Skip to Main Content
George Mason University InfoGuides

Data Visualization

Learn about best practices and tools to visualize data using charts and maps.

This page is organized by focus, which tends to correspond with the software used. Within each topic are some experts who have lots of advice. Each person has a unique style.

Business Focused - Excel, increasingly Tableau

Ann K. Emery (Depict Data Studio)

Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic  (Storytelling With Data)

  • Focus is on business graphics using Excel (see "how to"), very distinctive for her use of color and labels
  • My Guiding Principles
  • SWD Chart Guide - Standard chart types with descriptions and tips for creating.
  • Refining Visualizations
  • Chart Makeovers: Makeovers from Storytelling with Data - Includes Excel files with the revised graphs

Research Data - Excel, Tableau, or R

Stephanie Evergreen (EvergreenData)

Jonathan Schwabish (PolicyViz)

Data Science - R or D3

Nathan Yao (Flowing Data)  

General Principles

Edward Tufte

Stephen Few's Library (PerceptualEdge)

Dark Horse Analytics

Viz Software Company Blogs / Help