# How data visualizations work

Human beings aren't capable of understanding the raw information in a [database](database.md) in any complete way.

- Our minds have a tendency to quickly assign [meaning](meaning.md) as we perceive the information, so columns of numbers will represent as a feeling instead of being held as separate values.
- Even when they're low-enough on the [autism spectrum](mind-neurodivergence-autism.md), a database has to be comparatively smaller for them to understand the information.
- The data may evoke a [story](stories-why.md) as a collective set of information that would never be expressed on an element-by-element basis.

Therefore, we must use more articulate ways to express this information.

The easiest way to express data is through a visualization, mostly because our eyes give more absolute information to our brains than any of our other senses. It's *possible* to express data as a sound (e.g., [notifications](engineering-design.md)), but that doesn't mean it's effective in conveying anything precise.

## Reports

The simplest way to express data is through a report. This often requires [numerical data](math.md) (since it'll often be summarized via calculation), but it can also be numerically calculated by counting instances of non-numerical information directly.

For any report to be effective, it needs to have several qualities:

- Actionable - It must serve to advance or promote some sort of [purpose](purpose.md).
- Accessible - It must be easy to [understand](understanding.md).
- Auditable - The information must be easily reproducible for someone else to [verify](mind-trust.md).

For that reason, good reports intentionally *omit* useless information and accompany the supporting data. The report should also draw directly from the data, and *not* use an intermediate system that could generate error or inaccuracy.

## Diagrams

A diagram is a visual representation of the information. It is essentially a report, but with extra [UX](engineering-design.md).

The diagram must add value to the user, or it's a bad diagram. If it isn't intended for [humor](humor.md), the diagram should give an apparent flow for the eyes to see, from top to bottom.

There are [a vast selection of diagrams](data-viz-specific.md), which all have their own benefits and drawbacks.

One of the most common computer version of a diagram comes through Unified Modeling Language (UML), which gives an easy form of coding a diagram that can be usable anywhere.