Welcome back to week 3. This week we are going to focus on data visualization. Data and analytics is all about bringing client challenges to life. We can help clients overcome these challenges by taking data, whether structured or unstructured, and turning it into usable information and insights. Visualization is a technique that allows us to consolidate and view data in an illustrative manner, to communicate a message more clearly or create a platform where we can internalize and further explore our data in a visual format. Data can be displayed in a variety of formats. An effective data visualization will help us improve our ability to make informed decisions and judgments from the data we're analyzing. Many of you may be familiar with some of the basic types of visualization techniques. For example, tables, charts, and graphs. So how is this different than something we already know? During this week, we will discuss how to enable effective storytelling through the correct selection, creation, and presentation of tables and charts. We're going to start by discussing data visualization basics and outline basic design principles. We'll then go into the theory behind how to enhance the effectiveness of a message through the use of graphical elements. There are some general principles that apply across all data visualization projects. If you can master these principles, you can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your message. Following these foundational videos, we will go into more detailed charting demonstration. Creating graphs and charts of data visualization are mainly used for one of two purposes, exploration and explanation. This course will not cover exploration or finding the story in detail. At a high level, charts used for exploration support a hypothesis driven approach and work to discover something than the data that was not previously known or confirmed. Instead, during this week, we will focus on charts with the purpose of explanation or telling the story of the data. We're going to show you how to build five common graphs that we often use here at PWC. Column graphs, 100 percent stacked charts, combo graphs, heat maps and Gantt charts. We will review how to select which one is appropriate for a given purpose and how to use them most effectively. Like the previous weeks, we will be using Excel as the platform for creating these graphs. It is important to note that there are systems and graphing platforms available for data visualization which are much more extensive than Excel. This course will not cover how to use these platforms. However, they are certainly worth exploring after you've gained an understanding of the foundations of data visualization. It is important to know the design principles you'll be exploring can be applied in infinite ways across many different charts, graphs, and visuals. It's up to you to figure out how to best use them. By the end of this week, you will be able to select and build charts that will effectively tell your story and further internalize data. We're seeing that data and analytics today is underpinning every kind of business challenge. Being able to visualize data in a meaningful way allows you to present an analysis, so that anyone can understand what the information means. Enjoy the lessons and exercises presented this week. I'll be back at the end of the week.