Software-based data visualization tools are all amazingly powerful in terms of bringing some of our most complex healthcare data to life, but it can be invigorating to take a step back and really evaluate the best way to paint the data story you hope to convey.  In continuation of our blog post on personalizing data visualization, we are going to share some data visualizations activities you can try too.

At a recent summit, members of the Prominence team and I spent time hand drawing data visualizations together. These drawings were based on the exercises published in Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec’s guided journal, Observe, Collect, Draw, which complements the Dear Data project and encourages personalized data visualizations.

Using the guided prompts, we drew:

• My Data Portrait: “Data Selfies” that captured information about our personal life, likes, and dislikes
• What My Camera Sees: an encoded representation of data elements about the last 160 photos taken on our smartphones
• My Travels: a timeline of our life focused on data elements about our domestic and international travel

Members of the Prominence Team Hand Drawing Data Visualizations about Themselves

Through drawing together and sharing our data visualizations, we learned about each other and were able to see patterns and trends that would otherwise have been missed. (Who knew so many of us take so many photos of our pets?!) Presenting data about ourselves in a new and fun way was an engaging change of pace.

Selfies with our Data Selfies

As we reviewed each drawing together, it raised new questions and sparked fun conversations among the team about our experiences and different backgrounds. It really brought the team together in a more meaningful way than the usual corporate ice breaker does.

As you think about what personalized data means to you, what overlooked data exists in your world that you’d like to capture, analyze, and share? Tell us about it; we’d love to help you derive value from new data sources.