Visualisation of scientific data is an integral part of scientific understanding and communication. Scientists have to make decisions about the most effective way to communicate their results every day. How do we best visualise the data to understand it ourselves? How do we best visualise our results to communicate with others? Common pitfalls can be overcrowding, overcomplicated or suboptimal plot types, or inaccessible colour schemes. Scientists may also get overwhelmed by the graphics requirements of different publishers, for presentations, posters, etc. This short course is designed to help scientists improve their data visualisation skills so that the research outputs would be more accessible within their own scientific community and reach a wider audience.
Topics discussed include:
- golden rules of DataViz;
- choosing the most appropriate plot type and designing a good DataViz;
- graphical elements, fonts and layout;
- colour schemes, accessibility and inclusiveness;
- creativity vs simplicity – finding the right balance;
- figures for scientific journals (graphical requirements, rights and permissions);
- tools for effective data visualisation.
This course is co-organized by the Young Hydrologic Society (YHS), enabling networking and skill enhancement of early career researchers worldwide. Our goal is to help you make your figures more accessible to a wider audience, informative and beautiful. If you feel your graphs could be improved, we welcome you to join this short course.