Converting data into visual formats has been a major marketing trend over the last decade.

While it’s well known that visual information is easier for the mind to digest, it can feel hollow without the support of substantial facts and metrics.

According to Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, creating a “data story” is a way of merging these diverse perspectives.

At Google, I teach everyone from marketers to engineers some basic principles of data visualization that help them turn numbers into compelling visual stories.

Presenting data creatively can make numbers seem more human and turn statistics into stories.

By ‘humanizing’ data we can make those numbers – and hence the people and companies behind them – more transparent.

Nussbaumer shares some of her tactics in this article, but the substance of her strategy boils down to simplicity.

Just like writing or speaking, in data design you want to keep things succinct and to the point. 

This allows the important message to shine through. 

Here is an example of a recruiting piece we created for a client that implements the data story concepts:

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