Exploring the six steps of data visualization

When it comes to effectively communicating key trends in your data, the method in which it is presented will always be important. When presenting any type of data to an audience, there are two main considerations: first, selecting the correct segment of data for the argument; second, selecting the most effective visualization for the argument. When working on a new visualization, there are six steps you can follow to help guide you:

1. Acquire: Obtain the data from its source.
2. Understand: Learn about the data and understand its categories and features.
3. Filter: Clean the data and remove missing values, NaN values, and corrupt entries.
4. Mine: Identify patterns or engineer new features.
5. Condense: Isolate the most useful features.
6. Represent: Select a representation for these features.

Let's look at each step in detail.

The first step is to acquire your data from its source. This source may be a simple...