Essential Design Principles for Tableau from Coursera

What's inside

Syllabus

Getting Started in Effective and Ineffective Visuals

Welcome to this first module where we are going to start you off with background information about how the human brain perceives the world and then you will discover effective and ineffective visuals. By the end of this module, you will be able to recognize how the brain relates to visual design. You will know the difference between cognitive versus perceptual design. You will learn the various visualization options offered by Tableau and some of their advantages and disadvantages. You will discuss why how good ethical practices play in designing visualizations. You will also start to examine ineffective visualizations and learn how to improve them.

Visual Perception and Cognitive Load

Welcome to this second module. This module will explore specific data visualization concepts that apply the concepts you learned about how the human brain works from the last module. In this module, you will be able to define cognitive load and what clutter means from a visualization perspective. You will be able to visually illustrate the principles of visual perception and use contrast to enhance your visualizations. You will be able to define and use pre-attentive attributes like color to make effective visualizations.

Design Best Practices and Exploratory Analysis

In this module, we revisit some of the concepts introduced from the previous module. You will be able to apply Gestalt Principles and leverage pre-attentive attributes in your visualizations. You will examine the role of accessibility and aesthetics play in your creations. Also, you will be able to define the ideas of exploratory and explanatory analysis and be able to normalize your data and identify outliers. Finally, you will be introduced to a challenging concept and construct a control chart to set you up to perform more advanced exploratory analysis.

Design for Understanding

Making sense of large, multi-dimensional data sets can be a challenge for anyone. Your task as a designer is to make good decisions about encoding, arranging, and presenting data to reveal meaningful patterns and stories for your audiences. After completing this module, you will be able to design your visualizations for a target audience and with purpose. You will be able to identify the connection to between data, relationships and good visual design. You will implement additional design tools and tips into your visualizations.

Good to know

Know what's good

, what to watch for

, and possible dealbreakers

Helps develop a fundamental and highly relevant skill for data analysts and visual designers

Examines highly relevant data visualization design principles

Explores why ethical practices are important in designing data visualizations

Uses a multi-modal approach to teaching, including videos, readings, and discussions

Describes specific visualization options offered by Tableau and their uses

Requires that learners come into the course with some prior knowledge of Tableau

Reviews summary

Tableau dashboard essentials

Learners say this course provides an introduction to the design principles that make for effective visualizations and offers an in-depth look at how humans perceive different visual representations. While reviews mention it provides a strong theoretical foundation in these concepts, there is a noted lack of practical application of Tableau software. Students also recommend reviewing the course materials before attempting the assignments and note that some of the instructions and assessments can be confusing or unclear. Overall, reviews indicate that the course is valuable for those looking to understand the fundamental principles of data visualization.

Covers theory behind effective data visualization.

"This course showed the importance of how certain theoretical concepts, principles help in building strong and meaningful dashboards"

"A great course indeed. Learned a lot about Gestalt principles, pre-attentive attributes, knowing your audiences and proper usage of other visual elements."

"It contains a great overview of how humans perceive visualizations. This knowledge is fundamental and essential, without it, you are high-likely to miscommunicate valuable insights to your audience or will do it with considerably less efficiency."

Unclear instructions and assignments.

"The instructor made a lot of assumptions about our progress and did not give clear instructions for the assignments."

"The final peer-reviewed assignment is confusing."

Lacks practical application of Tableau software.

"This course was ok. There's not much active Tableau work and most of the concepts could be better illustrated in conjunction with Tableau applications."

"It felt way too theoretical and high level. It would be nice to do more exercises with Tableau."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Essential Design Principles for Tableau with these activities:

Take Practice Quizzes

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Taking practice quizzes will help you assess your understanding of the concepts covered in the course.

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Find practice quizzes for the course
Take the practice quizzes
Review your results

Review General Design Principles

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Reviewing general design principles will help you better understand the concepts covered in the course.

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Review the Gestalt Principles of Perception
Review the principles of color theory
Review the principles of typography

Read Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals

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Reading this book will help you understand the principles of data visualization and how to use them to tell stories with data.

View Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization... on Amazon

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Purchase the book
Read the book
Take notes on the key concepts

Seven other activities

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Review Statistics 101

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Tableau assumes a student has a basic understanding of data visualization from a statistical perspective

Browse courses on Tableau

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Review the course outline of a Statistics course and identify the concepts covered
Refresh the basics of descriptive statistics and probability theory
Explain the difference between parametric and non-parametric tests
Explain different types of probability distributions
Apply the principles of probability and statistics to a sample scenario

Attend a Tableau Workshop

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Attending a Tableau workshop will help you learn about the latest features and techniques.

Browse courses on Tableau

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Find a Tableau workshop in your area
Register for the workshop
Attend the workshop

Attend a Data Visualization Conference

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Attending a data visualization conference will help you learn about the latest trends and techniques.

Browse courses on Data Visualization

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Find a data visualization conference in your area
Purchase a ticket to the conference
Attend the conference

Create Custom Visualizations in Tableau

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Creating custom visualizations in Tableau will help you apply the concepts covered in the course.

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Create a scatter plot
Create a bar chart
Create a line chart

Contribute to Open Source Data Visualization Projects

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Contributing to open source data visualization projects will help you learn from others and improve your skills.

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Find an open source data visualization project to contribute to
Read the project's documentation
Make a contribution to the project

Write a Blog Post about Data Visualization

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Writing a blog post about data visualization will help you reinforce your understanding of the concepts covered in the course.

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Choose a topic for your blog post
Research your topic
Write your blog post

Develop a Data Visualization Portfolio

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Developing a data visualization portfolio will help you showcase your skills and knowledge to potential employers.

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Choose a variety of data sets to work with
Create a variety of visualizations for each data set
Write a brief description of each visualization

Career center

Learners who complete Essential Design Principles for Tableau will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Business Analyst

As a Business Analyst, you will need to be able to understand the business needs of your clients and develop solutions that meet those needs. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to do this effectively. You will learn how to use Tableau to create visualizations that can help you to understand the data and communicate your findings to others. In addition, you will learn about the principles of data visualization and how to use them to create effective visualizations.

See salaries and explore the career path for Business Analyst

Data Analyst

As a Data Analyst, you will need to be able to analyze data from a variety of sources, including spreadsheets, databases and other data repositories. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to do this effectively. You will learn how to use Tableau to create visualizations that can help you to understand the data and communicate your findings to others. In addition, you will learn about the principles of data visualization and how to use them to create effective visualizations.

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Data Scientist

As a Data Scientist, you will need to be able to use data to solve problems and make decisions. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to do this effectively. You will learn how to use Tableau to create visualizations that can help you to understand the data and communicate your findings to others. In addition, you will learn about the principles of data visualization and how to use them to create effective visualizations.

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Data Engineer

As a Data Engineer, you will need to be able to design and build data pipelines that can process and store data from a variety of sources. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to do this effectively. You will learn how to use Tableau to create visualizations that can help you to understand the data and communicate your findings to others. In addition, you will learn about the principles of data visualization and how to use them to create effective visualizations.

See salaries and explore the career path for Data Engineer

Data Visualization Specialist

As a Data Visualization Specialist, you will need to be able to create visualizations that can help people to understand data. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to do this effectively. You will learn how to use Tableau to create visualizations that are clear, concise and visually appealing. In addition, you will learn about the principles of data visualization and how to use them to create effective visualizations.

See salaries and explore the career path for Data Visualization Specialist

User Experience Designer

As a User Experience Designer, you will need to be able to design and build user interfaces that are easy to use and understand. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to do this effectively. You will learn how to use Tableau to create visualizations that can help you to understand the data and communicate your findings to others. In addition, you will learn about the principles of data visualization and how to use them to create effective visualizations.

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Information Architect

As an Information Architect, you will need to be able to design and build information systems that are easy to use and understand. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to do this effectively. You will learn how to use Tableau to create visualizations that can help you to understand the data and communicate your findings to others. In addition, you will learn about the principles of data visualization and how to use them to create effective visualizations.

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Healthcare Analyst

As a Healthcare Analyst, you will need to be able to analyze healthcare data and make recommendations to healthcare providers. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to do this effectively. You will learn how to use Tableau to create visualizations that can help you to understand the data and communicate your findings to others. In addition, you will learn about the principles of data visualization and how to use them to create effective visualizations.

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Education Analyst

As an Education Analyst, you will need to be able to analyze education data and make recommendations to policymakers. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to do this effectively. You will learn how to use Tableau to create visualizations that can help you to understand the data and communicate your findings to others. In addition, you will learn about the principles of data visualization and how to use them to create effective visualizations.

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Marketing Manager

As a Marketing Manager, you will need to be able to develop and execute marketing campaigns that are effective and efficient. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to do this effectively. You will learn how to use Tableau to create visualizations that can help you to understand the data and communicate your findings to others. In addition, you will learn about the principles of data visualization and how to use them to create effective visualizations.

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Nonprofit Analyst

As a Nonprofit Analyst, you will need to be able to analyze nonprofit data and make recommendations to nonprofit organizations. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to do this effectively. You will learn how to use Tableau to create visualizations that can help you to understand the data and communicate your findings to others. In addition, you will learn about the principles of data visualization and how to use them to create effective visualizations.

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Sales Manager

As a Sales Manager, you will need to be able to develop and execute sales strategies that are effective and efficient. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to do this effectively. You will learn how to use Tableau to create visualizations that can help you to understand the data and communicate your findings to others. In addition, you will learn about the principles of data visualization and how to use them to create effective visualizations.

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Financial Analyst

As a Financial Analyst, you will need to be able to analyze financial data and make recommendations to investors. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to do this effectively. You will learn how to use Tableau to create visualizations that can help you to understand the data and communicate your findings to others. In addition, you will learn about the principles of data visualization and how to use them to create effective visualizations.

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Product Manager

As a Product Manager, you will need to be able to understand the needs of your users and develop products that meet those needs. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to do this effectively. You will learn how to use Tableau to create visualizations that can help you to understand the data and communicate your findings to others. In addition, you will learn about the principles of data visualization and how to use them to create effective visualizations.

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Operations Manager

As an Operations Manager, you will need to be able to manage the day-to-day operations of your organization. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to do this effectively. You will learn how to use Tableau to create visualizations that can help you to understand the data and communicate your findings to others. In addition, you will learn about the principles of data visualization and how to use them to create effective visualizations.

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