Data visualisation - which diagram should I use?

January 7, 2012 | article by Ken Thompson in Think Differently (22)

Here is an excellent web link plus two great books which address the question which diagram or chart should I use to best communicate different types of information visually. With at least 40 types of diagram and new ones/variants constantly being invented this is a hot topic!

40 Types of Data Viz from Information is Beautiful

This excellent weblink from qlikview (a data visualisation tool) takes you through the main data visualisations and gives advice on when each one is appropriate.

This book Information is Beautiful by David McCandless presents all sorts lots of statistics about the world in a visually imaginative way - the ultimate coffee table book! The picture above is taken from the book and summarises 40 different types of "Information Viz".

Finally this book Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few is probably the definitive reference book on Information Design on the principle "less is more". Few thoroughly debunks flashy dashboard designs which look like airline and car cockpits which impress on first sight but are a nightmare to use in favour of simple clean minimalistic designs which actually convey the required information effectively.

About Ken Thompson

Ken Thompson delivers keynote conference speeches, workshop facilitation and in-house consultancy in four key business areas:

Creating High Performing Teams in enterprises including Virtual and Mobile Teams (based on the Bioteams Book)
Establishing effective Collaborative Business Networks enabling companies to co-operate effectively in areas such as sales and product development (based on the book - The Networked Enterprise)
How to use the latest social media technologies including blogging and online communities to promote enterprises, brand, organisation or event
Development of graphical on-line interactive Business Dashboards and What-if Simulators for organisations to support Performance Improvement, Strategy Development and Executive Team Development.

Tags: business intelligence, dashboards, data visualisation, excel, simulators

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Bioteams Books Reviews

Beyond Multinationals: a new corporate structure emerges

December 29, 2005 | article by Ken Thompson in Book Reviews (37)

The rise of the MetaNational: In a new book, From Global to MetaNational, Strategy experts and Insead Professors, Yvez Doz, José Santos and Peter Williamsonargue that the future form of successful global enterprise has now changed from the multinational to the metanational.

Buy it now from:
Amazon.Com
Amazon.Co.UK

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Click here to check all Bioteams book reviews

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