Foundations of data visualization

Ever had someone hit you with a last-minute rush request that totally annoyed you—until they explained why? Maybe it was for a surprise board meeting, they apologized, and thanked you for jumping in. Suddenly, it feels different. That’s the power of context.

The same goes for data. A chart without context can confuse your audience—or worse, lead to bad decisions. In this course, you’ll learn why context matters in data visualization and how to pair the “what” with the “why” to tell a clear, meaningful story. We’ll work through creating visualizations in Excel, covering how to choose the right visual for your audience, avoid "chartjunk", and keep accessibility in mind. By the end, you’ll be ready to create clean, purposeful visualizations that actually help people understand the data.

Learning objectives

Which visualization you use depends on your audience and the story you want to tell.

Context is critical

Data can show you what happened. Context tells you why.

Know your audience

Which visualization you use depends on your audience and the story you want to tell.

Keep it clean

Don’t make people work too hard to understand what’s in the visual.

Curriculum outline

Context is critical
- Why context matters
- How to provide context effectively
- The risks of misleading context
- Exercising caution with Excel
Know your audience and tell a story
- Choose the best visual for the audience
- When to zoom in or zoom out
- Organize data to tell your story
Keep it clean
- Scrutinizing Excel's recommended charts
- Spot and remove chartjunk
- Pick the best visual for your message
- Accessibility in your design
Wrap up
- Review key takeaways
- Apply your skulls with confidence

Anticipated time to complete

NTEN courses typically require about 60 minutes of video content to complete, while optional content varies by course.

Course details

Members $60

Non-members $120

Earn a Professional Certificate and save 40% on course registrations.

Meet the presenter

SB Birnie

Pronouns: they/them

Vice President of Analytics

Avalon Consulting Group

Birnie (who goes by 'SB' or 'Birnie') is a queer vegan who has been on a gender identity journey for as long as they've been in the nonprofit fundraising industry - over 20 years. SB's career started at the Human Rights Campaign, where they developed analyses of HRC’s fundraising programs, including its monthly sustainer program, which grew 500% under their leadership. This is where their deep love for sustainers and payment processing started. After that, SB joined ROI Solutions, where they ultimately focused on database transitions and integrations, ensuring all deliverables were met on time with a high degree of accuracy. Now, as a full-time nerd leading the award-winning Avalon Analytics team, Birnie takes the lead on developing and maintaining innovative analytical products and deliverables. Their favorite days are when they get to dig into data to answer client questions and think of new ways to tell the data story.

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