Scientific Data Visualization

After months of measurements and countless hours of data cleaning and processing, you got exciting results that point towards entirely new scientific insights. Graphing that data occurs to you as an afterthought when writing the paper or putting together the poster or slide stack. Nothing complicated, just a few mouse clicks in your favorite spreadsheet software and done! Good enough.

Or is it? Is that diagram really expressive of your data – i.e., a true and honest depiction of your data and only your data? Could it be misread by showing features that are not actually in the data? Could critical viewers even come to the conclusion that you wanted to mislead them? Would there be a way for these critics to check your diagram for plausibility, maybe even reproduce it? And if it is a valid representation of your data, is it also effective for highlighting your results – i.e., does it convey what you want to show about your data? Can viewers easily pick up on the points you’re trying to make with that graphic? Or do you need a long figure caption to explain how to read your diagram, what can be observed in it, and why this is important?

This talk will provide you with a basic understanding of the Do’s and Don’ts of data visualization – chart types, scales, colors, labels, legends, etc. It will be accompanied by a multitude of examples showing best and worst case data visualizations, so that you get a concrete idea of the pitfalls to look for in your diagrams, as well as when reviewing the work of others, and how to fix them.

Note: You can submit your diagram, figure, or chart to the speaker for a chance of it being discussed anonymously as one of the examples in the talk. To get your graphic considered simply email it in PNG or PDF format together with a brief description to  by 16 June 2017.

History teaches us one very harsh truth: It doesn’t matter how hard you have worked and how profoundly great your ideas are. If you can’t sell it, it’s basically useless. Throughout all the different markets it’s plain to see: Visual appeal and comprehensibility play an imperative part in successfully selling ideas.

But how is it done? Way too many people have the misconception that creating something which is visually appealing requires so-called «talent», meaning some kind of hard to define and even harder to gain ability which you’re either born with or not. The uplifting truth is: That’s not true. In fact, there are some very simple rules that anyone can learn and apply.

In this talk, I’d like to introduce you to the most important rules (use of graphic elements, colours, fonts and space) and a simple as well as time-efficient process, which will allow you to create appealing and convincing graphics – each and every time. After having answered some key questions, you will start the actual creation steps, which will end with the most important yet underrated process: reduction. This workshop and some practice will help you realise that there’s actually very little «magic» in everyday graphic design and that you can do this!