Charts and graphs are the most common way to visualise data. Tools like Excel and Google Sheets may well be able to handle everything you need, and you may be familiar with them already. 

GOOD FOR:

• Summarising information in an easy-to-understand format

• Making comparisons

• Highlighting key values 

• Displaying relative proportions or numbers of different categories

EXAMPLES:

• Datawrapper charts are embeddable or downloadable, meaning that the data can be downloaded and that the charts are interactive. You can see some in their regular blog series, including this one, on the hottest 24 February in Germany since records began.

  • https://blog.datawrapper.de/hottest-february-24-ever/

• Watch this animated chart from the Centre for Biological Diversity’s Save the Monarch’s campaign.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFkDbUO-mAU&ab_channel=CenterforBiologicalDiversity

• Check out this catalogue of data visualizations that also lets you know what each type of chart is best for different types of functions i.e. showing progress over time, comparisons etc.

  • https://datavizcatalogue.com/

Tips

✔️Consult your communications colleague(s). They are the experts. 

✔️Follow your brand or organisational colours, tone of voice, imagery, fonts, messaging and layouts, if these exist. If you don’t have agreed fonts, you can use different websites to help you find a style. Canva also has guidance on how to use fonts effectively. 

✔️Follow your organisation’s tone of voice guidelines and messaging, if such guidelines exist.

✔️Be objective in your tone. Don’t be dramatically positive but avoid scepticism too. Talk about the positives (the good results, or the results you expected) and the negatives (results that didn’t work out the way you expected) in the same tone. Ask someone to review your writing with this in mind. 

✔️Use action colours, fonts or other highlights to bring your audience’s attention to the point you are trying to make and to reinforce your structure. For example, multiple font weights (i.e. light, regular, semibold, and bold) are critical for building a clear text hierarchy. Specify foreign fonts if you will be using other languages.

✔️Be consistent throughout your report in terms of style, language and visuals, and everything else.

✔️Add the shortest possible version of URLs in full if you think your audience might print your report. 

✔️Familiarise yourself with accessibility best practices so your output is usable by anyone.

✔️You don’t have to include everything in the main body of the report. The shorter, the better! Create an appendix, or an additional document, with the full data analysis and charts. You should always be able to refer back to the analysis.