Data Visualization Using Looker Studio

Tabula Rogeriana by Muhammad al-Idrisi. source: Google

The concept of data visualization can be traced back to ancient times. Before the advent of computers and digital technology, people used visual representations to communicate information.

One fascinating example of early data visualization is the Tabula Rogeriana, created by the Muslim geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi in the 12th century. The Tabula Rogeriana was a world map that depicted the known world at the time, showing continents, countries, and important landmarks. It was considered one of the most accurate and detailed maps of its time and was widely used for centuries.

Data visualization is the graphical representation of information and data. By using visual elements like charts, graphs, and maps, data visualization tools provide an accessible way to see and understand trends, outliers, and patterns in data. Additionally, it provides an excellent way for employees or business owners to present data to non-technical audiences without confusion.

In the world of Big Data, data visualization tools and technologies are essential to analyze massive amounts of information and make data-driven decisions.

At this article I’m gonna show you how to visualize data as a data analyst using Looker Studio.

This whole article will use data that has been provided by MySkill team. The data was originally from Kaggle: Pakistan’s Largest E-Commerce Dataset with some modification to make it easier to learn. You can download it here.

Importing Data

Go to the Looker Studio, and make a new blank report.

Choose the File Upload, and upload your data. The other option is you can simply just taking the data from Google Sheets (save the data in your google drive).

Make sure the data is in .csv (comma separated values) format.

Last step is just click Add and wait untill the uploading process completed. Assuming your data is successfully uploaded, here is your first page look a like.

Exercise

Dear Data Analysts,

Following up on yesterday’s joint meeting, we will create a dashboard to monitor and evaluate sales achievements each month. The dashboard will consist of 2 pages and was created using lookerstudio.google.com.

On the first page, it shows:

1. Relations between Sales Value (before discount), Net Profit, and AOV (average order value).

Net profit = after discount - ( cogs * qty )
AOV = before discount / total unique order

2. Make a slicer for Order Date, Category, Value Transaction, and Payment.

Value Transaction:
Valid -> is_valid = 1
Not Valid -> is_valid = 0

Payment -> payment_method

On the second page, it shows:

1. A table that contains:
   - Product Name
   - Category
   - Before Discount
   - After Discount
   - Net Profit
   - Quantity
   - Customer (unique value)
2. Make a slicer for Order Date, Category, Value Transaction, Payment
3. Make a scorecard for:
   - Before Discount
   - After Discount
   - Net Profit
   - Quantity
   - Customer (unique value)
   - AOV

Make the default view with the entire year 2022 time period.

Thank You.

Regards,
Marketing Team

Before making any visualization, we need to prepare all the fields that had been asked. You can see all the fields that available in the right side of your screen.

In this case, we have some fields that not settle yet, which is the net_profit, aov, value_transaction. Let’s make them!

First, click on the “Add a field” on the bottom of your field list. It will show you something like this.

Now we can type the missing fields. To make it faster, I’m already summarize the 3 missing field like below:

Notes : In the formula, you can write a simple math logic or you can use the excel function or SQL function. And DONT FORGET to click save and finished.

Assuming all the data is completed, now we move on to make our first chart.

First Page

First, insert the chart and choose the ‘Combo Chart’, and simply click on the ‘canvas’ or you can drag and draw it as like as you can.

There are alots of chart we can use in Looker Studio, but in this case we use the combo chart

Now, all we need to do is set up all the dimension and metriks. You can do it easily by draging it from the data-tab to setup-tab. Here’s mine :

• Dimension :
  Month = order_date field
• Metric :
  Value Sales = before_discount field
  Net Profit = net_profit field
  AOV = aov field

Notes : You can customize your dimension or metric values by clicking the left of your fields name.

Now to make it more easier to read, let’s move to the chart-style tab. In this tab you’re gonna see ‘Series no. 1’, ‘Series no. 2’, etc. Series in here reffer to the metric we just add to the setup and it ordered by the number. So, ‘Series no. 1’ means the Value Sales metric. Here’s how I style my chart :

• Series no. 1 and 2, Im using bar chart and axis on the left.
• Series no 3, Im using line chart and axies on the right.
• Smoothing also activated.

And we’re finished the first chart. Now lets add some control into the chart. We will going to add 4 controls for this chart which is the date range control and 3 drop down list. Here is how to make it :

1. Click on the ‘Add a control’, choose the ‘Date range control’ and done. Now you can show data visualization in some specific date range which is the entire year of 2022.

2. Click on the ‘Add a control’, choose the ‘Drop down list’. Similar to making a chart, we’re gonna drag the control values into the control field. This first case we’re dragging the category field. You can do the same thing to the other 2 drop down list. (Value Transaction = value_transaction, Payment = payment_method)

Thats it. Now we’re finished the first page.

Final Output

Second Page

In this second page we’re asked to make a table. So click ‘Add a chart’ and choose table.

At this moment, we are going to do something similar like the previous chart. Im only gonna show you my setup, and you can customize it as you like.

Notes :
Product Name = sku_id
Category = category
Before Discount = before_discount
After Discount = after_discount
Net Profit = net_profit
Quantity = qty_ordered
Customer = customer_id

Done, now we have the table we need. For the slicer, you can do the same thing like the first page, or simply just copy and paste it into the second page.

We’re also asked to show the scorecard for Before Discount, After Discount, Net Profit, Quantity, Customer (unique value), and AOV. Here Im gonna show you to make 1 of them, you can repeat it and change the metric.

First, click ‘Add a chart’ and choose ‘Scorecard’. On the setup tab, drag the before_discount field into metric. Voila! Now you have the first scorecard for the before discount. Now just do the same thing to the other 5.

Final Output

Addition :

You can rename each page in Pages → Manage pages. First page is Dashboard and second page is Sales Detail

You can check my final data visualization in here.