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Making Data Sexy provides tutorials as well as real-world tips from the trenches for users overwhelmed with the task of packaging their data for presentation. The book includes visualizations that Excel doesn’t include out of the box (but should).
My focus throughout the book was to provide guidance on how to create branded visualizations and eschew Microsoft’s default settings, as I demonstrate in this example makeover for the US Department of Justice. Imagine having the ability to work with brand colors like gray and gold and instead publishing visualizations on your public website using Microsoft’s default palette.
The writing style I assumed for this project was whimsical, with a soupçon of snark, to make data visualization less intimidating—and dry—for readers. It’s not representative of the more buttoned-up tone I use in corporate communication. However, the approach I took toward the visualizations are very much representative of my approach across platforms.
I used Excel as the basis for the book because it’s universally known and still the de facto standard for many organizations and non-analysts. However, the data visualization principles I teach and demonstrate are tool and platform agnostic. As you’ll see in my data visualization category, I prefer platforms that allow more interactivity and drill-down options.