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a5ak0m!k4m1's avatar

Maybe I’m dumb, but what is good about that last coffee plot? I get that it’s trying to be creative with the use of coffee stain, but I couldn’t understand how to read it. Or is that the point? To be more of a modern art than data visualization?

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Evelina Parrou's avatar

Hey, the straw in the picture is a line, so you sort of read it as a line chart! The first cup gives you confidence, and then things go downhill 😀

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a5ak0m!k4m1's avatar

I got that, but what is the coffee stain ring for? There is a brown square saying “productivity” in the legend, but how do I read it on the same chart axes that is showing “more coffee, more anxiety” line via the straw line?

But more importantly, doesn’t the fact that I have to ask these questions contradict the whole point of your newsletter?

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Evelina Parrou's avatar

Yeah it does, the reading experience is always a little different for everyone :) I read it as productivity going up and down, but I also don’t analyse it too much as this is a conceptual chart to me more than anything else!

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Moyocoyani Molina Espíritu's avatar

This is something I forgot to ask in your course, but I just read "Joyful Infographics" by Nigel Holmes (🦟), and I think that book is full of examples about Pathos. So, my question is... in terms of Pathos, what's your opinion about to put illustrations in data visualizations?

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Evelina Parrou's avatar

I think they can definitely add a welcoming touch :) That said, adding illustrations is quite tricky because 1/ that's a whole other set of skills 2/ it doesn't always work, especially in a business context. Have you tried adding illustrations yourself at work?

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Moyocoyani Molina Espíritu's avatar

Yeah, agreed with both points.

Now that you mentioned 🤔, In business context, sometimes I added illustrations in some slides but only when the audience is going to have certain roles and specific seniority levels... funny thing is I never added illustrations when I showed data 🤔

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Evelina Parrou's avatar

I remember your “man with money” illustration from the presentation, it worked really well! It was a nice touch, although I do think it’s harder to make an illustration an integral part of your dataviz :)

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Moyocoyani Molina Espíritu's avatar

Oh that's true!! Yes, that was a resource to include Pathos and prepare audience for a story beat (see, I was paying attention to classes 🤓)... but, as you mentioned, It wasn't an integral part of the dataviz 🤔

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