In this assignment, you’ll create two charts to visualize tuition data, one with Adobe Illustrator and one with a web tool of your choice.
From Spreadsheet to Completed Chart
1. Open this spreadsheet about tuition data for public universities in Washington state:
Annual Tuition at Washington Four-Year Public Universities, 2022-23
Create your own new spreadsheet in Excel or Google Sheets and copy-paste the data. You are only required to use the institution name and resident tuition+fees (highlighted in yellow), but you may want all the data for different types of charts.
The spreadsheet should generally look like this with two columns highlighted in yellow. The data is updated periodically to reflect the most recent tuition rates available.
Resident tuition is the rate for in-state students who are from Washington (or some other places with tuition exchanges). Non-resident tuition is the rate for out-of-state students, including international students. Note that the data here is only for undergrads, and rates for graduate students are different.
2. Create charts that visually represent the data for resident tuition and fees for all six institutions. You have two options depending on whether you want to use Adobe Illustrator or not:
• OPTION 1: Create two charts total, one in Illustrator and one with a web tool
OR
• OPTION 2: Create three charts with three different web tools
Here is a demonstration of how to create charts in Illustrator, including some tips about labels and colors.
Web tools you can use for free (sign-in required for some):
The charts you make with different tools can be the same chart type and information, just created two different ways to show the final product is different depending on what tool you use.
Make sure your charts have:
- Chart types that make sense for the data (hint: when in doubt, use a bar chart)
- A useful title and labels so everyone can understand what each chart shows
- Meaningful or well-selected color choices
Make sure they pass the checklist from your reading this week!
3. Save your charts as links or images, in a format suitable for publishing in a blog post or email newsletter. You will submit these to Canvas.
Submitting Your Work
Submit the following:
- The images or links for your two or three charts
Demonstrated Skills:
- Choose a logical chart form for a particular dataset
- Use multiple software tools to achieve a similar data visualization goal
- Make use of text options for clear information hierarchy
- Demonstrate design choices for clear communication with color, alignment, and spacing