Wanted: Data Geek/Visual Designer

I was motivated to get back to blogging by a recent post from Michael E. Driscoll.  (See his great mashup of scatter plots with Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe.) Driscoll takes a quote from a McKinsey Quarterly interview with Hal Varian, Google’s Chief Economist:

“The sexy job in the next ten years will be statisticians… The ability to take data—to be able to understand it, to process it, to extract value from it, to visualize it, to communicate it—that’s going to be a hugely important skill.”

I’ve never really thought of myself as someone with…well…sexy skills.  (I immediately sent this blog to my wife, who also has never really thought of me as having sexy skills.)  I remember in college walking from my advanced statistics class in the math building to my pottery class in the art building.  I remember hoping that my earthy pottery friends wouldn’t see me coming out of the math building and vice-versa. But the need to live two separate lives is over. Now, according to Google’s Chief Economist (and who am I to argue with Google’s Chief Economist?), I can simultaneously and proudly hold the pulse of both art and math.

Data visualization has emerged as a vital area of development. As the amount of data available to us grows exponentially (think petabyte hard drives selling at Costco), our ability to process and utilize the information flowing from all this data depends on its interpretation and presentation.  Data is really only useful if we can expose patterns and correlations in the data and then represent those patterns and relationships in an accessible manner. The visual representations of the patterns and relationships found in data serves to enhance our ability to understand the “story” contained in the data. Surely, there is a meaningful relationship between the explosion of data and the resurgent interest in powerful Design as marked by the number of articles focused on design in magazines like FastCompany and Wired. (In fact, Wired’s latest issue 17.07 is a particularly striking look at how data and design work together in all sorts of venues/markets.  In addition, see these sites pitching Data Visualization for some examples of beautiful renderings of information: Smashing Magazine; Web Designer Depot)

As I say in every blog, the value of data is only as good as its ability to support decision-making. Companies that succeed will do so through sophisticated and compelling analytics. Sophisticated analytics rely on more and more complex algorithms as well as the integration of multiple data sources. Data design and representation–the way charts, graphs, and tables are designed–plays an integral role in allowing readers to analyze and interpret the data in support of decision-making.  The equation looks like this: the data determines its visual design; the visual design supports a competent and complete analysis; competent and complete analyses lead to better business decision-making.

If I were back in college, I would have a newfound level confidence.  I would proudly brandish my calculator in pottery class, and definitely show-off my newest bisque-fired pottery vase to my statistics classmates.  After all, it’s the combination that makes me sexy.