Death to boring data:
How to turn stats into stories people want to read
4 minute read
Your readers are hardwired for stories, not statistics. By avoiding a few common mistakes and taking inspiration from some of the best, you can captivate and drive action with your numbers
by Tim King
by Tim King
Remember the last time you faced a spreadsheet crammed with numbers? Felt a rush of excitement, an instant emotional connection? Probably not.
Numbers don't lie — but they sure as hell bore people. Still, buried in those spreadsheets are insights that could change everything.
As humans, we're wired for stories, not statistics, so our brains light up when we hear narratives with characters, conflict, and resolution. But faced with raw data, most people's eyes go misty and glaze right over.
People don’t care about data. They care about stories.
We’ll cover:
The invisible wall between data and emotion
Data, on its own, is boring. A slide deck full of numbers? Snooze. A ten-page report stacked with stats and jargon? Yawn.
The average person encounters thousands of messages daily, from social media, to newsletters, to traditional advertising. Breaking through requires more than just having good data — you must transform that data into something that resonates emotionally.
The explosions of big data, analytics, and AI, means that every organisation, publisher, and brand is sitting on a goldmine of information.
But this raw data, on its own, is about as valuable as a pile of bricks without a blueprint. It needs structure. It needs emotion, and a damn good reason to exist.
- Media organisations need to explain complex global challenges through accessible stories.
- Brands need to prove their impact with credible, evidence-based narratives.
- Nonprofits must drive change, demonstrating the urgency of their work through compelling visualisation.
- Financial institutions have to translate complex trends into actionable insights.
- Government agencies need to communicate policy impacts in ways citizens understand.
For journalists, data storytelling exposes hidden truths — think of The Guardian’s The Killing Times project mapping frontier massacres in Australia.
For brands, it builds authority and trust — Spotify Wrapped isn’t just an annual data dump, it’s a viral event.
For nonprofits, it drives action — like Oxfam Ireland’s impact reports, which use interactive maps and hard statistics to move people to donate.
Oxfam Ireland Impact Report
Oxfam Ireland Impact Report
When done right, data storytelling transforms abstract numbers into concrete understanding. It helps audiences grasp complex problems, recognise patterns, glean key insights, and connect emotionally with issues that may otherwise feel distant.
In short: good data storytelling gets results.
The ‘science’ of data storytelling
The best stories don’t just present facts — they trigger emotions. That’s because our brains are wired to process narratives far more effectively than raw numbers.
Stories engage the brain faster than raw numbers; logic alone won’t cut it.
Here’s how it works:
- Numbers trigger logic, stories trigger emotion. A stat on poverty won’t stick. But hearing about a single mother struggling to feed her kids? That’s a gut punch.
- We remember stories, not stats. Cognitive studies show that people retain 22 times more information when it’s framed as a compelling narrative rather than a dry fact.
- Good storytelling makes data feel real. Ever noticed how weather reports show an actual human sweating in the heatwave instead of just listing temperatures? That’s because context makes information meaningful.
Data shouldn't just be presented; it should be experienced.
5 ways to lose your audience with bad data storytelling
Before we get into mastering data storytelling skills, it’s worth recognising where it often goes wrong.
1. Data overload
Throwing too many numbers into a single visual overwhelms your reader. Instead of absorbing insights, your target audience disengages. Cluttered graphs, busy infographics, and walls of statistics create noise, not clarity.
2. No clear takeaways
Every data story needs a compelling answer to ‘So what?’.
It should always answer a question or lead to a clear conclusion. If the audience has to figure out the significance themselves, you’ve lost them.
3. Misleading visuals
Scaling tricks, and cherry-picked data can distort reality, even unintentionally.
A stretched axis here, a misleading percentage there, or an overly selective timeframe can alter perceptions dramatically.
4. Style over substance
Flashy animations and complex, interactive visuals may look impressive, but if they don’t enhance understanding, they’re pointless.
Clarity always wins over spectacle.
5. Ignoring the human element
Data without context is just numbers. People connect with storylines, not spreadsheets. If your dataset doesn’t relate to real-world experiences, it won’t resonate. Insights that feel relevant and human are the most impactful.
3 great data storytelling examples
Just 35 Medals in 25 Olympics
The Quint Lab's deep dive into the Olympic performance data of India asks why India consistently performs poorly at the games.
How Polarized Are We?
The Carnegie Corporation of New York's exploration compares local and national government, attitudes, and divisions in the USA.
Latin America: The World’s Copper Stronghold
CSIS' story highlights the global dominance that Latin America exerts in copper production.
5 proven strategies for better data storytelling
So how do you transform the right data into stories that captivate your audience? Here are five proven strategies from the world's best data storytellers:
1. Start with the human question, not the data
The most compelling data stories begin with human curiosity. Before opening a new spreadsheet, ask: ‘What question would my audience want answered?’
The Carnegie Corporation of New York’s breakdown of attitudes doesn’t just present statistics, it addresses a widely felt pressing question: 'How does political polarisation affect local communities compared to the nation as a whole?'
By anchoring in this human question, the data immediately became relevant.
The Carnegie Corporation of New York’s breakdown of attitudes
The Carnegie Corporation of New York’s breakdown of attitudes
1. Start with the human question, not the data
The most compelling data stories begin with human curiosity. Before opening a new spreadsheet, ask: ‘What question would my audience want answered?’
The Carnegie Corporation of New York’s breakdown of attitudes doesn’t just present statistics, it addresses a widely felt pressing question: 'How does political polarisation affect local communities compared to the nation as a whole?'
By anchoring in this human question, the data immediately became relevant.
The Carnegie Corporation of New York’s breakdown of attitudes
The Carnegie Corporation of New York’s breakdown of attitudes
CSIS - Latin America - The World's Copper Stronghold
CSIS - Latin America - The World's Copper Stronghold
2. Find the surprising patterns
Our brains are pattern-recognition machines. We pay attention when we spot something unexpected. Great data storytelling highlights patterns that surprise:
- contradictions between perception and reality
- unexpected correlations between factors
- dramatic changes over time, and
- outliers that defy expectations.
Take Latin America's dominance in copper production. The CSIS analysis reveals that while Chile and Peru hold nearly half of the world's copper reserves, they still face supply chain vulnerabilities and geopolitical risks that could disrupt global access.
2. Find the surprising patterns
Our brains are pattern-recognition machines. We pay attention when we spot something unexpected. Great data storytelling highlights patterns that surprise:
- contradictions between perception and reality
- unexpected correlations between factors
- dramatic changes over time, and
- outliers that defy expectations.
Take Latin America's dominance in copper production. The CSIS analysis reveals that while Chile and Peru hold nearly half of the world's copper reserves, they still face supply chain vulnerabilities and geopolitical risks that could disrupt global access.
CSIS - Latin America - The World's Copper Stronghold
CSIS - Latin America - The World's Copper Stronghold
3. Build a visual hierarchy that guides the eye
Not all data points are created equal. Effective data storytelling crafts visual hierarchies that lead viewers through information seamlessly:
- use size and colour to emphasise key points
- position critical information where eyes naturally go first
- create a visual journey that reveals information progressively, and
- maintain consistent visual language throughout.
The Quint Lab's story on India’s Olympic performance exemplifies this approach.
It guides readers from an overview of India's Olympic history to in-depth analysis of economic factors and state-wise athlete representation, effectively blending emotional impact with factual understanding.
The Quint - India’s Olympic performance
The Quint - India’s Olympic performance
3. Build a visual hierarchy that guides the eye
Not all data points are created equal. Effective data storytelling crafts visual hierarchies that lead viewers through information seamlessly:
- use size and colour to emphasise key points
- position critical information where eyes naturally go first
- create a visual journey that reveals information progressively, and
- maintain consistent visual language throughout.
The Quint's story on India’s Olympic performance exemplifies this approach.
It guides readers from an overview of India's Olympic history to in-depth analysis of economic factors and state-wise athlete representation, effectively blending emotional impact with factual understanding.
The Quint - India’s Olympic performance
The Quint - India’s Olympic performance
The Guardian's - The Killing Times map
The Guardian's - The Killing Times map
4. Simplify
Leonardo da Vinci is often quoted as saying, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Whether or not he said it, it certainly applies in data storytelling.
Often, the most effective data visualisations are the simplest:
- remove any visual elements that don't serve your story
- use familiar chart types for complex data
- break complicated concepts and metrics into digestible chunks, and
- leave white space to prevent visual overwhelm.
The Guardian's ‘The Killing Times’ massacre map succeeds precisely because of its restraint. A simple map with colour-coded dots allows viewers to immediately grasp the scale of frontier violence without complex animations or unnecessary elements.
4. Simplify
Leonardo da Vinci is often quoted as saying, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Whether or not he said it, it certainly applies in data storytelling.
Often, the most effective data visualisations are the simplest:
- remove any visual elements that doesn't serve your story
- use familiar chart types for complex data
- break complicated concepts and metrics into digestible chunks, and
- leave white space to prevent visual overwhelm.
The Guardian's ‘The Killing Times’ massacre map succeeds precisely because of its restraint. A simple map with colour-coded dots allows viewers to immediately grasp the scale of frontier violence without complex animations or unnecessary elements.
The Guardian's - The Killing Times map
The Guardian's - The Killing Times map
5. Connect data to individual experiences
The brain struggles to comprehend large numbers, making it often difficult to emotionally process the difference between 100,000 and 1,000,000, for example.
Effective data storytelling bridges this gap by connecting statistics to individual human experiences:
- provide relatable comparisons (‘enough water to fill 50 Olympic swimming pools’)
- personalise large numbers through individual stories
- use analogies that translate abstract figures into concrete concepts, and
- create interactive elements that let users see themselves in the data.
NBC News' story on Detroit's segregation wall effectively combines historical data with personal stories of long-term residents, making the ongoing economic impact of segregation both intellectually and emotionally accessible.
NBC News - Detroit Segregation map
NBC News - Detroit Segregation map
5. Connect data to individual experiences
The brain struggles to comprehend large numbers, making it often difficult to emotionally process the difference between 100,000 and 1,000,000, for example.
Effective data storytelling bridges this gap by connecting statistics to individual human experiences:
- provide relatable comparisons (‘enough water to fill 50 Olympic swimming pools’)
- personalise large numbers through individual stories
- use analogies that translate abstract figures into concrete concepts, and
- create interactive elements that let users see themselves in the data.
NBC News' story on Detroit's segregation wall effectively combines historical data with personal stories of long-term residents, making the ongoing economic impact of segregation both intellectually and emotionally accessible.
NBC News - Detroit Segregation map
NBC News - Detroit Segregation map
Data is only as powerful as the story it tells
Data on its own is just a collection of numbers and facts — cold, impersonal, and easily overlooked. But when woven into a narrative, data transforms into a compelling story that resonates with your audience.
Storytelling is the bridge between complex information and human understanding. It's the difference between data that gets ignored and data that makes an impact.
Your data is only as good as the story it tells, so choose to tell a story that makes people feel something. Ditch the dull spreadsheets and start telling stories that actually matter.
After all, only stories with impact get remembered.
