Reddit mentions of Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten

I can’t recommend highly enough 3 books on good visualizations in business (and everywhere else)

1. Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals buy this, use this
   
   
2. The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics: The Dos and Don'ts of Presenting Data, Facts, and Figures
   
   
3. Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten (the gold-standard usable textbook)
   
   Report format for abstract/methods/etc vs PowerPoint for salespeople varies dramatically from company to company, so I don’t have any good recommendations there. But in the “a picture is worth a thousand words” world, visualizations really matter.

Here's an "Intro to Tableau" Evernote link that has the detail below, but this is what I've put together for our teams when new folks join and want to know more about it.

http://www.evernote.com/l/AKBV30_85-ZEFbF0lNaDxgSMuG9Mq0xpmUM/

What is Tableau?

• What Tableau IS and IS NOT - Interworks/Dan Murry - Blog post - [2p]
  
• A New Approach to Business Intelligence: Rapid-fire BI - Tableau - [Whitepaper - 15p]
  
• What is Tableau - Quora - Forum - [12a]
  
• What is Tableau - Yusheng Huang - Video - [2:26]
  
• Tableau Software Overview - Tableau Software - Video - [2:20]
  
  
  Where do I get it?
  
  
• Desktop latest version - Download Page - Tableau
  
• Previous versions - Download Page - Tableau
  
• Tableau Public - Tableau
  
• Pricing overview - Tableau
  
  Now that I have it, how do I use it?
  
  
• Tableau Starter Kit - Tableau
  
• Tableau Training Videos - Tableau
  
• Data Analysis Fundamentals with Tableau - Pluralsight
  
• Big Data Analytics with Tableau - Pluralsight
  
• Enterprise Business Intelligence with Tableau Server - Pluralsight
  
• Data Visualizations Using Tableau Public - Pluralsight
  
• Data Science and Analytics in Context - edX
  
  
  How do I become involved?
  
  
• Tableau User Groups - Tableau
  
• Tableau Community Forums - Tableau
  
• /r/tableau - Reddit
  
  
  I want to know more
  
  
• Books
  
  • Tableau Your Data! - Dan Murray
    
  • Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals - Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
    
  • The Visual Display of Quantitative Information - Edward Tufte
    
  • Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data - Stephen Few
    
  • Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten - Stephen Few
    
    
• Blogs
  
  • VizPainter - IFTTT
    
  • Tableau Viz of the Day - IFTTT
    
  • Vizioneer - IFTTT
    
  • VizCandy - IFTTT
    
  • Tableau Zen - IFTTT
    
  • Tableau Renders - IFTTT
    
  • Tableau Love - IFTTT
    
  • Viz Ninja - IFTTT
    
  • Paint by Numbers - IFTTT
    
  • Jewel Loree - IFTTT
    
  • Jen Underwood - IFTTT (BI)
    
  • datadoodle - IFTTT
    
    
• Podcasts
  
  • Tableau Wanna Be Podcast - Soundcloud iTunes
    
  • Podcast your data - Stitcher iTunes
    
  • Partially Derivative - Stitcher iTunes
    
  • PolicyViz - Stitcher iTunes
    
  • More
    
    
• Job Market
  
  • LinkedIn
    
  • Indeed
    
  • Monster
    
  • SimplyHired
    
    
• Certification
  
  • Tableau
    

An Essential Reading List For Designers

Source: www.tomfaulkner.co.uk

All books have been linked to Amazon for review and possible purchase. Remember to support the authors by purchasing their books. If there are any issues with this listing let me know via comments or pm.

Architecture

• The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture by Phaidon
  
• The Architecture of the City by Aldo Rossi
  
• Learning from Las Vegas by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown & Steven Izenour
  
• Modern Architecture since 1900 by William J R Curtis
  
• Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture by Phaidon
  
  Communication Design
  
  
• Essentials of Visual Communication by Bo Bergström
  
• Visual Language for Designers by Connie Malamed
  
• Visual Communication: From Theory to Practice by Jonathan Baldwin & Lucienne Roberts
  
• This Means This, That Means That: A User's Guide to Semiotics by Sean Hall
  
• Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture by Marita Struken & Lisa Cartwright
  
  Fashion Design
  
  
• Fashion Design Course by Steven Faerm
  
• Fashion Today by Colin McDowell
  
• The Fashion Designer Survival Guide by Mary Gehlhar
  
• Deluxe: How Luxury Lost it Lustre by Dana Thomas
  
• The Fashion Book by Angela Buttolph Editors of Phaidon ?
  
  Furniture Design
  
  
• Furniture Design by Stuart Lawson
  
• Eames by Gloria Koenig
  
• Design of the 20th Century by Charlotte & Peter Fiell
  
• 1000 Chairs by Charlotte & Peter Fiell
  
• The Encyclopedia of Furniture by Joseph Aronson
  
  Game Design
  
  
• The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jess Schell
  
• Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster
  
• [Challenges for Game Designers](Challenges for Game Designers) by Brenda Brathwaite
  
• Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design by Scott Rogers
  
• Screenplay: The Foundation of Screenwriting by Syd Field
  
  Graphic Design
  
  
• Grid System in Graphic Design by Josef-Muller Brockmann
  
• The Art of Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher
  
• A Type Primer by John Kane
  
• The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst
  
• The New Typography by Jan Tschichold
  
  Information Design
  
  
• The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte
  
• Show Me The Numbers:Desiginingg Tables and Graphs to Enlighten by Stephen Few
  
• Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte
  
• Information is Beautiful by David McCandless
  
• Information Graphic by Sandra Rendgen
  
  
  Industrial Design
  
  
• The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
  
• The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda
  
• Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals by Rob Thompson
  
• Process: 50 Product Design from Concept to Manufacture by Jennifer Hudson
  
• Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell
  
  (cont'd)
  
  

The best advice I can give you is to start with this book by Steven Few: http://www.amazon.com/Show-Me-Numbers-Designing-Enlighten/dp/0970601972/ref=la_B001H6IQ5M_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369652567&sr=1-1. Excel CAN make professional looking charts and graphs. It just doesn't always by default. Steven Few is the authority on this.

there are a few really great resources that were mentioned already.

I found Tufte books a little bit abstract and more geared toward data visualization philosophy and not as practical as some of the other resources out there in terms of creating interactive, business-focused data visualizations. While I really like them, it may not be the first ones you grab.

I highly recommend books and blogs by these people---all but Stephen Few are active on Twitter (bolding the highest 3 recommendations):

Stephen Few:

• Book: Information Dashboard Design
  
• Book: Show me the Numbers
  
• Blog: Perceptual Edge (really succinct and opinionated articles. you can learn a lot by his support and criticism of visuals or books. Read the comments. He can be abrasive, but usually pretty enlightening)
  
  Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic:
  
  
• Book: Storytelling with Data (already shared but repeating for convenience) Super good at helping draw attention to the point you're trying to make within the visual and ensuring that you're using opinionated titles if in a presentation like Powerpoint or Keynote.
  
• Book: Storytelling with Data: Let's Practice (recently came out and is very hands on)
  
• Blog: StoryTellingWithData
  
  Stephanie Evergreen:
  
  
• Effective Data Visualization: selecting the right chart for the right data
  
  Alberto Cairo:
  
  
• Truthful Art (good followup to his "functional art" book)

I personally like Learning Tableau as a great primer and refresher on understanding how Tableau works: http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Tableau-Visualization-Business-Intelligence/dp/1784391166 -- follow along with the book where you can.

If you haven't already walk through the videos here: http://www.tableau.com/learn/training -- and by walk-through I mean use Tableau and follow along.

Visualisation in general I need to do more reading but I like:
Stephen Few : Show me the Numbers http://www.amazon.com/Show-Me-Numbers-Designing-Enlighten/dp/0970601972
Accidental Analyst: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1477432264/

There's a few more books recommended here: http://www.tableau.com/about/blog/2013/7/list-books-about-data-visualisation-24182

edit: and for blogs I currently like http://flowingdata.com/

I think that for this general question, I'm good with not seeing your data or dashboards. I guess the first question is: have you gone through the online visualization training from tableau? If not, check out these:
http://www.tableausoftware.com/learn/webinars/making-flow-happen-dashboards-persuade-inform-and-engage

http://www.tableausoftware.com/videos/zen

http://www.tableausoftware.com/learn/whitepapers/tableau-visual-guidebook

After you've gone through these, go read Stephen Few's books...based on your question, you're going to get the most out of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Information-Dashboard-Design-At---Glance/dp/1938377001/ref=la_B001H6IQ5M_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409978547&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Show-Me-Numbers-Designing-Enlighten/dp/0970601972/ref=la_B001H6IQ5M_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409978547&sr=1-2

I like these books:

• Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten by Stephen Few
  
  
• The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte
  
  
• Visualize This: The Flowing Data Guide to Design, Visualization, and Statistics by Nathan Yau