What You'll Learn
Whether you are pitching a new idea, persuading others to take action, building a strategy, or making a decision, data is key. But the amount of information available today is staggering, and it is easy to become overwhelmed by too many statistics, distracted by the wrong set of numbers, and confused by the complexity of data.
This program combines the science of data visualization with the art of graphic design to help you communicate complex information more accurately and effectively. By transforming data sets into visual graphics—such as charts, bar graphs, scatterplots, and heatmaps—you will learn to present complex data in ways your audience can better understand. Through hands-on exercises, you will explore the many types of data in use today, learn how people perceive different graphical displays, and create visual presentations that make a stronger impact on your audience.
Program Benefits
- Critically evaluate visualizations and suggest improvements and refinements
- Avoid creating misleading visual representations of data—and being misled by others
- Apply a structured design process to create effective visualizations
- Conceptualize ideas using sketching and prototyping
- Use principles of human perception and cognition in visualization design
- Communicate more precisely by pinpointing the most relevant information
- Learn how to tell data stories with visualizations
- Earn a Certificate of Completion from the Harvard Division of Continuing Education
Topics Covered
- Creating interactive visualizations using Tableau
- Conceptualizing ideas and interaction techniques using sketching
- Using the visualization design sprint process
- Evaluating strengths and weaknesses of visualization approaches for improvements
- Applying principles of effective visualizations to connect with your audience
Who Should Enroll
This program is ideal for professionals or managers in a wide range of disciplines with an interest in the visual presentation of data.
No programming experience or specific software experience is necessary.
Considering this program?
August Schedule
Day 1
- Effective Visualizations
- Sketch and Design
Day 2
- Protoyping
- Storytelling
Instructor
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![Hanspeter Pfister]()
Hanspeter Pfister
Hanspeter is the An Wang Professor of Computer Science at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and an affiliate faculty member of the Center for Brain Science. His research in visual computing lies at the intersection of visualization, computer graphics, and computer vision.
