I recently began believing in the logic of using different types of visuals for different concepts. Obviously, there are a variety of visualization methods out there that people use all the time. What I didn’t quite consider was when and how exactly to use them. 

There are parts of my research that I believe are significant to this logic, starting with a book called Storytelling With Data by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic. The author reinforces the idea by connecting it all to communication, especially in the introduction and first chapter. She believes successful visualization begins by understanding the “who, what, and why” questions when it comes to audiences (Knaflic, 2015). This reminds me of how important a target audience is, because whoever views your content will want to know certain things such as why the visualization matters to them and what action should result from it. 

While researching this logic, I came across four different types of visuals that are meaningful for content creation.

Conceptual-Declarative Visualization 

This is a type of visual that is meant for teaching. When viewers are presented with conceptual-declarative visualization, it doesn’t mean that they have to discover new information. Instead, they would attempt to understand an existing idea. This visualization aligns with Knaflic’s recommendation for communication to be clear to help audiences primarily understand one message, rather than a bunch of information (Knaflic, 2015). 

This visual type relates to what I do for full-time work, which is a certified teaching assistant. In my experience in this role, I’ve used different visuals given by classroom teachers when working with kids with special needs. Here is a general example from Autism Classroom Resources.

The above image is called a “First-Then Schedule.” It’s designed for kids with special needs to fully understand how to cooperate with rules and how to get a reward they want. It’s effective because instead of repeatedly telling a student what to do for a reward, showing them the visual would prompt them to actually do what you want them to do. 

Conceptual-Exploratory Visualization

If you’re attempting to brainstorm ideas for an upcoming assignment or project, this visual type will help with that. It’s something that can be used in classrooms and any subject. Think of it as seeing a relationship of something or someone that may be hidden, which is something David McCandless referred to in his TED talk regarding this topic (McCandless, 2010). Take a look at this example from Pinterest. 

As you can see, this venn diagram is used to help kids think about what picture goes in what parts of it. The fact that it supports brainstorming and creative thinking is what makes it effective, especially for kids because it gives them a good learning challenge.

Data-Driven-Declarative Visualization 

Now, to find something very specific, you’ll need to use a visual that is data-driven-declarative. This is because of the immediately visible trends that audiences can see, especially on line charts. This is something mentioned in Chapter 1 of Storytelling With Data, as Knaflic points out that this type of communication navigates audiences to the direction the presenter wants them to understand (Knaflic, 2015). They can also identify increases and decreases on something. Here’s an example of a line chart, also from Pinterest. 

In this line chart about sunflower growth, you can easily see it increasing up to 90 inches. So, something like this would be useful for business reports or academic presentations. 

Data-Driven-Exploratory Visualization 

Finally, this visual type would help with interactive purposes with dashboards and reports. What that means is you can choose what data to examine and make any decision about it, and then present it on an interactive public data website. 

I didn’t quite find an example related to school for this visual type. The below image from Project Control Academy is a generic example of what it looks like.

You can probably tell by the looks of this image that the goal would be to determine answers to certain questions about schedules. As Knalfic explains in the book, this visual type helps analysts search for insights before deciding what to submit and communicate (Knaflic, 2015). That’s why data-driven-exploratory visualization is important. 

Overall, while this is all so much information to process, the images should hopefully show and tell any viewer what it means and how and when to use it. I’m glad I did lots of research and found those specific sources I mentioned, because they go way in-depth about the logic of these different visual types for different purposes. I hope that as I continue to excel in my career as a teaching assistant, and all my future endeavors, there will be more ideas of visualization to come.

References

Knaflic, C. N. (2015). Storytelling with data: A data visualization guide for business professionals. Wiley.

McCandless, D. (2010, July). The beauty of data visualization [TED Talk]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_visualization