I stopped blaming Excel for my basic data visualizations. Here’s when and why.

Early last year I realized my research findings only meant something if I involved the right people. And, to do so required me to be a creative and adaptive evaluator. Around the same time, I realized that I could have all the answers, but without a good way to communicate them, no one would actually notice.

I started searching for solutions. I found blogs by industry celebs (Ann K. Emery, and Stephanie Evergreen, to name a few) and began to pour over their archives. I found a lot of cool stuff. My world was quickly shaken when I realized that meant APA formatting might not be the best way for my voice to be heard (my condolences to the die hards, there is a time and a place). But, the big takeaway was that I figured out that, “Yes, it sucks because Excel made me do it,” was a crappy excuse for not visualizing my data in a better way. I learned to stop accepting the norm. You see, the purpose of Excel is to be a tool – not to do all my work for me because guess what? I’m the expert! I know those gridlines are garbage (and unnecessary), and that I should really figure out the RGB numbers for my brand.

So when did I stop blaming Excel? When I started valuing my data visualizations as more than entering data, selecting insert, choosing between a column or bar chart, and dragging it into my equally as boring report. When I realized that sweet visualizations in Excel just meant more thought and a few extra steps.

Need an example? Check out Basic to Bomb Column Charts! Now go…find your inspiration for better visuals!