Out of the blue

Interesting snippets from the world of data

Storytelling with data
Storytelling is a trending topic for businesses. Marketers, advertisers and analysts are all in search of a story that will move people to act – but have we found it?  Google image ‘great advertising charts’ and you get a disappointing array of dull bar charts that leave you thinking: “so what?” All data, no insight.

Google’s view
Google’s Daniel Waisberg tells us to “look at data the way a detective examines a crime scene…understand what happened and what evidence needs to be collected. The visualization—chart, map or single number—will come naturally once the mystery is solved. The focus is the story.” It’s true, I bet Colombo would make great charts.

Visualising your career
Storytelling has spread out of business too.  ‘Vizualize me’ allows you to create a ‘story’ out of your CV.  See my example at the bottom – not sure about the usefulness but it looks more appealing than linkedin.

Visualising your life?!
Inspiring new charts are coming from unlikely data sources, like Nicholas Feltonseveryday life – he tracks every activity (what he eats, who he sees, where he is) to create annual reports.

A data driven future is not a future of charts but a future of data stories. So, next time you are creating a weekly report, delivering analysis or even updating your CV, ask yourself “what’s the story here?”

Terry Fribence