This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at freshspectrum.com. Dear research and evaluation community, we have a website problem. The problem? Many of our websites suck. I’m talking about resource sites, toolkits, organization homepages, project websites, communities of practice, association sites, learning communities, online reports, etc… As an evaluator who has been […]
Designing an Executive Summary with Canva
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at freshspectrum.com. Design is a process. So is creativity. In today’s post I’ll walk you through the process I would use to design an executive summary style report using Canva. Step 1. Simple Mini Personas Take a notecard and draw a little picture of a […]
Your report is not broken.
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at freshspectrum.com. Is nobody reading your report? Have you put tons of work into something then shared it out to the world, only to hear nothing in return? It might be easy to think that you’re to blame. If only you knew how to design […]
Information design is not data visualization.
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at freshspectrum.com. Referring to data visualization as information design is like referring to survey design as evaluation. Yes, evaluators tend to design surveys. But there is way more to being an evaluator than designing a survey. Learning how to be an information designer requires more […]
The lost question.
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at freshspectrum.com. What was that thing… I believe it was important. It had something to do with something we didn’t know… I remember being really focused on it. But at some point our conversation switched. Then all of a sudden we weren’t talking about it […]
What’s so special about UX research with Joanna Prout
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at freshspectrum.com. Over the coming year I hope to spend a little time on this blog showcasing some of the members of my Information Design Academy. In today’s post we’ll hear from Joanna Prout. Joanna is currently exploring a career transition from research and evaluation into […]
Where we Fail
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at freshspectrum.com. In today’s post I want to address one those elephants in the room. It’s about the biggest reason why data people have trouble producing creative work. We are all creative, but some of us have way more practice. You want to know what […]
Flirting with Burnout
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at freshspectrum.com. This is one of those oversharing kinds of blog posts filled with me being vulnerable. If you don’t like reading about people’s feelings, please feel free to skip this post. I love my work. As a consultant I get the chance to work […]
What type of data designer are you?
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at freshspectrum.com. Taking the next steps in your data design journey starts with knowing yourself. I remember when I first started getting into data visualization design. When bloggers would go to define data visualization design they would often share a type of Venn diagram. On […]
How to use AI to make your reports readable [ChatGPT & the Hemingway App]
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at freshspectrum.com. Are you a little hesitant about all this AI stuff? Me too. But these new AI tools can actually be pretty dang useful and easy to use. For the most part I’m a new tech skeptic. Before I add another tool to my […]