These are the slides from my Oxford Geek Night talk on 22 Jan. I hope they give some inspiration for making great data visualisations!

1. The Zen
of Visual
Analysis
Andy Cotgreave
@acotgreave

2. I .
CHARTS

3. BAD CHARTS

5. 5 steps…

6. 1. Why viz?

7. Consider these numbers…

8. Consider these numbers…
Property
Value
Mean of x
9
Variance of x
11
Mean of y
7.5 (to 2 dp)
Variance of y
4.122 (to 3 dp)
Correlation
0.816 (3dp)
Linear regression
y=3+.5x (3dp)

9. Consider these numbers…
Blue
Orange
Green
Red

10. Consider these numbers…
Orange
Green
Red

11. Consider these numbers…
Green
Red

12. Consider these numbers…
Red

13. Consider these numbers…

14. Consider these numbers…

15. 2. Don’t fool
your eyes

16. From the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired

17. http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~rensink/flicker/download/Airplane.mov
Change blindness
Spot the
difference!

18. The
answer…

19. Grey screen: explain
importance of
Change Blindness

20. Grey screen: explain
importance of
Change Blindness

22. http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/

23. What colour do Asians
associate with Purity?
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/

24. What colour do Asians
associate with Purity?
1
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/

25. What colour do Asians
associate with Purity?
2
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/

26. What colour do Asians
associate with Purity?
3
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/

27. What colour do Asians
associate with Purity?
4
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/

28. What colour do Asians
associate with Purity?
5
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/

29. What colour do Asians
associate with Purity?
6
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/

30. What colour do Asians
associate with Purity?
Beautiful?
Functional?
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/

31. http://vizcandy.blogspot.ca/p/tableau-8-redoux.html

32. 3. Exploit the
power of the
visual system

33. From the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired

37. In the following
slides, which is
bigger: B, C or
D?

42. 4. Engage with
value, not candy

44. http://graphics-info.blogspot.hk/2012/09/malofiej-20-look-at-our-participation.html (Simon Scarr)

45. It is
possible to
make
functional
charts that
are also
beautiful
http://graphics-info.blogspot.hk/2012/09/malofiej-20-look-at-our-participation.html (Simon Scarr)

46. 5. What’s your
message?

47. The message is
delivered by
the title, the
colour and the
axis going
down: A Smear
Of Blood
http://graphics-info.blogspot.hk/2012/09/malofiej-20-look-at-our-participation.html

48. Let’s change
the message
without
changing the
data
http://graphics-info.blogspot.hk/2012/09/malofiej-20-look-at-our-participation.html

49. Iraq: Deaths on the decline
http://graphics-info.blogspot.hk/2012/09/malofiej-20-look-at-our-participation.html

50. Iraq: Deaths on the decline
Now the
message is
more
optimistic
http://graphics-info.blogspot.hk/2012/09/malofiej-20-look-at-our-participation.html

51. “When I am working on a
problem, I never think about
beauty. I only think about
how to solve the problem. But
when I have finished, if the
solution is not beautiful, I
know it is wrong.”
- R. Buckminster Fuller
www.gravyanecdote.com
@acotgreave

52. 5 steps…
www.gravyanecdote.com
@acotgreave