In this course, you will analyze and apply essential design principles to your Tableau visualizations. This course assumes you understand the tools within Tableau and have some knowledge of the fundamental concepts of data visualization. You will define and examine the similarities and differences of exploratory and explanatory analysis as well as begin to ask the right questions about what’s needed in a visualization. You will assess how data and design work together, including how to choose the appropriate visual representation for your data, and the difference between effective and ineffective visuals. You will apply effective best practice design principles to your data visualizations and be able to illustrate examples of strategic use of contrast to highlight important elements. You will evaluate pre-attentive attributes and why they are important in visualizations. You will exam the importance of using the "right" amount of color and in the right place and be able to apply design principles to de-clutter your data visualization.
This course is part of the Data Visualization with Tableau Specialization
Essential Design Principles for Tableau
Offered By
About this Course
4.5
675 ratings
What you will learn
Examine and improve an ineffective visualization
Examine and improve an ineffective visualization
Apply visualization best practices
Create and design visualizations that work best for the target audience
Skills you will gain
Data AnalysisTableau SoftwareData VirtualizationData Visualization (DataViz)
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week
1Getting Started in Effective and Ineffective Visuals
Welcome to this first module where we are going to start you off with background information about how the human brain perceives the world and then you will discover effective and ineffective visuals. By the end of this module, you will be able to recognize how the brain relates to visual design. You will know the difference between cognitive versus perceptual design. You will learn the various visualization options offered by Tableau and some of their advantages and disadvantages. You will discuss why how good ethical practices play in designing visualizations. You will also start to examine ineffective visualizations and learn how to improve them.
8 videos (Total 50 min), 1 reading, 2 quizzes
8 videos
The Human Brain and Data Visualization5m
Cognitive vs Perceptual Design Distinction4m
Introduction of Effective and Ineffective Visuals1m
Types of Visualizations5m
Examples of the Types of Visualizations in Tableau12m
Practicing Good Ethics in Data Visualization9m
Ineffective Visuals and How to Improve Them7m
1 reading
Tableau Desktop vs. Tableau Public1m
1 practice exercise
Module 1 Quiz30m
Week
2Visual Perception and Cognitive Load
Welcome to this second module. This module will explore specific data visualization concepts that apply the concepts you learned about how the human brain works from the last module. In this module, you will be able to define cognitive load and what clutter means from a visualization perspective. You will be able to visually illustrate the principles of visual perception and use contrast to enhance your visualizations. You will be able to define and use pre-attentive attributes like color to make effective visualizations.
7 videos (Total 47 min), 1 quiz
7 videos
Cognitive Load and Clutter8m
Principles of Visual Perception4m
Strategic Use of Contrast10m
Pre-Attentive Attributes of Visualizations4m
Color as a Pre-Attentive Attribute9m
De-Cluttering Exercise7m
1 practice exercise
Module 2 Quiz45m
Week
3Design Best Practices and Exploratory Analysis
In this module, we revisit some of the concepts introduced from the previous module. You will be able to apply Gestalt Principles and leverage pre-attentive attributes in your visualizations. You will examine the role of accessibility and aesthetics play in your creations. Also, you will be able to define the ideas of exploratory and explanatory analysis and be able to normalize your data and identify outliers. Finally, you will be introduced to a challenging concept and construct a control chart to set you up to perform more advanced exploratory analysis.
10 videos (Total 70 min), 2 readings, 1 quiz
10 videos
Gestalt Principle: Proximity6m
Leveraging Pre-Attentive Attributes10m
Accessible Visualizations11m
Aesthetics7m
Design and Exploratory Analysis Introduction1m
What is Exploratory and Explanatory Analysis?2m
Case Study: Anscombe's Quartet10m
Identifying Outliers8m
Constructing a Control Chart8m
2 readings
Missed Opportunities and Graphical Fails10m
The Challenger: An Information Disaster10m
1 practice exercise
Module 3 Quiz28m
Week
4Design for Understanding
Making sense of large, multi-dimensional data sets can be a challenge for anyone. Your task as a designer is to make good decisions about encoding, arranging, and presenting data to reveal meaningful patterns and stories for your audiences. After completing this module, you will be able to design your visualizations for a target audience and with purpose. You will be able to identify the connection to between data, relationships and good visual design. You will implement additional design tools and tips into your visualizations.
9 videos (Total 54 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes
9 videos
Know Your Audience(s)5m
Design For Purpose7m
Data, Relationships, and Design5m
Static Versus Interactive Visualizations8m
Multiple, Connected View4m
Language, Labeling, and Scales5m
Visual Lies and Cognitive Bias11m
Final Thoughts1m
2 readings
Blogs and Articles About Data Visualizations
Selected Books About Data Visualization, Data Analysis, and Perception/Cognition30m
1 practice exercise
Module 4 Quiz28m
4.5
108 ReviewsTop Reviews
By VL•Mar 11th 2018
The course uncovers the science of the design for data. It is certainly very helpful for my job where have to present a lot of data in different perspectives for senior management.
By AH•May 30th 2017
It is an excellent course!!! very well designed and very proficient talk on most difficult and most important skills related to data visualization....Enjoyed it sooo much!!!
Instructors
Govind Acharya
Principal AnalystBudget and Institutional Analysis
Hunter Whitney
Sr. Consultant, Author, InstructorDesign Strategy and Data Visualization
About University of California, Davis
UC Davis, one of the nation’s top-ranked research universities, is a global leader in agriculture, veterinary medicine, sustainability, environmental and biological sciences, and technology. With four colleges and six professional schools, UC Davis and its students and alumni are known for their academic excellence, meaningful public service and profound international impact.
About the Data Visualization with Tableau Specialization
In 2020 the world will generate 50 times the amount of data as in 2011. And 75 times the number of information sources (IDC, 2011). Being able to use this data provides huge opportunities and to turn these opportunities into reality, people need to use data to solve problems.
This Specialization, in collaboration with Tableau, is intended for newcomers to data visualization with no prior experience using Tableau. We leverage Tableau's library of resources to demonstrate best practices for data visualization and data storytelling. You will view examples from real world business cases and journalistic examples from leading media companies.
By the end of this specialization, you will be able to generate powerful reports and dashboards that will help people make decisions and take action based on their business data. You will use Tableau to create high-impact visualizations of common data analyses to help you see and understand your data. You will apply predicative analytics to improve business decision making. The Specialization culminates in a Capstone Project in which you will use sample data to create visualizations, dashboards, and data models to prepare a presentation to the executive leadership of a fictional company.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Once you enroll for a Certificate, you’ll have access to all videos, quizzes, and programming assignments (if applicable). Peer review assignments can only be submitted and reviewed once your session has begun. If you choose to explore the course without purchasing, you may not be able to access certain assignments.
What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
What is the refund policy?
Is financial aid available?
More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.
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