Mastering Data Visualization: Theory and Foundations [2022]

Learn to design amazing charts for visualization and communication for [data] science, journalism and storytelling

Welcome to Mastering Data Visualization! In this course, you're going to learn about the Theory and Foundations of Data Visualization so that you can create amazing charts that are informative, true to the data, and communicatively effective.

Have you noticed there are more and more charts generated every day? If you turn on the TV, there's a bar chart telling you the evolution of COVID, if you go on Twitter, boom! a lot of line charts displaying the evolution of the price of gas. In newspapers, lots and lots of infographics telling you about the most recent discovery… The reason for that is that now we have lots of data, and the most natural way to communicate data is in visual form: that is, through Data Visualization. But, have you noticed all of the mistakes in those visualizations? I have to tell you, many of the charts that I see regularly have one problem or another. Maybe their color choices are confusing, they chose the wrong type of chart, or they are displaying data in a distorted way.

Actually, that happens because more and more professional roles now require to present data visually, but there's few training on how to do it correctly. This course aims to solve this gap. If there's one thing I can promise you is that, after completing this course, you'll be looking at charts at a completely different way. You will be able to distinguish good and bad visualizations, and, more importantly, you will be able to tell when a graph is lying and how to correct it.

If you need to analyze, present or communicate data professionally at some point, this course is a must. Actually, even if you don't need to actually draw plots for a living, this course is hugely useful. After all, we are all consumers of data visualizations, and we need to identify when charts are lying to us. (As an example, my mother attended one of my classes and now she's spotting mistakes in a lot of the media she sees everyday!)

I really encourage you to deepen your knowledge on Data Visualization. It's not a difficult topic, and we will start from the basics. You don't need any previous knowledge. I'll teach you everything you need to know along the way and we'll go straight to the point. No rambling. I really hope to see you in class!