I think Lollipop Graphs are really interesting and creative ways to show your data. The first interesting thing is that you can create them in one of two ways: Either through Scatter Plot Graphs or through Bar Charts.
Lollipop Graphs are very simple, yet they show you exactly what you need. and that’s their exact purpose.
In my Lollipop Graph, I chose a data set about popular ice cream toppings. I chose to show them in ascending order because I thought it looked a lot better. It is very minimalistic, but I believe it gets the point across.
While doing some more research, I found some more variation of Lollipop charts like the ‘Cleveland Dot Plot’, which has a shorter line and shows two subgroups. More of these examples can be found at https://www.data-to-viz.com/graph/lollipop.html.
When it comes to a person’s health, having the right data can make a world of difference. But sometimes it’s hard to make sense of the data when it isn’t condensed. What does it mean when the doctor says their patient’s blood pressure is X-over-Y? Will this medication do more harm than good? What should a patient to do reduce their risk factors?
This week, I paid a visit to Visualizing Health (VizHealth), a data visualization style guide specifically designed for communicating health data. Going into this project, my main concern was COVID-19, so I hoped that they had at least some content related to the coronavirus.
First Impressions
The home page for VizHealth.
When I arrived at the VizHealth home page, the first thing I noticed was the University of Michigan logo. I moved my mouse over it and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation logo, but there were no links to either program. Other than that, the page itself had a simple design with a limited color palette and several key links.
About VizHealth
VizHealth results from a collaborative effort between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Michigan Center for Health Communications Research. Their goal is to better communicate data for a variety of health issues through numerous scientific studies. In turn, the VizHealth team hopes that the graphics they designed will provide inspiration to other health data visualization designers who want to tell a different story with their data.
At the top of the “About VizHealth” page, they include a brief video detailing their mission and methods:
At the core of the program is the data visualization wizard, where users answer a few questions to help them select the right graphic for what they want to convey to their audience. Then, there’s the visualization gallery, which contains a variety of graphics depicting different design concepts. Finally, VizHealth’s resources page includes a sample risk calculator and a short comic detailing two real-world applications of health visualization.
The Wizard (of VizHealth)
The first tool on the site is the Data Visualization wizard. Two questions greeted me when I opened the wizard: “What is your primary goal for communicating this specific piece of risk information?” and “Do people need to know or remember exact risk numbers or is it enough for them to get the basic idea (the gist) about the risk?”. Put in simpler terms, the wizard asked me for the purpose of my data and how much of said data I wish to convey to my audience.
For the first question, the wizard gives explanation tooltips for each choice to help users decide what story they want to tell with their data. For example, the second option details risk awareness, and they use a measles outbreak as their source. They also ask the user to consider if they meant to tell a different story; clicking the second option in the tooltip redirects them to another choice. Once I’ve made my selection, the site brought me to a confirmation page where I can continue onto the visualization gallery (discussed below) or change my answers.
Visualization Gallery
VizHealth’s visualization gallery holds 54 pieces of data visualization examples for users to browse, filter, and examine. Immediately, I found myself checking off filters to sort through the examples provided, though I was somewhat disappointed when I saw that there was no option to display COVID-19-related visualizations.
The design I chose pulled information from a 2014 measles statistic report. It compared annual measles cases reported from Brooklyn to nationwide measles cases.
Using this as a design template, I decided to pull monthly COVID-19 statistics for New Jersey and compared them to the national cases reported. As of September 24, COVID-19 cases are slightly increasing when compared to numbers from the previous month. One possible explanation for the increase could be attributed to Labor Day crowds and people disregarding CDC guidelines for social distancing and wearing masks.
This image is based on original research and designs from Visualizing Health, a collaborative project between the University of Michigan and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation made publicly available via Creative Commons license. Our use of this image should not be considered an endorsement from Visualizing Health. For more information, visit www.vizhealth.org.
Resources from VizHealth
Finally, VizHealth provides a list of resources on how to use their content as well as some interactive tools. The first thing I saw was a comic depicting a diabetes researcher, Melanie, as a sort of data-visualization superhero with an illustrator fox sidekick. It was rather cheesy but it also showed how health visualization can help ordinary people better understand their risk factors.
While on the subject of risk factors, VizHealth also has a risk factor calculator that users can interact with to determine what daily habits impact their health.
I had my father, a casual smoker at age 70, enter some answers into the calculator. He thought the design of the graphic was neat, but when I told him that it meant that he was 30% at risk of developing cardiovascular disease, he simply said to me, “Well, there’s a 70% chance I won’t get cardiovascular disease.” Needless to say, I insisted that he consult a doctor about his risk factors, specifically his smoking habits.
My father’s results from entering information into the VizHealth risk calculator.
VizHealth also provides a link to an icon array generator (depicted below) that users can interact with.
Conclusion
Looking around VizHealth and pulling inspiration from the visualizations provided was a fun activity, but I think the program can truly benefit from including more issues such as mental health and COVID-19. Even more so, it would also be interesting to see more interactive tools added to the site, like a free-to-use template generator. If there are any other health issues that arise, I’ll be sure to use VizHealth to learn more.
One of the best tools for quick and easy infographics I have found so far is Canva Basic and Canva Pro. Canva Basic is a free subscription with over free 100+ design types, along with thousands of free templates, free photos, fonts, and storage. On the other hand, Canva Pro is a $9.95/month subscription, which comes with 450k+ premium templates, 1000 GB storage, background remover, premium stock images, logos and many more.
Canva Infographic Example
Personally, I have been using this tool for over 6 months now to operate various social media accounts for one of the student organizations. Through this tool, I have created various infographics, IG stories, posts, and flyers just in a matter of a few minutes. And, the best part about this tool is that it can be found in the Apple app store and can be used through the phone. Hence, this is a super easy but satisfactory tool for Infographics. Below I also provided a design I created for Earth Day to post on student organizations IG posts.
The following video provides insightful knowledge into what a dataset is along with several concrete examples.
Finding Datasets Using Scientific Research:
Upon navigating to the Connecticut Data Collaborative website & downloading the “Marijuana Use” CSV, you will be shown results to a study conducted to determine the usage of marijuana in individuals aged twelve years and older. Upon first glance this may seem like an overwhelming amount of information. Fret not, there are actually many different possible datasets within this study! Below you will see there is also a sample of the data included in this study.
Location: Where would you like your dataset to take place? For this example your options would be Connecticut, Eastern Region, North Central Region, Northeast, Northwestern Region, South Central Region, Southwest Region & United States.
Time: Over what time span would you like your data set to take place? The possibilities within this example would be 2004 through 2006, 2006 through 2008, 2008 through 2010, 2010 through 2012, 2012 through 2014 & 2014 through 2016. You could also choose to measure a span of four years (such as 2006 through 2010) or even the entire span of the study (2004 through 2016).
Age: How old do you want the participants in your observed dataset to be? Possibilities within this example are 12 to 17, 18 to 25, over 17 & over 25.
It is important to understand how to select the appropriate dataset(s) from scientific research as if you do not, it is likely that you will select a dataset that is not the best suited for your topic at hand. Always be sure to have a clear and concise understanding of what it is you would like to present to you target audience.
How to present data without losing your reader’s attention!
Summary: “Information graphics translate data into a visual medium that is easy to understand and engaging. Integrated visuals with text and pictures that strengthen each other are the goal, but hard to achieve.” -Lexie Kane (2018)
Click “Summary” to access the website.
Honest Information-
The information included in your infographic needs to be accurate and sourced.
Make sure you have extra links to your data as well as popular sources.
This will give the viewer more reason to use your information.
Minimalism is Key-
Keep your infographic design simple.
Use about 3-5 colors that compliment each other.
Make sure your words don’t crowd the data.
You essentially want your infographic to show your data in a professional way but also be able to have a 5 year old understand it.
Interactivity-
Having an interactive infographic is a great way to get your viewer involved with your presentation.
Sliding objects and adding preferences to the information they want to see automatically keeps the viewer invested.
Being able to narrow down what data they want to see is very important. It combines all 3 of these examples into one!
Think about seeing posters on a wall, are you more inclined to stop and read the one with just a paragraph of information or would you rather stop for a poster with bold lines, colors, images, and minimal wording? Most people will be drawn to the second poster because it engages us and attracts our eyes. This is why infographics are so popular, it gets the point across in a visually aesthetic way while effectively getting information to you in just a few words.
Infographics can be used for just about anything, what caught my attention is its use in our education system. Infographics can be used to help guide younger students with directions and instruction, especially students who don’t know how to read yet, it can give visual cues and help students recognize words. Infographics can also help students who are visual learners, which means they learn best by using their vision.
