Dashboard Day 3: Trying a new tool

by Sophie Sparkes

While Tableau is an amazing tool, when you use it all the time you can fall into data-viz-auto-pilot mode. You build the same kinds of charts; you construct similar kinds of dashboards; you fall back on the same formatting styles. While familiarity with tool, and a workflow, is a good thing, it also narrows your view of what’s possible.

For today’s Dashboard week challenge I want DS13 to step outside their data viz comfort zones and try building a viz using Flourish. Flourish is a free tool that lets your build interactive, responsive, and embeddable vizzes and data stories, all within the browser using your own data. Flourish is focused at the communication side of data viz (more than the data exploration side), and I’d like DS13 to really think about communication in today’s challenge.

Why Flourish? I really like their wide (and ever expanding) range of templates and interactivity (transitions, stories and ‘Talkies’ to name a few); also they are based in London – so why not viz-local?

Using any part (years, geographic locations, genders) of the England and Wales baby names data sets, I want DS13 to find and communicate one specific story from this data set. I really want them to focus on using

Here are the rules for today, and what I’d like to see as output:

  1. They must work independently.
  2. Everything must be finished by 5pm.
  3. They must use Tableau and Alteryx for the data prep and exploration.
  4. The final viz must be made in Flourish.

I hope that they not only get the chance to learn a new tool, but also to think creatively about visual communication.

Simply Easy Learning
Trying new things can be explosive!
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Sophie Sparkes

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