Visual Analytics Design Advanced Exam
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This test is designed to take 60 – 90 minutes
You must answer 20 of 25 questions correctly to pass |
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1. The four principles of accessibility are:
A. Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust
B. Perceivable, Usable, Simple, Realistic
C. Perceivable, Operable, Informative, Comprehensive
D. Perceivable, Understandable, Informative, Reliable
2. True or False: Color should be paired with another indicator, like an icon or texture, to help users perceive a visual’s meaning.
A. True
B. False
3. Accessibility challenges can be broad, but which of the following are most relevant to dashboards?
A. Vision impairment only
B. Learning/cognitive and vision impairments
C. Learning/cognitive, vision, and mobility impairments
D. Cognitive load
4. In a chart with many visual elements, which approach best applies visual hierarchy to help the viewer focus on the key data?
A. Reducing the visual weight of non-data elements while emphasizing the data itself
B. Using bold, thick lines for all chart elements to ensure visibility
C. Making gridlines prominent to help users read precise values
D. Using consistent line weights throughout all chart components
5. When designing data visualizations for international audiences, what’s the most important consideration for color?
A. Using colors that are bright and attention-grabbing universally
B. Avoiding cultural color associations that might misrepresent data meaning
C. Choosing colors that reproduce well in both digital and print media
D. Using the same color palette across all markets for brand consistency
6. For guided data storytelling, what is the BEST approach to using annotations and callouts?
A. Annotate every significant data point to ensure nothing is missed
B. Use minimal annotations to let the data speak for itself
C. Strategically place annotations to guide attention and provide context at key moments
D. Annotate only outliers or errors
7. When designing a data visualization that tells a story, which UI element is MOST crucial for user comprehension?
A. Animated transitions between different data states
B. Comprehensive legends explaining all visual encodings
C. Clear narrative flow with contextual annotations and guidance
D. Interactive filters allowing users to explore freely
8. For complex dashboards, when should designers choose interactive exploration rather than a linear narrative?
A. When the story has multiple valid interpretations, or user goals vary significantly
B. When the audience consists primarily of data analysts and researchers
C. When there is too much data to fit in a linear presentation
D. When technical constraints prevent smooth animated transitions
9. You’ve completed the dashboard and want users to easily recall the key takeaways each time they revisit it. Which approach will help users remember insights most effectively?
A. Repeating the most important visualization multiple times
B. Providing detailed summary statistics at the end
C. Including downloadable reports
D. Using consistent visual metaphors and creating memorable anchoring moments
10. True or False: When designing data visualizations that deal with sensitive topics, the focus should be on positive data points to avoid distressing users.
A. True
B. False
11. A product dashboard lets users drill down from category to individual product performance. Users need to maintain context as they explore. What’s the best way to design drill-down navigation?
A. Opening new windows for each level to maintain context
B. Using breadcrumb navigation with contextual zoom and in-place filtering
C. Replacing the entire visualization with each drill-down action
D. Showing all hierarchy levels simultaneously in separate panels
12. For an executive dashboard with 10+ KPIs, what is the MOST effective organizational approach?
A. Organizing metrics from highest to lowest value to emphasize performance
B. Using a grid layout with equal-sized tiles for visual consistency
C. Organizing by business priority and user workflow with a clear visual hierarchy
D. Grouping all related metrics regardless of their importance level
13. You’re building a dashboard and notice some missing or incomplete data. In the past, dashboards either hid missing points or showed zeros, but this sometimes caused confusion. What’s the best way to handle missing data here?
A. Hide incomplete data points to maintain visual cleanliness
B. Show placeholder values (like zeros) to maintain chart structure
C. Explicitly indicate missing data with clear visual cues and explanations
D. Automatically interpolate missing values using statistical methods
14. In dashboard design, what level of customization typically provides the BEST balance between flexibility and usability?
A. Full customization, allowing users to create any visualization they want
B. Preset or templetized dashboards with minor changes for each user group
C. Guided customization with predefined options that serve common use cases
D. Administrative-level customization only for power users
15. When designing hover states for data points in a complex visualization, which approach provides the BEST user experience?
A. Showing all available data attributes in a large tooltip
B. Using the same tooltip design across all visualization types
C. Minimizing tooltip content to avoid visual clutter
D. Displaying contextually relevant information with a clear visual hierarchy
16. The three stages of analytics thinking for designers are:
A. Data collection, data analysis, and data presentation
B. Problem identification, solution design, and user testing
C. Exploratory analysis, confirmatory analysis, and communicative design
D. Understanding the data, understanding analytics thinking, and application to visual analytics design
17. Why is it important to combine design thinking with analytics thinking?
A. Creating viable solutions requires following certain steps in the correct order
B. Combining both approaches reduces project timelines and development costs
C. Empathy and data understanding are both vital to creating viable solutions to users’ problems
D. Analytics thinking provides the technical skills needed to implement design concepts
18. True or False: A decision tree should be used as the bones of a design because it ensures all stakeholders' questions will be answered.
A. True
B. False
19. When creating a data dictionary for a project, designers should:
A. Work with stakeholders and engineers to define all dimensions, measures, and calculations
B. Make assumptions for fields that have obvious definitions
C. Skip creating a data dictionary if the data is straightforward
D. Work with only the stakeholders to define all dimensions, measures, and calculations
20. When creating a decision tree to understand analytical exploration, which approach BEST represents the flow of analysis?
A. Start with the most detailed data points and aggregate upward until patterns emerge at the highest level
B. Begin at the highest level of data granularity and continue asking questions until no further breakdown is possible
C. Start with hypothesis testing at the mid-level and branch both upward and downward simultaneously
D. Begin with the end-user's requirements and work backward to determine what data granularity is needed
21. True or False: Pilula charts were designed to effectively display dimensional, rather than numerical, trends over time?
A. True
B. False
22. When adapting traditional linear charts (like bar charts) into radial formats, which factor is MOST important to consider?
A. Aesthetic appeal and visual uniqueness of the circular format
B. How the radial transformation affects accurate data perception and comparison
C. Ensuring the chart fits better in square layouts
D. Creating more space for labels around the circumference
23. You want to overlay a line chart on a bar chart to show monthly sales vs. targets. What’s most critical for users to understand the data quickly?
A. Using the same color palette across all chart elements
B. Ensuring visual hierarchy clearly distinguishes different data dimensions
C. Making all chart elements the same visual weight
D. Using consistent scales across all chart types
24. Your report displays projected revenue with varying confidence levels. Your audience is non-technical. Which method is most intuitive for communicating uncertainty?
A. Using error bars with statistical notation
B. Providing separate charts for confidence intervals
C. Adding detailed statistical annotations
D. Implementing visual techniques like blurring, transparency, or subtle patterns
25. The primary objective of a leapfrog chart is:
A. To show whether or not a dimension member is performing better period over period
B. To show the distribution between dimension members for a specific KPI
C. To show the relative performance of a specific dimension member to a comparison point or points
D. To show the percent increase or decrease a dimension member needs to meet a target
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