More often than you realize as an academic, you will be representing data or other information. This might come in the form of a simple table, a straightforward graph, or a more elaborate visualization of data. Visualization of information is an incredibly difficult and yet outstandingly important task to focus on doing correctly. Not only does a good visualization convey information more clearly, but also in many cases more accurately.

One of the gurus of information visualization is Edward Tufte who has published a number of incredibly informative and stunningly beautiful books on the subject. I highly recommend that you check out his books. He also has an insightful, critical short work that examines the challenges of using Powerpoint effectively.

For a constantly updated stream of complicated and beautiful visualizations, I also like to follow http://infosthetics.com/.

Finally, if you know you need a beautiful and informative visualization but don’t have the skill-set on-hand to create one yourself, I highly recommend you contact Chris Fink at Protagraphics.