Viewpoint: New visions: capturing digital data and market research

Mariann Hardey looks at the creation of visual representations of complex data. Examples of postcode data use to map consumer types in residential areas are described to demonstrate the how powerful such visualisations can be.

New visions: capturing digital data and market research

Mariann Hardey

Durham University

There is a new craft within marketing that is devoted to the creation of visual representations of complex data. These ‘visualisers’ are the new craftsmen (and often women) of marketing, who work on large and often emergent flows of data in the digital back office. Their product is inserted into the marketing reports and documents of all kinds and does much to shape our view of the world.

In the mid-1970s, postcode data of various sorts became available and provided a new way of describing and differentiating neighbourhoods....

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