I recently had the honor of speaking at Tableau’s internal, all-hands meeting in Seattle and have spent a lot of time thinking about what it is that we do all day as “vizzers.” We take people, events, and things, deconstructed into bits of data, and attempt to reassemble them to find insights, meaning, patterns, and build useful tools.
I got my start in data analysis working for the airline Lufthansa. As part of their management training program, you worked in almost every department, from reservations to check-in and cargo. One day we were transporting a circus to Moscow. Imagine the mayhem of loading lions, performers, and stage equipment—all with German efficiency.

Yet for my job, the only data point of interest was the weight of an elephant that did not want to get on board. This beautiful, stubborn elephant was reduced to one number to load balance the plane and determine how much fuel was needed to fly her home safely.
Oversimplifying data points is necessary for analysis, but does this targeted abstraction help with everything? What about art? Swiss artist and entertainer, Ursus Wehrli, has a comedic series called Kunst Aufraümen, where he “tidies up” works of art. In his TED Talk he explains how adding order helps us better understand the painting’s meaning.
If we see the act of data visualization as this “tidying up,” you realize that every time we represent data with a mark (like bar chart or a dot on a map) we are deconstructing that information, adding our own translation, and using our visual voice to communicate on its behalf. This translation is the power of your visual voice and can be applied in so many ways or facets of your life.
Why is this important? Let’s look at some dots on a map.

We’ve all seen hundreds of visualizations like this. It could depict flying elephants around the world, but this is actually from Splash. They are a non-profit partner of Tableau, dedicated to bringing water, sanitation, and hygiene solutions to children living in urban poverty in Asia and Africa.
Let’s focus on one dot—the red one—and what it actually represents.
If I told you it represents a trash can in a bathroom stall, you could imagine nearly endless versions of what this bathroom might look like, given a single data point used to represent it. It could be a delightful bathroom at an office—private, clean, and with proper disposal for feminine hygiene products.
But the red dot actually represents the absence of a trash can in a bathroom stall—a “pour-flush latrine with pan and water seal and direct drop pit or tank.” This toilet stall is located at a secondary school.

Let’s add in some other data points. The total number of toilets with trash cans for menstrual hygiene management is zero and the total number of female students is 435. Because there is no trash can, these 435 girls may feel shame and discomfort, have potential reproductive health issues tied to hygiene, or they may even choose to not attend school, thereby affecting their futures.

Now how do you feel about that dot on the map? And how do you feel about the power of your visual voice to translate and advocate on its behalf? You have the opportunity to make an impact and be a voice for those who may not have one.