Creating Visualisations with Tableau Desktop
I was first introduced to Tableau during a seminar in October 2019. The presenters showcased the capability of Tableau to use real-time and complex datasets to create invaluable insights, highlight specific issues with empirical information, and map data points geographically and over time. As an analyst, designer, and publishing manager in the finance industry, I had extensive experience of working with big data, querying SQL databases, manipulating and transforming data in Excel files, and creating charts in anything from PowerPoint, Illustrator, Python, and Excel. Maps were usually sourced from image libraries or from the internet and a document for published output would be generated in Adobe InDesign or HTML and sometimes in a database package such as Filemaker for publication. I had a lot of experience creating infographics and data visualisations but would often use a variety of tools to eventually create a final document. With Tableau, it seemed that most of the work could be done in the same package and you can test ideas and see results very quickly. I was very enthused to discover more about this tool’s capabilities.
Tableau has built-in calculation and aggregation functionality which is familiar if you have used Excel extensively. It also has a geo-coding capability which enables you to create maps to any scale quickly and efficiently, and when building data stories and dashboards the design functionality is very user friendly and again offers a relatively quick learning curve if you have ever used design or presentation packages such as Adobe InDesign or Microsoft PowerPoint. Whilst Tableau enables users to create functional dashboards and stories which are useful in business cases, the design functionality and the creativity of the #datafam community have enabled a sub-culture of data designers to thrive. Tableau users and enthusiasts now create striking, ethereal, beautiful, and challenging visualisations and data stories. I highly recommend exploring published dataviz work available on Tableau Public to get some inspiration on what can be achieved in this package.
Free Download of Tableau Public
You can get started with Tableau through the free public option. It can be downloaded here and you start experimenting on a Mac or Windows machine.
Learning Paths and Tutorials
You can start experimenting with Tableau straight away or go to the Learning section and watch some of the tutorial videos, work with starter dashboards, follow a specific learning path or join a user group to gain support from the growing Tableau community.
Showcase your work gain feedback
Datafam community, Twitter, Makeovermonday
Certification
Once you start feeling confident in your Tableau skills what better way to showcase these than by getting a certification? After some intensive training you can build up your repertoire of Tableau knowledge and take an exam to achieve a respective badge