Who Shapes your World?

The following aims to showcase the process of my last visualization in Tableau. I believe that isn't just one definitive way to create a beautiful visualization. However, with practice and a complete understanding of each step involved, one can become not only more efficient but also prioritize the most crucial aspect: delivering a clear message to your audience. During this exercise, I discovered that my ideas often originate from the sources with which I engage the most, including my favorite books, series, media, and blogs.

As I continue to expand my creative universe, I explore different media channels, such as:

Exploring Tableau's Viz of the Day for inspiration.
Following Tableau Projects on Twitter, including #IronQuest, #MakeOverMonday, and #WOW.
Engaging with the community to learn different visualization techniques.
Exploring related images on platforms like Pinterest.
Staying updated with news sources like The Economist and Reuters.

Whenever I encounter a visualization, one of my main curiosities revolves around how the author determines when it is ready and how many discarded ideas they had along the way. I believe that gathering these experiences is vital for fueling the creative process.

Without further ado, I present to you the journey of Who Shapes Your World.

Mapping my Friends

To start, I found inspiration in some self-help books, which led me to the idea of creating a mind map of my closest relationships and capturing some shared characteristics. I began by making a list of my friends and organizing them based on the level of confidence I have in each relationship. Additionally, I asked my friends to provide a self-assessment of their level of happiness, which added an interesting dimension to the visualization.

Books

In their book inspired by the Japanese concept, Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles encourage us to reflect on the people with whom we spend most of our time. They guide us through a series of questions to help us understand which friendships give us energy and should be maintained.

Stephen Covey, in his famous book 'The 7 Habits,' offers various methods for maintaining an 'emotional bank account' with loved ones. These methods include understanding, attentiveness to details, honoring commitments, and setting clear expectations.

Refining the Graph

While watching the Instagram episode of Black Mirror, an idea struck me. Although it may seem unconventional to draw inspiration from a dystopian series for personal introspection, the graph used in that particular episode aligned perfectly with my concept.

Series

Black Mirror (Season 3, Episode 1), presents a graph called the 'sphere of influence.' It takes less than 5 seconds to appreciate the connections between the main character and all her relatives, friends, co-workers, etc.

While not directly related to the creative process, the concept of the 'inner circle' reminds me of a funny episode from another favorite series of mine: The Office (Season 7, Episode 22).

Design the Characters

In my quest to represent my friends visually, I explored using the design tool of Figma and discovered helpful resources for creating cartoon versions of them. I focused on capturing essential features such as the lines of their hair, their ears, some characteristic accessories, and their eyebrows while keeping the remaining features consistent.

Youtube Tutorials

A comprehensive tutorial on creating characters in Figma.

Peeps - Avatars ➰ Vector

Figma Community file - 👋 A vector illustration library of avatars, created one by one. You can use them in product illustration, marketing, comics, product states, user flows, personas, storyboarding, or whatever you want!  💕Do you like them? You can purchase it at $10 via figma community resource Please visit th...

www.figma.com

This post from Kim G showcases an approachable style that I wanted to incorporate into my cartoons.

Building the Flowers

To present certain characteristics, I select the form of a flower, where the length of the petal represents the size of the following variables:

Years of Acquaintance
Frequency of Interactions
Current Travel Distance
Self-assessed level of happiness
Last met in person
Number of shared friends on Instagram

And pulling from my previous data visualization experience with Tableau and my exploration of polar coordinates, I applied this knowledge to construct the petals of each flower in the visualization.

News

A visual guide to Eurovision

Songs, winners and history of Europe’s annual song contest

www.reuters.com

I often find inspiration for my data visualizations in news graphics. A beautiful guide to Eurovision introduced me to the idea of using flowers to represent some characteristics of our friendship

Reusing Code

My intention with this visualization was to have the possibility to configure different parameters among the polar coordinate equations for the radius.

Placing the Flowers

Organizing the flowers in a structured manner posed a challenge. Initially, I attempted to use the network tool provided by Tristan on his webpage, ladataviz, which only required a JSON file to build the graph. However, I couldn't configure different radius lengths where there was only one connection point. Consequently, I decided to manually arrange each flower on the Cartesian coordinates system.

Tools of the Community

Advanced Visualization Generator

Streamline Your Data Visualization with One-Click Exports to Tableau, CSV, and SVG: Create Stunning Sankey, Network, Beeswarm, and more Instantly

tools.ladataviz.com

On this webpage, you can find different tools to create advanced graphs in Tableau, such as network, sankey, bump, beeswarm, voronoi map, and chord.

Building the Layout

When it came to designing the layout of my visualization, I started with some initial ideas but I found an incredible post by Will Sutton. In his post, he explained the concept of the golden ratio, which helped me achieve visually pleasing ratios and make it easier to arrange all the information cohesively.

Content of the Community

Will's post showcases different configurations of the golden ratio for vertical and horizontal dashboards, making it perfect for placing the items in your desired configuration.

Final Visualization

I have already shared this graph with my friends, and some of them expressed an interest in working on the petals. This feedback is valuable to me and shows the engagement the visualization has generated.

As for my creative process, I often find inspiration in my favorite books and series. They serve as a starting point for ideas, and I use them to infuse creativity into my work. However, I also recognize the importance of discarding ideas along the way to refine and improve the final result. The creative journey is a dynamic process that involves exploration, experimentation, and continuous learning.

How about you? What is your creative process like? How many ideas have you discarded, and how much influence do your favorite books and series have on your work?

public.tableau.com

Ohrid, 13 June, 2023