What My 10-Year-Old Taught Me About Power BI: A Titanic Tale
The Story of the Award-Winning Project
Shenanigans
Picture this: my daughter, a mastermind cat burglar on Roblox. She sneaks into homes, cracks safes, and makes off with the loot without getting caught. And all of this is happening right under my nose! During one of those questionable parenting moments, I couldn’t help but laugh as she showcased her burglary skills. My child, the digital thief.
I had to ask her how she figured it all out. Did she watch a tutorial on YouTube? Did she copy someone else? Her answer? “Nope, I just kept trying different ways to get in.” She turned the impossible into possible just by trying something new.
Titanic: Echoes of the Unsinkable
This idea stuck with me as I returned to my computer. I was working on our entry for the 2024 ‘Make Your Data Speak’ contest by Data2Speak and Alex Kolokolov. The contest had two main categories:
Business Dashboards
Data Art & Storytelling
The storytelling option called out to me, but I was at a loss for a topic. Enter my daughter, who immediately suggested the “TITANIC.” She’s watched the movie a million times. Now, the challenge: how could I tell this legendary tale using Power BI? I needed to move beyond James Cameron’s iconic version and create something truly captivating.
Here’s what I wanted from this report:
- Comprehensive Data: Details about the ship and its passengers that are engaging and easy to grasp.
- Uniqueness: A report so unique and attention-grabbing that users would stick around to learn something new.
- Customization: Charts and graphs made with Deneb for unmatched customization.
Armed with a vision, I went hunting for data. The Titanic Kaggle dataset from school was a start, but I wanted more. That’s when I found Encyclopedia Titanica, a goldmine of stories, photos, and detailed passenger lists. It had everything from birthplaces to final fates, making it the perfect dataset for my tale. Now, I just had to weave it into a story that would captivate readers.
HTML Content (Lite)
I’ve been dabbling with 3D objects in Spline, adding them to Power BI reports. This isn’t something you see every day in Power BI. The best part? You don’t need to be an expert to do it. Just use the HTML Content Lite custom visual by Daniel Marsh-Patrick, learn the basic HTML framework, and paste in the embed code from Spline.
However, I wondered, how useful is this for businesses? What’s the point of letting users play with 3D objects if they only care about the latest numbers? How can we make HTML and CSS both functional and fun?
I decided to explore further, diving into CodePen’s world of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript animations. I found a simple effect, copied the code into Power BI, and — nothing. Blank visual. After several more failed attempts, I felt defeated. Then, my daughter’s words echoed in my mind: “I just kept trying different ways.” So, I gave it another shot, searching YouTube for tutorials — still no luck. Feeling stuck, I turned to ChatGPT.
“Hey, can you combine this HTML and CSS code for Power BI’s HTML Lite visual?” I asked. And just like that, ChatGPT worked its magic. I pasted the code into Power BI, and voila! A smoothly flipping card. Unique, and attention-grabbing, and it worked like a charm.
Deneb
Deneb is a game-changer I discovered through Enterprise DNA. Their tutorials, led by Greg Philps, are top-notch, and Ben Ferry from ‘Power BI Guy’ on YouTube provides super clear, step-by-step guides. Deneb allows you to tweak almost every part of a visual.
The real challenge was picking the right chart style to match the report’s theme. The report featured a few data-driven visuals, each telling a unique part of the story. My favorite was the Lifeboat chart — simple yet powerful, showing the gap in lifeboat capacity with bars stacked on top of each other. There were only six charts, each one a mini-story on its own. While these could have been done with native Power BI visuals, the contest called for something extra special.
Structure/Layout
While digging through Encyclopedia Titanica and hunting for HTML/CSS ideas, I needed a layout that would guide viewers through the story in an engaging way. That’s when my 10-year-old, ever the creative genius, suggested: “Wouldn’t it be cool if you made it look like an old newspaper?”
Using Figma, I created layouts for each page. It was a breeze — create the background image, set it, and arrange the visuals to match. Done deal. But a few weeks before the deadline, I realized the report was slow to load due to too many HTML visuals. Making a judge wait 5–10 seconds for the report to load? Not ideal. I had to rethink my approach, reminding myself, “Just keep trying”.
I found some ‘Loading’ HTML visuals but struggled with making them disappear once everything loaded. Here’s my workaround: instead of one big background image, I broke it into pieces, layering them over the loading visuals using an image. Not perfect, but who hasn’t seen a ship sail across the opening page of a Power BI report, right?
Just keep trying
The Titanic project was a wild ride with its fair share of challenges, but it turned out to be a game-changer and a blast to work on. The lesson? Don’t be afraid to try something new and crazy. Check out Data2Speak for inspiration; they have mind-blowing reports on business dashboards and storytelling projects. Our project is there for you to enjoy as well. You might even find the spark for your next project, perhaps for a contest like this one.
And let me tell you, there’s no better feeling than telling your 10-year-old our project came in second place. The next day, she was already buzzing about our next project — dinosaurs!
Real-life business use?
Back to the question of how HTML and CSS could be used in a more conventional business report, I created this enhanced KPI card just as an example of what you can do. Go ahead, download the file, and see what you can create!
About the Author
Jason Boyer is a Data Analyst with a background in management and maintenance. Currently working at Amentum, Jason specializes in uncovering insights from data to deliver creative and high-quality reports. Connect with Jason on LinkedIn.
