1. Shopping List
This project came into existence because I wanted to save time with a household chore, namely doing the weekly food shop.
Previous Approach
The previous approach was for my wife to keep a notebook on the kitchen side where we would write down anything we had run out of and needed from the supermarket.
Then the evening before, we would do our meal plan for the week ahead and the wife would then add what was needed for these meals onto the list.
Pain Point
The issue was that it was inefficient as a new list was started from a blank sheet of paper each week which would use up time. And often the basics (milk, bread etc.) would be missed out. Another issue was that the list wouldn't follow the order of layout of the food leading to either the list being re-written to match or the shopper having to re-trace their steps throughout the store.
Solution
I built a very simple website in html / css to solve these problems. It is a checklist with the items grouped depending on where they are in the store. Each grouping has a free type field at the bottom so we can add anything that is not regularly required but may be needed ad hoc that specific week.
Each week, a blank checklist is printed out and left on the side. Then if, during the course of the week, we run out of cereal or teabags, this item is ticked in the list.
At the end of the week, we do the meal plan and my wife ticks off the items needed for the week but has the benefit of seeing all items we usually buy so there will be a visual reminder about staples such as milk or bread for example.
The result of this change is a frictionless system which saves us time every single week and ensures we never forget the milk!
2. Mileage Tracker
This started with a simple question: "How many miles do I drive each year?"
To find out I began tracking my car's odometer every Saturday in a Google Sheet. Collecting the data like this was just the first step. The real and interesting challenge was the presentation of that data. I wanted a way that was not just accurate, but instantly meaningful.
I used a Deneb custom visual inside of Power BI and this allowed me to fine-tune every aspect of the design to my own individual needs.
A Joy To Use...
Reduction of Chart Junk
The weekly mileage is plotted in subtle grey. This is because this is the background and not the hero. I don't want to call the user's attention to this as this is not the crucial information.
I embedded data labels into the columns themselves. This has two main advantages: it eliminates the need for a Y-axis and brings the numbers into the visual itself reducing cognitive load on the user.
The Narrative
The story is told through strategic highlighting. The columns with the highest, second-highest and lowest values are tinted blue immediately drawing the eye. The chart has a dashed line in grey to give an indication of the average miles per week over the period.
Just underneath the main title, we include a line displaying the aggregate number of miles and weeks over the period together with a calculation returning the projected annual mileage based on this data.
Readability
When a bar is marked as blue, it's data label text colour automatically switches from black to white to improve readability.
Annotations
To the right of the chart, we have included colour-coded triangles and text as annotations. They are included as part of the chart and help explain the reasons for the peaks and valleys (and the average line).
Respect for the User
An off-white background was chosen to reduce eye strain for the user as sometimes the standard bright white background can be uncomfortable if spending any time looking at a visual.
...And Engineered To Last
The elegance and simplicity is maintained by robust engineering. Each week, a new data point is added. Power Query automatically restricts the view to the last 26 weeks and every data label, conditional format, annotation and calculated subtitle dynamically recalculates.
This case study while simple embodies my core philosophy: that every data product, no matter how small, should be a joy to use and engineered to last. Accuracy is the baseline. True craft lies in creating a visual which is intuitive, tells a clear story and respects the user's time and intelligence from their very first glance.
