Why Learn Data Visualization?

Data visualization translates numerical information or data into a visual context, such as a graph or map. These visualizations help a business make more informed decisions. Have you ever explored all of the things data visualization can do? Those with the training to distill data findings into accessible visualizations are in demand in various industries, such as healthcare, finance, marketing, and business. Here, you’ll learn more about the careers that benefit from data visualization and how it can enhance your professional life. Regardless of your goals, learning data visualization is a valuable and impressive skill to add to your resume. 

What is Data Visualization?

Data visualization uses graphics like plots, charts, or animations to represent data findings. These visual depictions communicate complicated data relationships in an accessible and engaging format and have a range of applications for sharing data-driven insights with an organization’s internal and external stakeholders. Because an estimated 65% of the population comprises visual learners, data visualization provides a way to quickly and effectively convey data findings. Even though data visualization takes many forms, it shares the common goal of communicating otherwise complex data insights in a memorable and understandable way, even for those who don’t come from a technical background.

Each day, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are being created, which continues to grow exponentially. This increase in the amount of data has created a corresponding need for visualization practices to share the insights these numbers contain. Data visualization has a variety of uses across industries and professions. It has applications for describing trends or patterns hidden in data and communicating organizational structures or hierarchies. The data visualization process is typically broken into four purposes: to generate ideas, to illustrate concepts, to provide avenues into visual discovery, and to convey data in the form of visualizations.

Read more about what data visualization is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Data Visualization?

Those with the skills to create engaging and effective data visualizations have the power to communicate detailed data insights and findings to audience members from all backgrounds. Data visualizations provide a concise and interactive way to depict data trends. Visualizations incorporate color and contrast to present information like sales patterns so that audience members can quickly observe information that may be difficult to see from a graph or spreadsheet. In addition, another benefit of working with data visualizations is that they can provide perspective on the data by placing it in the context of a larger story, which can help audience members understand the information as it relates to an organization’s overall goals or bottom line. Context plays an integral role in helping audiences understand the entirety of the data being depicted, which would be difficult to convey by listing numbers in a table.

Data visualization also provides a better understanding of a business’s operations. Running a business requires staying on top of many moving parts, and data visualizations provide a tool that can depict multifaceted operations and how different business activities connect. Moreover, analyzing and visualizing data provides insights into important business metrics that can lead to smoother daily operations and more successful project execution. For organizations that sell products or services to customers, data visualizations offer crucial insights into customers’ preferences, demographics, and shopping patterns. They provide a way for organizations to use customer-focused data to explore brand perception, customer sentiments, and even what customers post about the product or service on social media outlets. Businesses can then use these insights to tailor marketing strategies and brand outreach.

In addition to providing customer insights and depicting important trends in the data, visualizations also tell a story. Information is presented in an easy-to-understand format, and the audience is taken on a journey that leads to an inevitable, data-driven conclusion. Just like a written story, a visual story has a strong beginning, a basic plot, and an ending that looks into the future, providing recommendations for how to move forward. Instead of requiring tens of thousands of words to tell this story, data visualizations can do so with a series of well-placed infographics, carefully worded labels, and brief descriptions of the content, all of which tell the story of data in the larger context of an organization’s needs and goals. 

Common Professional Uses for Data Visualization

Data visualization is used across many industries and professions where data is collected. A recent study found that the global data visualization market size, valued at $9 billion in 2021, is expected to expand to nearly $20 billion by 2028. This trend indicates the importance of effective data visualizations and the investment organizations are willing to make to access data-driven insights.

In the transportation sector, data visualization is a powerful tool to help with the task of routing transportation networks like freeways and public transportation. In healthcare, data visualization has a range of applications. It plays an integral role in helping to allocate healthcare professionals and apparatus based on geographical information to ensure patient needs are met. It also helps individuals stay informed about any updates to COVID-19 near them. When used in the public sector, data visualization is used to detect fraudulent activity and improve transparency.

For those who work in the environmental sector, geographic information system models and other data visualization tools aid with action schemes and risk-reduction strategies and also have applications for sustainable environmental ventures and public service initiatives. In addition, the retail industry relies heavily on data visualizations at both the regional and local levels to find ways to reduce operational costs, organize supply chains, and spot instances where costs and profit aren’t in alignment with one another.

Why Should You Learn Data Visualization?

The following are four reasons why learning data visualization will help you in your current career or be a valuable skill to acquire to begin a new job:

Visualized Data Can Be Processed Faster

Approximately 65% of the population is made up of visual learners. Those individuals find it much easier to process the information they receive visually. Data visualizations are a powerful tool that allows our brains to process and understand images much faster than would be possible with numerical tables. In many professions, employees are bombarded with information that has to be processed. Visualizations of this information allow them to quickly process the crucial parts and filter out those that aren’t essential. 

It Provides Insights That May Otherwise be Overlooked

While traditional written reports convey essential information, it’s much easier to understand how the information relates to an organization’s bigger picture when these insights are presented visually. After an organization establishes KPIs, they can visually share these measures in interactive, engaging visualization reports. These reports can include crucial information such as deals in the pipeline, sales by period, call time per customer, or the number of deals that were closed by sales representatives. By visually communicating insights, audience members are more likely to understand them and commit them to memory.

A great way to learn more about data visualization best practices is to enroll in Noble Desktop’s in-person or live online Data Analytics Certificate. This program uses real-world projects to teach students how to apply predictive and prescriptive analytics techniques to make valuable predictions based on past data. 

Visualizing Data Leads to Improved Sales and Productivity

Those with the know-how to design engaging and informative data visualizations contribute to producing actual results at an organization. Businesses that incorporate various tools for visual data discovery, such as Tableau, are more likely to find relevant information than those that use only dashboards and traditional reporting methods. In addition, organizations that value data visualization often see financial rewards. Many organizations that use data visualization to convey data findings experience revenue growth and hope to continue to invest in visualization technology in future years.

Data Visualization Offers Actionable Insights

Actionable insights refer to the conclusions drawn from data that can be used to directly facilitate a subsequent action or response. One of the main benefits of working with data visualizations is that they provide an excellent way for an organization to see where there’s room for improvement and take note of places where performance levels are on the mark or even high. Actionable insights occur by spotting both areas for improvement and places where performance is strong, each of which can spur action on the part of the organization.

How to Start Learning Data Visualization

Learning data visualization is easier than ever, thanks to the variety of in-person and online learning options. For those who prefer studying in the traditional classroom environment, in-person data visualization classes are a great learning option. These classes give students access to an expert instructor who can answer questions and provide guidance on the spot. In addition, those who study in the in-person environment can take advantage of computer labs with the most up-to-date data analytics and visualization tools and software already installed. This engaging learning format also facilitates networking with other classmates, a benefit that extends beyond class meetings.

Live online data visualization classes are also offered for those who want to connect with an instructor in real time but don’t want to commute to and from campus for regularly scheduled meetings. Courses such as Excel for Business Fundamentals, Tableau Level 1, and Python for Automation are just a few courses currently available from top educational providers. Participants who choose live online study still receive expert instruction from an instructor in the live environment but have the added flexibility of completing all coursework remotely from the comfort of their home or office. 

If you’re interested in learning data visualization but cannot commit to regularly scheduled class meetings, another learning option is to select from various self-paced data visualization courses. Because content is pre-recorded, students can watch lessons and complete assignments at any time of the day from any location. In addition, asynchronous data visualization study also has the added perk of allowing learners to pause videos at any point, rewind, or rewatch as often as necessary, which facilitates note-taking and retention. 

Noble Desktop’s Get Started in Data Science is a free seminar that offers participants an overview of the field of data science. This recording includes instructions on Python programming, as well as why Python is becoming the language of data. All participants will also learn about the process of data science, the skills used by Data Scientists, and various real-world applications for these skills. Those interested in learning specifically about Tableau for data visualization may also wish to explore Noble’s Learn Tableau: Free Tableau Resources, which provides free content on using Tableau for data visualization and how to work with Tableau Public. Interested learners can also review the best data visualization classes near home to find local learning options.

Read the full guide on how to learn data visualization.

Learn Data Visualization with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

If you’re interested in studying data visualization, Noble Desktop offers several in-person and live online courses that provide hands-on training. For those who wish to work with Tableau for visualizing data, Noble’s Tableau for Data Visualization Bootcamp is an excellent option. Participants receive an overview of the field of data visualization and learn about Tableau Public’s visualization tools. By course completion, students will have a solid understanding of identifying which datasets to connect to and how to analyze, filter, and organize data to make customized, publishable visualizations. This course also offers the option of a free retake for those interested in revisiting Tableau concepts. 

Noble’s in-person or live online Data Analytics Certificate is another good learning option for those seeking a more intensive study option. This rigorous program provides expert instruction on various data analytics concepts and prepares learners to become Business Analysts or Data Analysts. By course completion, all participants will be familiar with core business intelligence, statistical analysis, data analysis, and data visualization concepts. This is a project-based course in which students will complete various real-world projects using prescriptive and predictive analytics. All students receive one-on-one mentoring as part of tuition.

In addition, other in-person and live online data visualization courses are also available from Noble Desktop. Those who wish to learn the tools to become Data Scientists may consider enrolling in Noble’s Data Science Certificate, which covers machine learning, automation, SQL, and Python. A Python for Data Science Bootcamp covers fundamental and complex Python programming concepts, such as creating programs and using statistics to make machine learning models. 

The Excel Bootcamp is also available, which teaches core spreadsheet functions like working with macros, formulas, and PivotTables. Finally, those interested in working with SQL to extract information from databases can enroll in Noble’s SQL Bootcamp. This course prepares learners to write queries, aggregate data, and filter results using Postgre SQL.

Key Insights

• Learning how to visualize data is an in-demand skill across industries and professions, from healthcare to retail to business.
• Learning data visualization has many benefits. It helps individuals process data faster, highlights insights that may otherwise be overlooked, improves productivity, and provides actionable insights that fuel the organization’s decision-making process.
• Various learning formats are currently available for those interested in visualizing data. Learners can select from in-person study options, as well as live online and asynchronous online content. 
• If you want to learn more about data visualization, enrolling in an in-person or live online data visualization course with Noble Desktop is a great learning option.