DATA GOD OF FORM

Chris Hamill

Alluring Analytics

Chris Hamill is a Sr. Program Manager on the Power BI CAT team at Microsoft. 
Chris's career did not start off in technology. After graduating from Drake University Chris spent several years working as an analyst for a variety of companies including Starbucks before becoming one of Microsoft's Marketing Finance Managers.

Chris made a name for himself by building out an interactive "App like" Power BI dashboard for the PGA Tour. What others said could not be done in Power BI, Chris found a way! This fantastic work has lead to the advances in Bookmarks, grouping and countless other features in Power BI.

DATA GOD QUALIFICATIONS

Chris may be new to the position of Data God, but his place amongst the gods is unquestionable. The UX/UI that Chris has created in Power BI is second to none and inspires others to do more.

Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak.
Rachel Zoe

Great Power BI UX/UI takes a great deal of work. You must know your audience, know how to work with your tool, gather feedback, fail fast, and iterate often. The big key is focusing on how you can avoid overwhelming consumers of your report readers.
TOP 8 REPORT DESIGN TIPS

The God of Form recommends that you focus on 8 design elements to be useful in your reporting:

01

Margins

Don't let visuals go to the borders

02

Distribution

Making sure all of your visual elements are evenly distributed can make reports much easier to read and understand.

03

Alignment

Visuals that are not aligned with each other can be extremely distracting. Always take the time to line everything up before you publish it.

04

Branding

Make sure that you use appropriate branding throughout your report development.

05

Coloring

Consistent colors help focus people on the story. Try to limit the number of different colors. We're not at a circus here.

06

Consistency

Having a standard layout, fonts, sizes, and positioning can help make reports more consumable.

07

Accessibility

Taking the time to make things accessible can really help broaden the reach of your analytics. Many people are color blind. Don't solely rely upon colors to tell your story.

08

Backgrounds

This is Chris's secret sauce. Check out his multiple blog posts on the subject.

DATA GOD FUN FACT

Every time Chris visits Wisconsin, someone takes him to Cafe Benelux. Not 100% sure how this happens... maybe a god of Cafe's has something to do with this? 

Regardless- if you are in Milwaukee, check out Cafe Benelux. It's very good.