I’m sick this week, so instead of writing something new, I thought I republish something valuable from 11 years ago. This cartoon was inspired through a conversation with my good friend Ann K. Emery. This was back when Ann was a full time evaluator and before the launch of her super successful training academy and […]
Building Your Creativity Toolkit
“Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating” These are words that came from comedy icon, John Cleese. Head to YouTube if you want to watch one of his talks on creativity, and the source of this quote. The quote itself has really stuck with me over the years as I have […]
5 Baby Steps to Better Reports
A couple of years ago I put out a book called the Reporting Revolution. And while I still believe just about everything I wrote in that book, I know many of you are not actually looking to start a revolution. You just want to start creating better reports. So, with that in mind, today’s post […]
Is your team, report deficient?
Long, boring, dusty-shelf reports might be a problem, but it’s rarely the biggest problem most data teams face. When teams decide to start tackling their report design problems, that’s where they start. They think that if they can turn their long, boring, dusty-shelf report into something that’s not as long, not as boring, and more […]
3 lessons learned about online courses in early 2024
I launched my first online workshop in late 2015. I had this idea that it would be best to start, whether or not I had everything ready in advance. And as we went, I would listen to the needs of participants and respond with lessons and activities. It was messy and a bit disorganized. And […]
How to create a timeline infographic using Canva.
Looking for an infographic that is easy to write and design? This post will you through the process of creating a timeline infographic from scratch using Canva. I’ll also include the final templates at the end of this post. Here is what I will design – “Our Project Timeline” This is just a simple timeline, […]
When Gap Width Doesn’t Work
This video is for all the people commenting “Not Useful” on my video about gap width… I think I found your problem. The “I don’t feel like watching a video right now,” summary. In this video, Chris dives deeper into his previous video on removing gaps between bars in Excel charts (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAgjY…), addressing the issue […]
The 5 Minute Skim Test Using Visual Hierarchy to Reach Busy Execs
Struggling to understand reports in 5 minutes? Learn how to design skimmable reports! Struggling to understand reports in 5 minutes? Learn how to design skimmable reports! Tired of dense reports you don’t have time to read? This video teaches you how to use visual hierarchy to create reports that are easy to skim and understand, […]
Ditch the Text Walls, Embrace the White Space!
Tired of your reports looking like dense, unreadable brick walls? Check out this video with quick tips on why and how to start intentionally including white space in your reports. Here is a little summary of what you’ll see in the video. In this video, Chris, of Data Viz Made Easy, delves into the often-overlooked […]
How to create carousels with Canva
A carousel is like a social media slide deck. The format has been around for years, but it’s making a comeback. In today’s post I’ll show you how to create one using Canva. Do you remember slideshare? Basically it was a site that let you put your slidedecks on the web. Like a lot of […]
Design in Canva with Lorem Ipsum
Want some quick report design advice? Don’t wait until you are finished writing your report to design your report. Seriously, I have been in the data field for two decades working on research and evaluation projects. The vast majority of projects have waited until the very last minute to do any design work. The excuse, […]
Should DataViz be Easy?
For Christmas dinner this year I made my family spinach and pasta rotolo. It’s a baked pasta dish that involved making fresh pasta, rolling it flat, filling it with a spinach/ricotta mixture, and rolling it up like a jelly roll. Then it gets cut into small little scroll like pieces and baked upright with a […]