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Data is beautiful.
Why?
It can easily inspire, improve, and bring out the best in your audience. Also, we create a lot of it. While the exact number varies, it’s estimated that the world generated a whopping 60 zettabytes of data in 2021 alone.
With so much data flying around, it’s not surprising that visualization has become such a significant skill to have.
As businesses and governments strive to drive innovation and maintain a competitive edge, visualization is increasingly becoming invaluable.
A key part of the aforementioned includes creative data visualization charts, such as the following:
Visualizing data using creative charts and graphs can help you spot new insights, carry out high-level analyses, and communicate new findings.
Excel lacks creative data visualization charts (highlighted above). You can supercharge the spreadsheet app by installing a particular add-in to access ready-made creative visualization graphs.
We’ll talk about the add-in in detail throughout the blog. You don’t want to miss this.
In this blog, you’ll learn:
Before jumping right into the blog’s heart, we’ll address the following question: what is creative visualization?
Creative Data Visualization or charts are visual illustrations you can use to display insights into your raw data.
A graph is a visual representation in which raw data is displayed using:
Creative data visualization organizes and represents data as digestible insights. Besides, they ease understanding of bulky and raw data. Your audience can interpret charts, graphs, and maps faster than tables.
In the coming section, we’ll take you through creative data visualization ideas for better results.
Follow the tips below religiously for guaranteed results.
Before analyzing your data using creative data visualization charts, such as Sankey, Pareto Diagrams, and Sunburst Chart, ensure it’s clean.
Data cleaning entails filtering errors, anomalies, and circle charts. The aforementioned process is critical to increasing the reliability of the resulting insights.
Before selecting a chart, you’ve got to account for the needs and interests of your audience. The aforementioned can take your data story from zero to hero.
Choosing the wrong visualization design can distort the resulting insights.
Use the following charts to create compelling data stories for your audience:
In the coming section, we’ll take you through the top 5 creative data visualization examples you must know.
A waterfall chart is a graphical tool used to depict the cumulative effect of sequentially occurring positive and negative values on an initial quantity or baseline, resembling a series of cascading steps, aiding in the visualization of trends and identifying significant contributors to overall changes in data.
Let’s say you have the sample goal data tabled below.
| Category | Year | Amount |
| Starting Balance | 2021 | 100,000 |
| Starting Balance | 2022 | 150,000 |
| Starting Balance | 2023 | 237,000 |
| Sales Revenue | 2021 | 50,000 |
| Sales Revenue | 2022 | 80,000 |
| Sales Revenue | 2023 | 110,000 |
| New Investment | 2021 | 30,000 |
| New Investment | 2022 | 40,000 |
| New Investment | 2023 | 45,000 |
| Operating Expenses | 2021 | -25,000 |
| Operating Expenses | 2022 | -30,000 |
| Operating Expenses | 2023 | -32,000 |
| Loan Payment | 2021 | -10,000 |
| Loan Payment | 2022 | -9,000 |
| Loan Payment | 2023 | -8,000 |
| Other Income | 2021 | 25,000 |
| Other Income | 2022 | 35,000 |
| Other Income | 2023 | 50,000 |
| Ending Balance | 2021 | 170,000 |
| Ending Balance | 2022 | 266,000 |
| Ending Balance | 2023 | 402,000 |
Create a goal chart template to visualize your data.
Sankey Diagram is one of the creative data visualization charts that’s tested and proven in visualizing:
The creative data visualization graph draws your audience’s attention to the significant flows. Besides, it uses color to emphasize the key insights.
Sankey Diagram leverages links that are proportional to the metric under study.
You can use the Sankey Chart as
Check out the table below. Can you provide a reliable data story to your audience?
| Income | Budget | Expense Mean | Spent On | Spending |
| Simon | Budget | Budget Expenses | Auto Charity | 100 |
| Simon | Budget | Budget Expenses | Mortgages on 2 Houses | 2250 |
| Simon | Budget | Budget Expenses | Dining Out and Groceries | 1358 |
| Simon | Budget | Budget Expenses | Property Taxes 2 Houses | 1010 |
| Simon | Budget | Budget Expenses | Utilities & House Cleaning | 952 |
| His Wife | Budget | Budget Expenses | Parking and Car Expenses | 689 |
| His Wife | Budget | Budget Expenses | Life Ins and Child Care | 491 |
| His Wife | Budget | Budget Expenses | Life Insurance and House | 304 |
| His Wife | Budget | Account | Leftover | 3800 |
| His Wife | Budget | Saving and Retirement | Dividend Reinvestment | 500 |
| Passive | Budget | Saving and Retirement | Automatic Cash Savings | 1900 |
| Passive | Budget | Saving and Retirement | Retirement | 1191 |
| Passive | Budget | Saving and Retirement | HSA | 360 |
| Passive | Budget | Saving and Retirement | Deferred Compensation | 300 |
| Passive | Budget | Saving and Retirement | I-Bond | 100 |
Note the difference after visualizing the table above. For instance, passive cash accounts for 25% of the overall income earned by Simon’s household.
A Radar Chart is a two-dimensional graph you can use to visualize data.
You can use the visualization design to display insights into two or more key insights. Besides, it’s best suited for displaying relationships between key variables in data.
Other common monikers of the chart include:
Check out the table below. Can you tell what’s going on?
| Product | Month | Orders |
| TV | Jan | 80 |
| TV | Feb | 65 |
| TV | Mar | 75 |
| TV | Apr | 80 |
| TV | May | 90 |
| TV | Jun | 85 |
| TV | Jul | 65 |
| TV | Aug | 70 |
| TV | Sep | 80 |
| TV | Oct | 93 |
| TV | Nov | 99 |
| TV | Dec | 80 |
| Smart Phones | Jan | 100 |
| Smart Phones | Feb | 60 |
| Smart Phones | Mar | 95 |
| Smart Phones | Apr | 75 |
| Smart Phones | May | 100 |
| Smart Phones | Jun | 60 |
| Smart Phones | Jul | 95 |
| Smart Phones | Aug | 75 |
| Smart Phones | Sep | 109 |
| Smart Phones | Oct | 80 |
| Smart Phones | Nov | 109 |
| Smart Phones | Dec | 75 |
| Computers | Jan | 50 |
| Computers | Feb | 55 |
| Computers | Mar | 51 |
| Computers | Apr | 40 |
| Computers | May | 45 |
| Computers | Jun | 30 |
| Computers | Jul | 39 |
| Computers | Aug | 45 |
| Computers | Sep | 56 |
| Computers | Oct | 39 |
| Computers | Nov | 48 |
| Computers | Dec | 44 |
Note the difference after visualizing the data above. The chart below shows the individual performances of television (TVs), smartphones, and computers.
A Pareto Chart is a visualization design that comprises bars and a line to display insights following the 80/20 rule.
The 80/20 rule is based on the rationale that 80% of the problems are caused by 20% of variables.
Data points are displayed in descending order using bars. And the cumulative frequency total is depicted using a line. On the other hand, the left vertical axis shows the frequency of occurrence or any other key metric under study.
The key goal of the Pareto Diagram is to highlight the significant variables driving massive change. You can use the graph to identify the defects that require significant and urgent intervention.
Check out the table below. Can you tell me what’s going on?
| Issues | Count |
| Installation | 36 |
| Software Fault | 18 |
| Shipping | 14 |
| Configuration | 9 |
| Hardware Fault | 7 |
| Connectivity | 4 |
| Other | 3 |
Note the difference after visualizing the data above. Shipping, software faults, and installation account for 80% of the issues facing the project under study.
A Progress Bar Chart is one of the creative data graphs you can use to show the progress made in a project.
Use the visualization design to track your project objectives for actionable insights. The Progress Bar Visualization uses green bars to show the growth of the key data points. Also, it has red bars, which stand for the decline.
Check out the table below. Can you provide a reliable data story to your audience?
| Items | Current | Previous |
| Mobile | 90 | 20 |
| Laptop | 80 | 20 |
| Modem | 70 | 30 |
| Monitors | 60 | 40 |
| Laptop Batteries | 50 | 50 |
| Headsets | 46 | 54 |
| Hand Free | 33 | 67 |
| Mobile Batteries | 30 | 70 |
| Tablet | 10 | 90 |
Note the difference after visualizing the data.
A Likert Scale Graph is one of the creative data visualization charts that has a psychometric scale for displaying insights into questionnaire data.
You can leverage the chart to display insights into the responses gathered during a survey exercise. The chart is named after Rensis Likert, a psychologist.
Look at the survey data from a questionnaire. What are the key takeaways?
| Questions | Rating | Responses |
| I enjoy my work. | 1 | 200 |
| I enjoy my work. | 2 | 105 |
| I enjoy my work. | 3 | 177 |
| I enjoy my work. | 4 | 140 |
| I enjoy my work. | 5 | 78 |
| My manager values my feedback. | 1 | 82 |
| My manager values my feedback. | 2 | 105 |
| My manager values my feedback. | 3 | 178 |
| My manager values my feedback. | 4 | 136 |
| My manager values my feedback. | 5 | 168 |
| I can communicate openly. | 1 | 180 |
| I can communicate openly. | 2 | 110 |
| I can communicate openly. | 3 | 135 |
| I can communicate openly. | 4 | 174 |
| I can communicate openly. | 5 | 135 |
| The work is distributed evenly in the team. | 1 | 190 |
| The work is distributed evenly in the team. | 2 | 175 |
| The work is distributed evenly in the team. | 3 | 75 |
| The work is distributed evenly in the team. | 4 | 184 |
| The work is distributed evenly in the team. | 5 | 54 |
Check out the final chart below graphing the survey results.
You can easily provide key insights into the data above. For instance, the overall satisfaction level is 2.9/5, which is abysmal.
In the coming section, we’ll take you through how to analyze data with creative data visualizations.
Excel is one of the most used visualization instruments for visual analytics. However, the spreadsheet application lacks ready-made creative data visualization charts, such as Radar and Sankey Diagrams.
We’re not advising you to do away with Excel in favor of other expensive tools.
This is because there’s an amazingly affordable visualization tool that comes as an add-in you can easily install in Excel to access insightful and ready-to-go creative data charts. The tool is called ChartExpo.
So, what is ChartExpo?
ChartExpo is an add-in you can easily install in your Excel without needing tutorials.
With many ready-to-go and insightful Excel charts, graphs, and maps, ChartExpo turns your complex, raw data into easy-to-interpret and visually appealing creative data visualization that tells data stories in real-time.
More benefits
This section will use a Radar Graph (one of the top 5 creative data visualization charts) to display insights into the tabular data below:
| Product | Month | Orders |
| TV | Jan | 80 |
| TV | Feb | 65 |
| TV | Mar | 75 |
| TV | Apr | 80 |
| TV | May | 90 |
| TV | Jun | 85 |
| TV | Jul | 65 |
| TV | Aug | 70 |
| TV | Sep | 80 |
| TV | Oct | 93 |
| TV | Nov | 99 |
| TV | Dec | 80 |
| Smart Phones | Jan | 100 |
| Smart Phones | Feb | 60 |
| Smart Phones | Mar | 95 |
| Smart Phones | Apr | 75 |
| Smart Phones | May | 100 |
| Smart Phones | Jun | 60 |
| Smart Phones | Jul | 95 |
| Smart Phones | Aug | 75 |
| Smart Phones | Sep | 109 |
| Smart Phones | Oct | 80 |
| Smart Phones | Nov | 109 |
| Smart Phones | Dec | 75 |
| Computers | Jan | 50 |
| Computers | Feb | 55 |
| Computers | Mar | 51 |
| Computers | Apr | 40 |
| Computers | May | 45 |
| Computers | Jun | 30 |
| Computers | Jul | 39 |
| Computers | Aug | 45 |
| Computers | Sep | 56 |
| Computers | Oct | 39 |
| Computers | Nov | 48 |
| Computers | Dec | 44 |
The chart above shows the individual performances of television (TVs), smartphones, and computers. You can easily compare all the product orders month-wise.
A creative data visualization chart should establish two aspects of the data being presented
Firstly, it should highlight the connections between key data points that are complex to explain with words. Secondly, it should make it easier for your audience to quickly understand the data story.
There’s no single chart we can claim is the magic silver bullet for your problems.
Use creative visualization designs to organize and represent data as digestible insights. Some of the tested and proven charts we recommend you give a try include
Data is beautiful. And this is because it can easily inspire, improve, and bring out the best in your audience. Also, we create a lot of it. While the exact number varies, it’s estimated that the world generated a staggering 60 zettabytes of data in 2021 alone.
With so much data flying around, it’s not surprising that visualization has become such a significant skill to have.
As businesses and governments strive to drive innovation and maintain a competitive edge, visualization is increasingly becoming invaluable.
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