Storytelling with Data: Before and After Practic al Makeovers for Powerful Data Stories

How do you turn a forgettable graph into a compelling data story?

For more than a decade, the team at storytelling with data has helped leading organizations and countless professionals transform their business communications into action-inspiring narratives. Now, they're bringing the best of those lessons to you—in the beloved before-and-after format synonymous with their popular workshops. Through twenty powerful makeovers, watch ineffective charts evolve into engaging visuals that captivate, inform, and lead to smarter decisions.

World-renowned data storytellers Mike Cisneros, Alex Velez, and SWD founder Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic guide you through proven methods to strengthen your communications, sharing the thought process behind each redesign so you can confidently apply the concepts to your work. Building on core principles from the international bestseller storytelling with data, refined through thousands of workshops, they demonstrate the straightforward, intentional changes—like simplifying visuals, eliminating clutter, and emphasizing key insights—that will transform your graphs and slides from the expected to the extraordinary.

In storytelling with data: before and after, you'll learn how to:

• Structure stories that connect with your audience
• Create visuals that clarify complex information
• Apply color, layout, and design to focus attention on what matters most
• Overcome common challenges like time constraints and poorly designed templates
• Craft narratives that make an impact and influence outcomes

Every page of storytelling with data: before and after is packed with insights drawn from real-world experience, distilled into easy-to-implement strategies. No matter your role, experience level, or comfort with data, you'll learn practical lessons you can apply right away. Each transformation delivers meaningful takeaways to help you create data stories that resonate—and get results.

This book is your ultimate blueprint for turning graphs into persuasive, decision-driving stories.

Practical makeovers. Proven strategies. Powerful data stories.

From bestselling author Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic and expert data storytellers Mike Cisneros and Alex Velez, storytelling with data: before & after draws on more than a decade of experience helping leading organizations communicate more effectively with data. Through 20 real-world makeovers, you’ll see how cluttered, confusing visuals transform into clear and compelling graphs and slides.

Learn what to do—and why it works—so you can tell data stories that inform, influence, and inspire action.

Global praise for before & after

“This helpful book distills years of expertise developed by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic and her team, who have trained people in organisations all over the world to tell better stories with data using well-designed charts and clear, focused narratives. Recommended for anyone who makes presentations and reports containing data.”
–Duncan Clark CEO of Flourish and Head of Europe at Canva

“This book offers something we desperately need—practical, tangible examples that show how to turn charts into compelling, decision-driving visuals. The clear before-and-after makeovers, paired with explanations of what was changed and why, make it easy to understand and apply the lessons. Better storytelling leads to better decisions. I can’t wait to share this book with everyone I work with!”
–Stephanie Chenevert Senior Director, Google

“Since her first book was published a decade ago, Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic has become a reliable source of sound advice on chart design. The latest installment in her series, storytelling with data: before & after, is my favorite. I’m a great believer in learning by doing and by observing what other chart creators do, so a book that exemplifies how design principles apply to tricky real-world situations is educational—and fun!”
–Alberto Cairo Knight Chair at the University of Miami and author of The Art of Insight