Who Invented Data Viz? (and how you can optimize its impact)

Data visualization—also known as data viz—is the practice of translating information into a visual context, to make data easier for the human brain to understand. In turn, this makes it much easier to glean insights and identify trends, patterns, and outliers within large sets of data.
Not long ago, the ability to create smart data visualizations was a nice-to-have skill. For the most part, it benefited design- and data-minded managers who made a deliberate decision to invest in acquiring it. That’s changed. Now visual communication is a must-have skill for all types of managers, because more and more often, it’s the only way to make sense of the work they do.
Despite the fact that data visualization has only recently become ubiquitous, its origins trace back to the mid-19th century. But who was the originator?
In the 1850s, Florence Nightingale was an English social reformer, statistician, and the founder of modern nursing. She came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, in which she organized care for wounded soldiers at Constantinople. Nightingale gave nursing a favorable reputation and became an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of "The Lady with the Lamp" making rounds of wounded soldiers at night.
Florence Nightingale is also regarded as the first person to truly master the graphical representation of statistics.
She first developed a form of the pie chart now known as the Nightingale rose diagram, equivalent to a modern circular histogram, to illustrate seasonal sources of patient mortality in the military field hospital she managed. The vivid and engaging graphs she made to back her public health campaigns convinced the Queen of England and other authorities that deaths due to filth and poor sanitization could be averted—saving countless lives.
The combination of hard data and striking images is powerful.
Data visualization attracts attention and persuades people. Studies show that people form impressions of images in 500 milliseconds -- just half a second. That is too brief to truly understand what the graph is about, but not too brief to generate engagement and interest. We respond to images without conscious thought.
To optimize the impact of your data visualization, LINK offers the following three considerations:
- Focus on the most critical data: It's easy to get overwhelmed with data. We often have more than we need and can manage. So take the time to weed through it and find those data that will best support your story. As with virtually everything else in business, less is more. Nightingale was quite well known as a 'data nerd.' She was constantly establishing more sources to generate more data. But she was also great at teasing out the hardest-hitting data to support the story she wanted to tell.
- Tell a compelling story: Don't just share data, tell a story. The Nightingale rose diagram is a tale with two halves. The first circle captures catastrophe. The second captures redemption. In between, the reasons for the positive change: the elimination of filth and the improvement in sanitation within hospitals.
- Keep it simple: The simpler your story—and the visualization thereof—the better. Prior to the invention of data visualization, statisticians like Nightingale relied on complex tables of data and information to share their recommendations. However, Nightingale knew the Queen would never pay attention to such complexity. The Queen loved the rose diagram, though. It immediately got her attention and interest. And it was easy for Nightingale to explain the meaning of it.
These are my thoughts on how companies can create stronger marketing visuals to connect more strongly with their target audiences. I would love to hear yours.
Thanks for reading.
p.s. If you'd like to connect more strongly with your target audience, I'd love to help. Please message me at Todd@LINKTrainingAndConsulting.com, or call me at (513) 240-8383.









