We all know how DIY survey platforms have made collecting research extremely easy. Platforms like SurveyMonkey make data collection accessible to anyone, regardless of whether they have training in market research or survey building. But, what do you with the data once it’s been collected? DIY research tools give you raw answers but not necessarily the resources to visualize your results or communicate them effectively. Luckily, a host of new technologies have emerged that allow you to share knowledge easily, tools that help you create impactful, visually impressive stories and presentations without being an expert designer or storyteller. Here are some of the tools worth considering and tips for using them:
DIY presentations
Top quality insights need to be matched with top quality presentation design to make sure your findings can be navigated by audiences for maximum impact. Tools such as Beautiful AI help even the least likely designer make information aesthetically pleasing by providing templates for making effective presentations, while Piktochart also facilitates infographics and printables. Within a carefully designed template of your choosing you have the power to input your data with charts and graphs as well as customize the design, with fonts and colors to make it your own.
Tip: When designing you can control the viewers’ experience. The size, color and positioning of the features included in your design will impact the order in which the audience focuses on them. So, it’s a good idea to understand some of the core design principles before you start.
DIY infographics
Infographics are great for illustrating complex data simply and memorably and tools such as Piktochart help you make them with ease. As well as templates for presentation slides, Piktochart gives you customizable templates for infographics so you can bring your story to life visually and make your data stand out. Other automated infographics sites include Canva, Venngage and Visme.
Tip: When customizing your template think about use of color. Using contrasting colors such as blue and yellow is important for data visualization, especially when highlighting key differences in a graph. Using colors that stand out from one another allows the viewer to navigate the data simply and the contrast between the colors will emphasize the differences you’re trying to portray.
DIY storytelling
To pull your story together it’s useful to have a platform that allows you to visualize all your data. KnowledgeHound gives you a dashboard where you can store and search through your research projects so you can easily find the information you’re looking for. Once you’ve found what you’re after KnowledgeHound helps you visualize the data so you can easily transform it into a digestible narrative.
Tip: When building your story, remember to show your audience how your information is relevant to them. This can be achieved by including elements of ‘small’ data, such as videos, photographs or even tweets, into the narrative. While audiences may not be able to relate to raw data, or large abstract numbers, they should be able to understand these snippets of relatable materials which also increase memorability.
DIY Video
Engaging your audience is essential to make sure your insights are actionable, and video is an easy and effective way to do this. It can also be woven throughout presentations as an example of the ‘small data’ that audiences can relate to. Video is a way of bringing research to life, taking participants into the room so clients can see their target audience’s thoughts and feelings first hand, as well presenting your research results creatively and memorably. DIY video tools such as Magisto allow you to make your own videos quickly, easily and with maximum business impact.
Tip: It’s important to think about structure when you’re creating a video or weaving it throughout a presentation. Having a coherent structure will make your story navigable for audiences, allowing you to remain focused and encouraging your audience to do the same. This is of course also relevant to stories with no video input.
There are many useful skills that will help you create memorable stories with your insights, but building effective narratives and visualizing data aesthetically and impactfully is possible without being an expert storyteller or designer. Tools such as Beautiful Ai, Piktochart, Canva and Majisto are there to assist you with this, providing you with the necessary tools to build creative and memorable presentations, infographics and videos, while KnowledgeHound helps you decipher the story to begin with.
