Library: Middlesex Data Visualization: Guidelines for Data Visualization

Choosing the Right Chart/Graph Type

The first step in effective data visualization is making sure you're using the right chart/graph type for your specific data.

Data Visualization 101: How to Choose the Right Chart or Graph for Your Data
This guide introduces 14 different types of graphs and charts for presenting data and design best practices for each type of graph or chart. It also lists 5 questions to ask when deciding which type of chart to use.

Making Better Color Choices

Do not always stick with the default color scale. It is important to make good choices of colors in order to best present your data and make the main points of a graph or chart easy for viewers to correctly figure out.

What to Consider When Choosing Colors for Data Visualization
This article takes a general look at colors and what to consider when choosing them.
Data Color Picker-Palette Generator
Use the palette chooser to create a series of colors that are visually equidistant. This is useful for many data visualizations, like pie charts, grouped bar charts, and maps.
How to Use Color Blind Friendly Palettes to Make Your Charts Accessible
In this guide, we’ll break down the different types of color blindness and their special considerations with respect to data visualization. We’ll also show you how to effectively use color blind friendly palettes to make your graphics available to a wider range of people.

Other Guidelines

Exploratory vs Explanatory Analysis
Exploratory analysis is what you do to get familiar with the data. Explanatory analysis is what happens when you have something specific you want to show an audience - probably about those 1 or 2 precious gemstones.
Real Chart Rules to Follow
This post by Nathan Yau of Flowing Data provides examples of good (and bad) charts, distilled into a handful of general rules for making charts.
DataViz Cheatsheet
This cheatsheet from PolicyViz briefly summarizes standard considerations for data visualization.
The Data Visualization Catalogue
This site presents a nice graphical summary of visualization types.

Middlesex Campus Library

Middlesex Data Visualization

Choosing the Right Chart/Graph Type

Making Better Color Choices

Other Guidelines