Principles of Data Visualization

Data storytelling is both an art and a science. The art part refers to the story structure and narrative elements that bind data and visual components together, whereas the science part of data storytelling pertains to the foundational principles of design and visual perception and their application. This book largely concerns itself with building data stories through dashboards and reports. It primarily deals with the science aspect of data storytelling. These forms of data presentation provide limited narrative flexibility owing to the dynamic nature of the data they represent. As the data changes over time, the insights it conveys and the story it tells will change accordingly. This makes it difficult to incorporate a rigid narrative. Hence, much of the emphasis is put on design elements such as the chart types, colors, and layout, that constitute the building blocks of storytelling through data, rather than on the narrative elements.

This chapter...