Field notes
Drawing audience charts that survive a dim meeting room
Practical habits for research assistants who present under newsroom lighting that was never meant for spreadsheets.
Many Thai newsrooms still brief after dusk, under lights chosen for writing desks rather than projectors. Charts that look fine on a bright laptop fail in that room.
Prefer print for the decisive meeting
A short printed pack lets editors annotate in ink. Projected slides are fine for orientation; decisions often need paper.
Limit colour to meaning
One accent colour for the series under discussion is enough. Rainbow legends collapse when the projector is tired.
Write the caveat in the same point size as the title
If sampling limits are tiny footnotes, someone will ignore them and later claim surprise. Put the caveat where a standing editor can read it.
Practice once with the real export
Template charts built on sample data teach the wrong confidence. Use the week’s actual file, even if it is messy. That is the point of our Visualisation Atelier.