Top 22 Dataviz Resources of 2022

Want to do some year-end learning as 2022 winds down?

Here are my favorite data visualization resources from the past year.

Are Viewers Expecting a Story? I’ve talked about data storytelling a bajillion times, and this video encapsulates some of those key points. This is a great resource to share with your colleagues who are just getting started with dataviz and data storytelling.
What Makes a Useful Data Story? 5 Questions to Ask: If you’ve been analyzing data for decades, then you already know how to spot useful nuggets that deserve to get graphed. But if you’re newer to data analysis, then you’ll appreciate this beginner-level post.
Dashboard Don’ts: My 10 Worst Mistakes from Past Projects: A great self-assessment to see whether your dashboards are as sophisticated as you think–or not.
How to Plan for Your Next Dashboard [Lea Pica’s Present Beyond Measure Podcast]: I spoke on dozens of podcasts in previous years, but had to scale that back in 2022 to make space for a 3-month summer vacation. Lea Pica’s podcast made me rethink this approach though. What a skilled host!!! She made my job as the guest so easy.
What Type of Dashboard Do We Need? 4 Types to Consider + Diagram to Download: A required prerequisite before your spend thousands of dollars developing a dashboard.
Creating Reports for Grant Deliverables Using Excel Dashboards: Josephine Engels’ guest post, which showcases some of her organizations’ real dashboards. A great case study!
How to Visualize Margin of Error Data in Excel with “Slider Plots”: Lauren Fox’s guest post on visualizing nuances in our datasets, like margins of error. Includes a spreadsheet you can download.
How to Avoid Death by PowerPoint by Differentiating Between Slidedocs and Slidedecks: I have an entire course on this topic, but this is a great starting point for organizations with so-so presentation quality.
How to Present Dense Data Visualizations (Without Losing Your Audience): This technique is obvious and straightforward–yet I rarely see it done well. Let’s change that!!!
Using Dashboards to Make a Family Trivia Event Even Better: Emily Ross’ guest blog post on how she adapted her Dashboard Design skills in her personal life.
Change Takes Time: How to Practice Patience in Report Redesign Processes: Abby Henderson’s candid reflections on the not-overnight culture change that’s necessary to apply what you learn from me.
Humanity in Data Visualization: Designing a One-Pager for My Grandma’s Caregivers: A fan favorite! This blog post got the most replies and kudos of everything published all year. I got chills when I read Mieko Yeh’s draft.
How to Hack Excel — and Add Totals to the Tops of Stacked Column Charts: Anat Zohar’s practical post on using invisible “helper data” inside our stacked charts.
When a Course is More Than a Course: 3 Ways “Great Graphs in Excel” Was Beyond Graphs: Sue Griffey’s guest post about how she applied her course knowledge to her work life.
How to Make a Not-So-Scary Starter Dashboard in Excel: One of my favorite beginner-level resources for getting started with Excel dashboards. Just 5 minutes, and includes a free download. I was pleasantly surprised when this video got 8,000 views within the first couple days.
Do You Need a Single Map, or Several Maps? Every time I do a private client training, I try to find case studies that I can anonymize and turn into later blog posts. And every time, I run out of time. Until now!! I finally made time to turn this specific map lesson from a client training into a blog post to help more people.
How to Write about Research Methods Like a Human (and Not a Textbook): Even though I focus on graphs… I have to edit paragraphs a lot. This post has plenty of before/after examples to get you started on editing your own writing.
Stop Using Tiny, Grainy Photos in PowerPoint!!! Another anonymized example from a client training. This technique is obvious, but not widely used. Let’s change that, too!
“Big A Accessibility” and “little a accessibility” Tips for Data Visualization: A mostly-complete checklist of everything we need to edit to ensure that our visualizations are accessible.
How to Use Repeating Diagrams to Visualize Qualitative Concepts: My personal favorite from 2022.
How to Use Gray Dashes Instead of Zeros in Tables: Includes an Excel tutorial and a spreadsheet to download.
How I Took 3 Months Off Work: A behind-the-scenes look at my part-time schedule, which I’ve been building 1% at a time since 2014. I didn’t take off 3 months because I was burned out. I simply have a long list of life goals that I’m trying to accomplish alongside my work goals. I had to take time off work to make space for those life goals.

Your Turn

What types of tutorials should I create in 2023?

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