Preface

Welcome to the craft of data visualization—a multidisciplinary recipe of art, science, math, technology, and many other interesting ingredients. Not too long ago we might have associated charting or graphing data as a specialist or fringe activity—it was something that scientists, engineers, and statisticians did.

Nowadays, the analysis and presentation of data is a mainstream pursuit. Yet, very few of us have been taught how to do these types of tasks well. Taste and instinct normally prove to be reliable guiding principles, but they aren't sufficient alone to effectively and efficiently navigate through all the different challenges we face and the choices we have to make.

This book offers a handy strategy guide to help you approach your data visualization work with greater know-how and increased confidence. It is a practical book structured around a proven methodology that will equip you with the knowledge, skills, and resources required to make sense of data, to find stories, and to tell stories from your data.

It will provide you with a comprehensive framework of concerns, presenting step-by-step all the things you have to think about, advising you when to think about them and guiding you through how to decide what to do about them.

Once you have worked through this book, you will be able to tackle any project—big, small, simple, complex, individual, collaborative, one-off, or regular—with an assurance that you have all the tactics and guidance needed to deliver the best results possible.