You aren’t (and don’t have to be) a data visualisation specialist, but visualising the data in an effective and consistent way, and visualising your story, will help make your impact story even more impactful.

Ask yourself: what is the best way to bring my story to life for my audience? What are the best visualisation types for achieving my objectives, like securing extra funding or changing how we deliver educational programmes? Here we talk about how you present your data in an engaging and accessible way.

Why visualise your data? 

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"How do visualisations make arguments about data?...The introduction of a visual model is the development of an interpretation of the data."

Alison Hedley, Royal Statistical Society

Visualising the data and your narrative - charts, graphs and much, much more

You probably visualised a lot of your data naturally during Phase two using charts and graphs. Now in Phase three, you have created your narrative. What charts and graphs are relevant to keep? Some points in your report might not be related to the data you’ve collected but to your interpretation or to the main message you are trying to share. What other visuals do you need to illustrate this or your bigger impact narrative? 

But first, ask yourself this. What is the best way to bring my story to life for my audience? What are the best visualisation types for achieving my objectives, like securing extra funding or changing how we deliver educational programmes? Here we talk about how you present your data in an engaging and accessible way.

‘Not many people will read my report in full, so I’m going to make something visual that communicates vital information and attracts their attention’

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Ways to visualise your data

Visualisation can take a number of forms, for example, charts and graphs, maps, timelines, illustrations, infographics (visuals) and narrative infographics (including short stories and narrative). Review the different tools and techniques that you can use.

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