This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. During Office Hours, Sue Griffey walked us through the pros and cons of 3 different mapping approaches: Pin drop maps (made for free with Google) Heat maps (made with Excel) Tile grid maps (also made in Excel) Overlay maps (tile grids, icon stacks, […]
Adding Text Boxes to Charts in Excel: Slow vs. Fast
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. You might need text boxes for annotations or labels. You might spend a few moments adding and editing the text box. But then, it doesn’t get pasted correctly into Word or PowerPoint, argh! In this 5-minute video, you’ll see 2 ways to add […]
Adjusting the Outside and Inside Chart Borders in Excel
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Is your chart… Too wide? Too narrow? Bars are too short? Weird white space? Labels not showing? Labels wrapped funny? If so, it’s probably the outside and/or inside border. If you’re not sure what I mean by outside and inside border, stick around! […]
How to Put Numbers AND Percentages in Graph Labels in Excel
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Want to put both the numbers and the percentages inside your Excel graph’s labels, like this? Text boxes are clunky and time-consuming. Instead, we’ll create Helper Cells with concatenated values. What’s Inside 0:00 Intro 0:33 Dataviz On The Go 0:42 Why not text […]
Why Isn’t My Map Working?!? 10 Excel Troubleshooting Tips
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. I have a love-hate relationship with maps in Excel… Pros of Excel Maps If you’re only making maps once in a while (i.e., you’re not a full-time cartographer), Excel maps are great because you don’t have to purchase/download/install/learn any specialty mapping software. Fast […]
How to Make Dumbbell Dot Plots in Excel
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Ready for a brain-bending tutorial? It’s *not* easy to make dot plots in Excel. These are non-native charts — meaning we’ll have to reconfigure our table, and use a scatter plot(!) — to trick Excel into making our dot plot. The learning curve […]
How to Apply Your Brand Colors in Dataviz
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Colors can make or break a chart. Colors direct our eye movements, and therefore our brains and attention. It’s up to you: will you help or hinder your reader’s understanding? Step 1: Start with Your Brand Colors Otherwise, your graphs, slides, and dashboards […]
What’s the Difference between Clustered Bars and Dumbbell Dots??
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Maybe you’re already familiar with dot plots… Maybe you’re already using them… Maybe you can make ’em in your sleep… Or maybe you have no idea what I’m even talking about! (If that’s the case, stick around! This video is for you.) You’ll […]
How to Add Checkboxes to Microsoft Excel **New Feature!**
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Did you know… that Excel now has checkboxes?!? In this video, you’ll learn: how to add checkboxes to your spreadsheet, how much better they look than the “old” way of doing it, and what types of details we can edit (like the checkbox […]
How to Label Only the Min and Max on the Excel Graph
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. By default, Excel will label TONS of increments along our y-axis scale. And if we’ve already got the exact values within the graph itself, the y-axis can become even more cluttered. In this video, you’ll learn how to adjust your graph’s vertical scale […]