Visualization without data = art.

Since the eventual goal is probably to present a useful and relevant visual to a target audience, I think that an iterative process should be followed. After receiving the data, just start making graphs. Start with the simple stuff: histograms, scatterplots, etc. At this point you shouldn’t be very concerned about data-ink ratios or exactly which graph to use. You are doing this to become more familiar with the data. You may even decide that it is appropriate to clean up the data or employ some sort of transform. If you do, you should leave a trail for yourself or your colleagues just in case you need to explain yourself later. Eventually you’ll get to the point where you’re ready to make THE graph. Try one. Decide whether that graph tells the real story. Get some opinions from your colleagues, just like Nathan does here on occasion. With practice you’ll come up with the right graph for the data and for your target audience.

Design should be considered content the same way data should be considered a part of the visualization. You can design something to look beautiful, but that design will stand as something far greater if the content is meaningful too — same goes for data and visualizations. You can create an incredible visualization, but I’d argue that it’s only as meaningful or as engaging as the data behind it.

That doesn’t mean you can’t design without content or create visualizations without data, but those that have meaningful content/data behind them become that much more rich.

On the flip side, it’s also quite common to see important data sets get rendered into background noise with a crap/lazy visualization.

However, infographics are most potent when their “info” cannot be called into question and is easily independently verified.

A good visualization should let you evaluate whether the data is garbage or not. A scatter plot is a way to look for correlation and will indicate what is going on. If I make a panel of pie charts to visualize a correlation then I’m probably in trouble.

There’s a lesson in packaging, my occupational field, where a designer may have a great idea for a package…a real award-winner. If that package isn’t appropriate for the product, it doesn’t mean the package wasn’t clever or interesting…it just means it wasn’t appropriate. Any manufactured product faces this dilemma; where is the balance between design and usability? Design must be informed by the product’s purpose if it’s going to add value to that product. Otherwise the design will feel gratuitous and sit atop the purpose like an ill-fitting Christmas sweater.