How to integrate Figma and Tableau? — Example
Many of you folks have seen appealing visualizations on Tableau and asked a question how can I as a data entry specialist create something similar? Indeed, the majority of them have been created on Figma and adjusted to Tableau. It’s good news because you can learn and master working with this tool quite easily.
Let’s dive into this topic with an example ‘Top 20 largest solar power plants in the world’. I am going to show you all processes of visualization creation.
This is how the final second version looks like. The first one was created exclusively on Tableau and I felt unhappy that I could not represent what I wanted visually.
First and foremost is to understand that integrating two tools you should use Figma for prototyping and Tilda for data analytics. Simply said Figma is a statical representation and Tilda is an interactive representation.
An integration between two tools are easy and need the following steps:
Step 1. Think over the visual presentation of the idea
1.1. decide which facts do you want to underline the most
In my case I wanted to focus on the facts:
- Bhadla Solar Park, the largest PV in the world, in India area is 54.4 sq.m.
- This solar park capacity is equal to 2245 M Wp
- 7 out of the 20 largest PVs are based in India
When I brainstormed these ideas I conclude that I don’t really understand these dimensions. Is this area big or not? How much is this capacity? And how to wave India's role into this picture. I’ve read some articles that proved my hypnosis about India’s evolving role in renewable energy, e.g. EY published index showed that India climbed up in a third-place as one of the most attractive countries this year. So, I decided to concentrate on this aspect.
I didn’t want to leave the dark sport in my readers' heads about the measurements, so I compared the Liechtenstein area with Bhadla Solar Park that is the third of the country area.
As for capacity, I calculated that 2245 M Wp can ensure around 368 US households.
1.2. which charts are you going to use to represent your facts?
You can use Visual Vocabulary guide created by Andy Kriebel to understand your choice. For instance, if you have such dimensions as year, month, or day change over time charts (circle timeline, calendar heatmap, etc.) would be applicable. Magnitude charts are the most popular ones because they let to compare different categories. Common chart, bar chart, lollypop chart are the most commonly used.
a) Pie chart or donut chart to show India market share
I had two options either to make a pie chart, which is quite boring, or make a trick in Tableau by transforming the pie chart to the donut chart. I have chosen the hard way.
b) I also decided that the Slope chart reflects India's leap in a better way.
1.3. which visual element are you going to use?
This is where the use of analytical tools ends and visual starts. Yet many green energy visualizations contain sun on the top, solar power in the middle, green grass on the back, I didn’t want to be too direct.
a) I wanted to show households as a series of houses and this article inspired me to create what I have.
Сhart inspiration: Household Income Distribution in the U.S. Visualized as 100 Homes
b) in my very first tries I played with the Bhadla Solar Park image a lot trying to make its shape, but in the end, I understood that the most convenient way is to show the map — moreover, from a bird’s eye view, it looks amazing. It remembers me of ancient cities or satellite snapshots from Mars. In addition to that, I used the Liechtenstein map to align the design principle ‘repetition’. Deliberately with batteries. I do the batteries large in purpose to show their power.
c) the whole design conception. I wanted that my viz would have been on plain soft background with a material palette. I used material.io tool to create the color palette.
Visual inspiration: Fire Walk with Me: Everything I Watched in 2020
Step 2. Create a Viz in Figma
Once you’ve decided about your visual representation make a prototype in Figma.
Important! Before you start working choose the size of your container — whether it’s 1000*800, 1600*800 or it’s going to be a long story with 2500 high.
Step 3. Upload your Figma image in Tableau
You should upload the visualization in Tableau as an image, not as a background.
Step 4. Think over which information can be interactive
In my case slope chart and donut chart is supposed to be interactive.
I also added the tooltip to the solar park to tell more about it with a circle.
Step 5. Create the charts and put them on the image in Tableau
Put them in floating format to try on how they work. Make your charts transparent.
Step 6. Publish the visualization in Tableau.
I hope this article was helpful for you.
