Info We Trust

CHAPTER18FOCUS ATTENTION

Vision without execution is hallucination.

WALTER ISAACSON, 2014

The previous chapter began with a visual metaphor about two lenses. The first diverging lens expanded creative exploration. It set loose a search for insights, and better forms for conveying those insights. The second lens is a converging lens. It catches the products of our creative exploration and focuses them to the audience. That is what this chapter is about.

There is an endless variety of ways to package a data story, depending on purpose, audience, medium, and distribution channel. You are the one who knows these best, and must keep your own particulars in mind as you focus your story.

Workshopping

There are two ways to draw a dragon. In one approach, first block out the general shapes with light lines so it is easy to correct errors. As you become satisfied with the form, begin adding detail. Gradually, darken lines. The dragon emerges through a conversation between the productive hand and the critical eye.

As the designer quickly creates a conceptual design sketch an ongoing perceptual critique is occurring. This can be thought of as a form of meta-seeing in that it is critical and analytic … It involves the interpretation and visual analysis of the marks on the ...