Choosing an Existing Vis-Type¶
This section will offer a few resources to help you determine the “traditional” chart type that might work best for your project.
The Data Visualization Catalogue offers an overview of different chart types to help you choose which is best for your needs, and allows for sorting types by function (i.e. part-to-whole relationships, hierarchies, & etc.).
From Data to Viz is another great chart-selecting resource that can be filtered by need. A particular strength of this site is the Caveats page which attempts to dispel visualization related rumors and speak to common visualization pitfalls.
The Chartmaker Directory is limited/non-exhaustive but helpful way to source tutorials if you are just exploring and already know the kind of chat you want to make, but might not yet know which tool you want to use. It shows the particular tutorials a given tool has for a particular chart. What is unclear is if/how often this resource is updated.
The “Design Elements and Principles” article on Canva Learn’s blog is not necessarily specific to data visualization, and doesn’t pretend to be the most comprehensive design principles list, but it can offer a quick overview of design considerations such as negative space, texture, and scale, transparency, & etc. Considering even basic design principles might be helpful for raising concerns and/or critiquing your visualization or considering potential ways forward for your work.