Data visualisation for designers

Enhance your design skills, and get better results from working with researchers and analysts

Designers are increasingly being asked to work with data. Businesses and organisations have more data than ever and are seeking to visualise it in compelling and memorable ways. This means that designers are increasingly being asked to collaborate with researchers and analysts, and need to understand key statistical terms and methods to ensure that their work tells a story clearly and accurately.

This introductory evening course looks at how an understanding of statistics, copywriting and storytelling can enhance a design portfolio. It also looks at the key design techniques that are used in telling stories with data.

Led by the Guardian Digital Agency's head of creative, Tobias Sturt, and Adam Frost, head of data visualisation, the course delivers a series of lectures and a practical workshop which gives you the opportunity to get expert feedback on your work. Detailed handouts ensure this course offers long-term benefits to your communications.

This course is for you if...

• You are a researcher who has to regularly brief designers and developers
• You're a designer working for a research company who wishes to learn more about information graphics and interactives
• You're a freelance designer who wishes to move into the data visualisation field
• You're a front-end developer who wishes to learn more about elegant interface solutions

Course description

This evening masterclass will look at how raw data can be turned into striking visual stories, focusing specifically on the problems and issues faced by designers and front-end developers. There will be a workshop in this masterclass in which participants will be asked to collaborate on creating their own wireframes before presenting back to the group. Topics covered on the day include:

• The importance of good visual storytelling
• Designing and presenting graphs and charts to maximise their impact and memorability
• Common mistakes that designers make when working with statistics
• The evolution of data visualisation, and examples of best practice

PLEASE NOTE: Although we do discuss the different visualisation software options available, this is not a software training course.

Tutor profiles

Tobias Sturt is the head of Creative, Guardian Digital Agency. He has been working in digital storytelling for almost two decades, in all kinds of media, from web to TV to games to infographics. He has also worked on more conventional digital development projects, from website design to branding, from mobile app interfaces to print projects.

Adam Frost is head of data visualisation at the Guardian Digital Agency. As well as work for the Guardian itself, he has worked on data visualisation projects for clients as diverse as Vodafone, SAB Miller, Ofsted, Kantar, Millward Brown and Walmart. He has also managed large-scale web builds for the Department for Education and EDF Energy.

Full course and returns information on the Masterclasses website