychology?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Chapter 1.4 — Do data visualisations have to tell a story? ........ 31
Chapter 1.5 — Is it OK to steal?............................. 49
Chapter 1.6 — Is white space always your friend? .............. 59
v
vi Contents
Section II Challenging Questions
Chapter 2.1 — Why do we visualise data? .................... 73
Chapter 2.2 — Why do we visualise using triangles? ............ 85
Chapter 2.3 — Does it matter if shapes overlap? ...............103
Chapter 2.4 — What is data humanism?......................119
Chapter 2.5 — What is design-driven data? ...................131
Chapter 2.6 — Do we take data visualisation too seriously? ......143
Chapter 2.7 — Why create unnecessary data visualisations?......157
Chapter 2.8 — When are several visualisations better than one?...169
Chapter 2.9 — What can I do when data is impossible to fnd? ....183
Section III Idea Questions
Chapter 3.1 — What is the third wave of data visualisation? ......193
Chapter 3.2 — What alternative ways are there for visualising
timelines? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199
Chapter 3.3 — Why do I use fowers to visualise data? ..........211
Chapter 3.4 — What are Data portraits?..................... 223
Chapter 3.5 — how can I take inspiration from album covers? ... 235
Chapter 3.6 — how many ways can you tile the United States?....247
Chapter 3.7 — Is it possible to tile the world?................. 265
Contents vii
Chapter 3.8 — Can you create visualisations using only numbers?... 277
Chapter 3.9 — how do you visualise music? ................. 291
Chapter 3.10 — What are truchet tiles? ..................... 309
Chapter 3.11 — how do you create 31 visualisations in a month? ...3 17
Index...................................................333
Preface
I worked for over 20 years in a Market Research data processing
career.
Now I’ve started with what might be the most soul-destroying
sentence I write in this whole book, so if you’ve made it past that
frst sentence, I hope you stay! I did enjoy those days, to a point, even
though were many of them – the meticulous and logical process of
collecting data, processing data and handing over vast printed decks
of numbers to internal clients suited my analytical and introverted
nature. And the limited programming knowledge needed to write
online surveys was just about my technical level.
But I would never see the results of my labours. I never knew how
survey results were interpreted or reacted upon, or even whether they
were genuinely understood. I just saw a load of numbers printed in
black on a lot of paper. A mathematician by trade I might have been,
but even I didn’t get inspired by that, the numbers told no story and
held no attention. My limited interest in what I did for a living ended
each day the second I logged of or lef the ofce.
But then a few things happened around about the year 2015. First,
I began to be more aware of data visualisation in the media world
around me. I’d seen really engaging charts online or in print in the
ix
