Udemy - MS Excel

Here's what I learnt from Basic Data Visualization - Udemy course

Excel is an excellent medium to analyze and visualize data. It is very easy to use and anyone can become very good at analyzing data within a very short period of time. Our entire focus would be on data  rather than the process behind it.

To create any insights, we need to make sure that the data we're using is well organized and easily translatable into a visual format such as a chart or graph. Unorganized data would make it difficult to understand it and perform actions. An organized dataset would have perfectly labelled attribute fields. We start off by checking if they are properly labelled. If they aren't we re-label these fields. Next we need to check for empty values. If any such fields are encountered, we have 2 ways to deal with them. We can either delete entire rows of data which contain any empty field (usually done when there are thousands of rows), or we could fill them up randomly or by using an algorithm (usually done when data is scarce or data in the fields of the same row is quite impactful and cannot be ignored). Now our data is ready to be presented visually. A graph is ideal to start with.  We need to choose the right graph for our data. The right graph aligns your expectations with the actual outcome. The right graph makes confusing data clear. The wrong graph creates confusion. Choose bar and line graphs for time-series or trended data. Choose pie charts for parts of a whole. Choose a suitable colour for the background. A subtle colour which wouldn't cause any intrusion with the actual data. Do not forget to label the axis, otherwise the graph won't make any sense. Add legend when using multiple attributes so that readers can identify what bar or colour represents which attribute. Use suitable scales too. This helps distinguish the differences in subsequent bars. You may also chose to represent using a line graph. A line graph makes data look continuous and you can clearly see the rate of increase or decrease in amounts. Smoothing of these lines will make it look much better. We are free to choose whichever colour we think might look catchy. We can have different fill colours and border colours. This can be done by right clicking on the field and then hovering over the colour hexagon and selecting the colour we want. We can also choose colours by giving their RGB colour code. Best way to start learning and getting better at plotting is by mimicking other graphs. Select diverse graphs so that you cover all types of representations. Practicing will eventually make you better at it. 

Attached below is a graph of 3 RCB batsmen in their recent innings. Here, I've used a line graph since it would best represent the data.