An infographic produced in 1787 profoundly changed the global economy. It included a single data point–the number 454–but it did so in a way that changed how the world saw the transatlantic slave trade forever. The diagram of the Brooks showed in heartbreaking starkness how 454 people were crammed and stacked onto the ship as it sailed from Africa’s Gold Coast to the West Indies. When abolitionist Thomas Clarkson wrote about the image in 1808, he said the “print seemed to make an instantaneous impression of horror upon all who saw it, and was therefore instrumental, in consequence of the wide circulation given it, in serving the cause of the injured Africans.”
Counterintuitively, data is fundamentally abstract. Imagining the horror and torture endured by those 454 people is challenging for two reasons. The first is that humans tend to tune out information that is painful or makes them feel bad, or requires them to do something they’d prefer not to. The second is that our brains aren’t good at interpreting statistics or probabilities that aren’t presented visually.
A well-crafted chart can be an effective way to engage someone who hasn’t yet made their mind up about a topic or issue. When someone has made up their mind about something, the world’s most glorious chart can’t make them change it. In fact, charts that counter a decision-maker’s most deeply held beliefs won’t persuade them and could backfire (Berinato, 2016) . However, for people who are still deciding, charts may help them correct their misunderstandings (Berinato, 2016).
In this section, we’ll help you learn some principles for developing effective infographics and data visualizations, and also identify what to avoid. Visualization is the means through which most people gain access to data. To help people make sense of your data, it’s important to generate charts with the context that help people understand the data they’re seeing, and use that data to make better decisions.
Before you start making charts, however, you have to decide who will use them, how you want them to be used, and what decisions might be made by those who you’re creating them for. These should be the same people you identified in answering question 2 of the four questions and learned more about when you completed worksheet 3.
As you’re thinking about who will use them, consider these points:
What is their expertise and level of education? For those who may not have expertise in interpreting data, it’s better to make your chart simpler and avoid using tools that will make it hard to understand or increase the possibility that they might make a mistake.
Are they likely to have an emotional response to the data? Do they already have an opinion about the issue you’re hoping to illustrate that might cause them to embrace or disregard the data?
In what contexts might this chart be used? Will it be used by advocates to work to influence decision makers to make a particular policy choice? Will it be used by policymakers to justify increased investments?
How will your charts be delivered? Will they be part of a slide deck or dropped into a fact sheet? Or are they at the center of a social media post?
