Do you have any artistic skills? Despite the fact my mother was an extraordinary painter, I did not inherit her artistic genes. But I took the subject of visualization as a challenge, and the more I researched it, the more I came to the realization that it is not a gift or a gene. The skills required for most effectively displaying information are not intuitive and rely largely on principles that can be learned. Anyone can learn data visualization.

Data analytics alone is not all that is needed. While some may think of it as cosmetic, strong visualization can help convey messages more effectively. There is a big difference in acceptance and understanding when analytics results are delivered as visual dashboards rather than in spreadsheets. Additionally, there is just as much science supporting data visualization as there is behind analytics.

My two-part Journal article summarizes experiences involving visualization and also contains some tips that readers can use immediately.

Read Karina’s recent Journal article:

“The Art of Data Visualization: A Gift or a Skill?, Part 1,” ISACA Journal, volume 1, 2016.