Visual Analytics Fundamentals

Preface xiv

Acknowledgments xxvi

About the Author xxvii



1. Welcome to Visual Analytics 1

A Visual Revolution 2

The Evolution from Data Visualization to Visual Data Storytelling 7

A Brief Look at the State of the Industry 9

From Visual to Story: Bridging the Gap 11

Summary 16



2. The Power of Visual Analytics 17

The Science of Storytelling 18

The Brain on Stories 19

The Human on Stories 21

The Power of Stories 23

The Classic Visualization Example 24

Using Small Personal Data for Big Stories 26

The Two-or-Four Season Debate 30

Napoleon's March 32

Stories Outside of the Box 34

Summary 35



3. Getting Started with Tableau 37

Using Tableau 38

Why Tableau? 39

The Tableau Product Portfolio 42

Tableau Desktop 43

Tableau Server 43

Tableau Cloud 44

Tableau Prep 44

Tableau Public 44

Tableau Reader and Tableau Viewer 44

Getting Started 45

Installing Tableau Desktop 46

Connecting to Data 46

Connecting to Table 48

Live Versus Extract 51

Connecting to Multiple Tables with Relationships and Joins 52

Adding and Replacing Data Sources 55

Basic Data Prep with Data Interpreter 57

Navigating the Tableau Interface 58

Menus and Toolbar 59

Data Pane 60

Shelves and Cards 60

Legends 60

Understanding Dimensions and Measures 61

Dimensions 61

Measures 61

Continuous and Discrete 61

Summary 62



4. Keeping Visual Analytics in Context 63

Context in Action 65

Harry Potter: Hero or Menace? 66

Ensuring Relevant Context 67

Exploratory Versus Explanatory Analysis 69

Structuring Visual Analytic Stories 73

Story Plot 74

Story Genre 75

Audience Analysis for Storytelling 76

Who 77

What 77

Why 77

How 78

Summary 80



5. Fundamental Data Visualizations 81

The Bar Chart 83

Tableau How-To: Bar Chart 84

The Line Chart 88

Tableau How-To: Line Chart 91

Pie and Doughnut Charts 91

Tableau How-To: Pie and Doughnut Charts 93

The Scatter Plot 98

Tableau How-To: Scatter Plots 98

The Packed Bubble Chart 102

Tableau How-To: Packed Bubble Charts 103

The Tree Map 105

Tableau How-To: Tree Maps 106

The Heat Map 108

Tableau How-To: Heat Maps 109

Summary 112



6. Fundamental Maps 113

Connecting to Geographic Data 116

Assigning Geographic Roles 117

Creating Geographic Hierarchies 120

Proportional Symbol Maps 123

Choropleth Map 127



7. Design Tips for Curating Visual Analytics 133

Visual Design Building Blocks 136

Color 138

Sequential Color 139

Diverging Color 140

Categorical Color 143

Color Effects 145

Opacity 146

Mark Borders 147

Mark Halos 147

Pre-attentive Colors 148

Important Color Considerations 150

The Truth About Red and Green 151

Lines 153

Formatting Grid Lines, Zero Lines, and Drop Lines 156

Formatting Borders 160

Formatting, Shading, and Banding 163

Shapes 168

Shape Marks Card 168

Custom Shapes 169

Summary 173



8. Structuring Analytics for Storytelling: Prep, Dashboards, and Stories 175

Basic Data Prep in Tableau: Data Interpreter 176

Data Interpreter in Action 177

Handling Nulls in Tableau 179

Pivoting Data from Wide to Tall 182

A Note on Preparing Survey Data for Visual Analysis 186

Storyboarding Your Visual Analytics 188

Understanding Stories in Tableau 189

The Storyboarding Process 198

Summary 200



9. Beyond Fundamentals: Advanced Visualizations 201

Timelines 202

Bar-in-Bar Charts 210

Likert-Scale Visualizations 213

A 100% Stacked Bar Chart 214

Divergent Stacked Bar Chart 216

Lollipop Charts 226

Labeled Lollipops 230

Word Clouds 231

Summary 234



10. Closing Thoughts 235

Five Steps to Visual Data Storytelling 236

Step 1. Find Data That Supports Your Story 236

Step 2. Layer Information for Understanding 237

Step 3. Design to Reveal 237

Step 4. Beware the False Reveal 238

Step 5. Tell It Fast 238

The Important Role of Feedback 238

Ongoing Learning 240

Teach Yourself: External Resources 240

Companion Materials to This Text 242



Appendix A. Tableau Services 243



Index 247