Table to Graphic

In creating the table and charts I was trying to make a good visual representation of data. The data chosen was the percentage of students according to racial make up, of Roger Williams University. The races included American Indian, Asian, Black, Hispanic, White, and Unreported. To begin the visual I used Microsoft Excel and created a table of information. The table is easily read using the gray highlights and color fill behind titles. The data was plugged in and Excel verified the total was equal to one hundred percent. Then I inserted different style charts and graphs by using the table data and placing them in the spreadsheet. Excel makes it easy to focus on the visual aspects rather than the data, once the table is created. The program offers different styles of which I choose four; exploded pie, bar, donut, and 3-D pie. With in the templates they have set up I was also able to choose colors and placing of information within the chart. I found the pie or exploded pie charts to be the best for the information I was trying to display. Since the information was out of one hundred percent, viewers already know when looking at the circle that the races all add up. When creating the visual I found that the visual was good but the race “unreported” group was twenty-three percent, leaving for a large piece of the population unknown. Color is an essential part of the chart. With some of the smaller populations the colors are what create the visual separation rather than the space. I think never realized how many ways there were to show the same information about something. In creating these visuals I saw how the effectiveness of a presentation or something someone is trying to communicate can have very different impacts depending on the style chosen.