Write a brief
Before you make a visual, or ask someone else to make one, answer the five Ws and one H. Rough answers are fine, but missing answers mean more revisions later.
| Question | Answer it with | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Who is it for? | The primary audience and what they already know. | Country directors, who don’t know the district names |
| Why is it needed? | The single most important message or question. | Show that road incidents doubled since the rainy season began |
| What does it show? | The data, and whether it’s a comparison, a trend or context. A draft title. | Monthly road incidents, 2025–2026, compared with the previous year |
| When does the data apply? | The period, and whether it’s a snapshot or change over time. | January 2025 – March 2026 |
| Where does it apply? | The geographic scope, admin level and any must-have places, routes or labels. | Two provinces, admin level 2; label the main supply route |
| How should it be read? | Check that you can explain the data and message simply yourself. | “Since October, a road incident every other day” |
Checklist
- I know the primary audience and the level of detail they need.
- I can state the single message in one sentence, and the data clearly supports it.
- I have a draft title that states that message.
- I have specified the period, the geography and any filters.
- I have listed the elements that must appear: places, routes, thresholds or icons.
- I have shared earlier visuals as inspiration, not as templates to copy.
- The deadline allows for at least one round of revisions.
Who owns what
When one person asks and another makes the visual, split the work like this.
| The requester owns the what and why | The maker owns the how |
|---|---|
| The purpose and key message | The visual format best suited to the message and audience. This may differ from the format requested. |
| The context and operational relevance | Data quality, aggregation and the analytical method |
| The audience | Applying this style guide |
| Final check of the interpretation and narrative | Spotting and preventing likely misreadings |
No visual without data. Build every chart or map from the underlying data, never by tracing, redrawing or restyling someone else’s graphic. You can then check it, update it, choose your own framing and avoid copyright problems.
Rename the roles to fit your team, but keep the split itself. If someone starts requesting the chart type before knowing their key message, they will end up with a wrong chart.
The five Ws and one H come from Smiciklas (2012), The Power of Infographics. The “no visual without data” rule follows the NZZ Storytelling Styleguide.