Data visualization is at the heart of many businesses, and it’s as much an art form as it is a science. It’s a way to present information in the form of maps or graphs, making hard data more accessible and tangible. Through effective visualization, you can process trends and patterns more easily than just staring at numbers.
Why Is Visualization Important?
Data visualization makes communicating information more efficient. It takes raw information and converts it into easily perceptible elements. Through this process, you’re making ideas, numbers, trends, and outliers a more comprehensible concept. The visualization of information allows owners, stakeholders, and other decision-makers to interpret and analyze statistics more effectively. As a result, they better understand the current state and forecasted growth of the company, which will drive them into making impactful choices that will influence the business.
The internet has a wealth of tools you can use to visualize data, and although they’re convenient, they aren’t necessarily effective. If you want to communicate ideas or statistics more efficiently, you have to use the right strategies. With that in mind, here are some effective types of visualization that your business should use.
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Everyday Visualizations
These come in the form of simple graphs, charts, or scatter plots that can be used to explore data. They contain a relatively low volume of information but they give invaluable context to a topic. Businesses can use it to communicate statistics, growth trends, percentages, and other useful everyday information. It’s helpful in formal situations where you need to present numbers and statistics.
The key element to this type of visualization is simplicity because it often conveys a single message. Some knowledge in design and interpretation would be necessary to shed some light on the subjects that these graphs and charts contain. Although they shouldn’t necessarily be self-explanatory, they should save time by being obvious and easy to interpret.
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Visual Confirmation
Visual confirmation entails confirming hypotheses through complex sets of data. This type of visualization is heavy on information and requires you to input large amounts of hard data into graphs or scatter plots. It can be helpful in comparing the volume of sales you make during a certain time of day, for example. It shows relationships and trends that may be hard to process if you just look at the numbers.
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Brainstorming Visualizations
Generating ideas through visualization is nothing new—people do it all the time during brainstorming sessions. This often happens in informal settings that require processing complex and unstructured data. People can use it to restructure organizations, thinking of novel decision-making systems, and creating new business models. Making rough sketches and strategizing using illustrations can yield bountiful results.
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Process Diagrams
Process or cycle diagrams make complex ideas easier to understand. They illustrate abstract ideas into more tangible elements, such as circles, arrows, lines, and pyramids. This type of visualization focuses on processes and frameworks, such as action plans and hierarchies. It’s helpful in teaching logical sequences and structures, so design and communication are paramount.
Conclusion
Ideas, concepts, and raw statistics are hard to process. However, your business can make this information more comprehensible and accessible through the use of data visualization. Conveying messages efficiently requires you to use different strategies for various contexts, and knowing these effective visualization types can help streamline communication in your business. It’s also important to remember the different types of data visualization that are out there to know when to use the one that will be most effective for a specific situation.
Processing huge amounts of information and turning them into accessible narratives is no easy task, but you can always consult the experts. If you’re in need of advanced analytics solutions, Gemini Data is here to help. We’ll help you analyze complex information and convert them into easy-to-understand visual stories. Allow us to assist your business—contact us today!
