2021 Week 24 | Power BI: Create an Isotype Visualization

Introduction

This week we are continuing with the Nobel laureates data and taking a look at gender diversity of Nobel laureates. We’ll do this by using an isotype visualization. Isotype visuals use an icon that is related to the subject matter being depicted and often use multiples to represent quantitative data. You can learn more about isotypes and their effectiveness here

To accomplish this in Power BI, we’ll use a custom visual created by Microsoft called the Infographic Designer. It can be used to make many different types of charts, but it is especially handy for isotype visualizations.  As a reminder, you are required to sign in to PowerBI.com to get custom visuals. If you don’t have an account or your organization has them blocked, you can create a free developer account. More information about developer accounts can be found here. Leave a comment or let us know on twitter if you have problems obtaining custom visuals so we can help get you the .pbiviz file and take that into consideration for future exercises. 

Requirements

  • Retrieve the data from the API using the following URL: https://masterdataapi.nobelprize.org/2.1/laureates?offset=0&limit=1200 (Hint: Power BI can expand the dataset into a table for you!)
  • Create a bar chart using the Infographic Designer that shows the portion of Nobel laureates that are women by prize category. 
  • Choose a shape that is related to the data (the example uses a prize ribbon). 
  • Set the amount per unit in the visual to 10. 
  • Fill in the shapes within the chart to represent women laureates. Choose colors according to your preference but try to avoid using blue and pink for male and female. Check out this article from Datawrapper for ideas.
  • Create your own legend for the chart using a textbox. 
  • Create a text box that uses the smart narrative feature to display the total number of laureates, the number of women, and the laureates whose gender is not listed. (Hint: You might want to create a couple of DAX measures to facilitate this.)

Dataset

This challenge uses data provided by the Nobel Prize organization. You may reference the documentation at https://www.nobelprize.org/about/developer-zone-2/. This week’s data can be retrieved with the following url: https://masterdataapi.nobelprize.org/2.1/laureates?offset=0&limit=1200. The data is free to use and contains information about the Nobel Prizes and the Nobel Laureates. The data is updated as the information on www.nobelprize.org is updated, including at the time of announcements of new Laureates.

Share

After you finish your workout, share on Twitter using the hashtags #WOW2021 and #PowerBI, and tag @JSBaucke@MMarie, @shan_gsd and @dataveldAlso make sure to fill out the Submission Tracker so that we can count you as a participant this week in order to track our participation throughout the year. 

Solution

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  1. Pingback: 2023 Week 05 | Power BI: Visualize the Oscars with an Isotype/Pictogram Chart – Workout Wednesday

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