A book that can revolutionize the way information is understood and presented, Visual Explanations is a master piece in the area of data visualization. A very handy book in a manager’s repertoire, it brings about the possibility that better and more clearly understood decisions will be made in an organization on the back of clarity in thinking, visualizing and presenting.
A deep analysis of the Columbia space shuttle disaste
r from a data representation point of view opens many doors to the inquisitive mind. It m
ade me wonder about the numerous occasions in my professional life where I could have benefitted from such powerful and persuasive visual communications. Visual communications are highly impactful by nature, and they tend to showcase the most relevant, but a small portion of the data. This helps to emphasize most relevant pieces of data, but at the same time maintains the big picture by providing context through controlled comparisons. The entire idea behind data presentation is to quantitatively demonstrate causality.
There are some really great chapters in the book, including Images and Quantities, which deals with visual representation and mis-representation of quantity. This includes scales, and placing known objects in the picture to help the viewer understand the visual better. The smallest effective difference talks about placing the right amount of emphasis on different aspects of the image, through thickness of lines, colours and other devices which can focus attention.
“Multiple Images” talks about a series o
f images that brings about “forcefulness, clarity, efficiency, rhythm and balance”. While I’m sure this chapter has some great insights, I did not spend too much time o
n this one, probably because it’s right in the middle of the book.. and its big.
By far the most captivating part of the book is in the portion titled “Visual Confections”. These are the visual presentation of ideas through juxtaposition of images. There are some memorable examples here, and the heart of the chapter (and the book) lie in the memorable examples that Tufte brings up. Here are some.
My buddy Rahul's kept complaining that there is no real hiking place around Toronto. The usual Hiking websites were giving us information about hiking trails that were more like walks on flat tracts of land rather than a hike. And so, Google came to the rescue..
Im making a start to this blog in an attempt to collect interesting stuff related to the use of visualization in business. It is really interesting to see what impact visualization has on innovation and efficiency on an organization, and I intend to explore this issue further. Lets go Vaarun.. we've got stuff to get done!
