Data visualization: Why it matters more today!
Content has grown exponentially and immediately available now, making attention the key factor.
The general population has got used to the shorter format of content, you can see this from highly popular 15 seconds videos of TikTok. Even professional platforms like Linkedin have included short-video format in their platform now.
In general,
content has exploded exponentially,
people are not having a really long attention span
and there is a lot of content that is competing with each other to get the user’s attention even in your professional space
Along with that, there is data to support every argument !!!
Now under these conditions, getting someone interested in your boring data is not going to be an easy task.
The most common way through which people try to make things interesting is through a drab graph (esp. with blue color palate) made on excel! Now, these static graphs are so 90’s that even people from the ’90s find it boring.
You can make these graphs interesting at least by adding appropriate colors and some humor (which relates to your segment ), but adding humor is not everyone’s cup of tea !!!
Have tried a simple graph on data on real interest rates of countries ( one of the most boring data)
Next, you should try is interactive elements like an interactive chart, at least the user can understand more from the data & play around with the same. By simply hovering around the graph, a user gets more information on demand. This element of rewarding for action, makes the user interact more and play around with the graph, helping them to understand data better and fast.
The same boring data ( the chart which is above this paragraph) we have put in an interactive chart. Click on the link and check out.
The next thing could be a video of data that is moving with the timeline and storytelling happen along with the same. The best example could be the Hans Rosling presentation of data on the developing world.
Every option has its own costs, creators can use any of the options or options in between them. But it takes time, effort, skill, and sometimes real money to come up with the most interesting ways to present the data and make the story authentic and real.
My last startup was a content platform focusing on simplifying financial content for people who are new to investment markets. It was always a struggle to come up with something interesting and engaging esp with the financial content.
This led to the development of Visual Verb . The product helps to make interactive charts in a few clicks. Basically, any content creator can use it to make interactive charts without any
learning curve.
In this new age, data is produced continuously, and communicated the story with data is a required skill than an option, making data visualization more critical than ever. Make your data simple and interesting for the user/reader to digest so that your story makes more sense to the reader and leads to better conversations around your story.