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Your first profile, step by step

Updated

This walkthrough takes you from an empty screen to a finished PDF in about ten minutes. It uses Burlington, Vermont as the example, but you can follow along with any place you like.

You will learn the whole path once: pick a place, add comparisons, choose a report type, look through the result, make one change, and export it. Each step links to an article with more detail.

Step 1: Start a new profile

On the Studio Home page, click in Where are you working?, or click New profile in the sidebar.

Step 2: Pick your place

  1. Type Burlington, Vermont. Adding the state narrows the list to the right Burlington.
  2. Point to Burlington city (marked "Place · Vermont") and click Use this.

Studio calls this place your study area: the place the profile is about.

Searching for Burlington, adding Vermont to narrow the list, pointing to Burlington city to show Smaller areas inside and Use this, then picking it

Want a neighborhood or a downtown instead of a whole city? See Choose a place and Build a custom area.

Step 3: Add places to compare with

Under Compare Burlington city, Vermont against..., click Vermont and United States in the Suggested list. Every table will now show Burlington next to the state and the nation, so you can see where it is higher or lower. See Add comparison areas.

Step 4: Choose a report type

Under What kind of report?, click Existing Conditions. This template covers population, income, jobs, and housing. See Report templates in Studio.

Step 2 of a new profile: study area, comparisons, report type, and data coverage

Step 5: Check data coverage and create

The Data coverage card checks whether every data source has numbers for your places.

  • If it says all sources have data, you are ready.
  • If it offers Fill N gaps, click it to review the stand-ins Studio suggests: data from a nearby or larger area where yours is missing. Or click Create anyway to leave those values empty. Either way, the profile notes it under the table. See Data coverage and stand-in geographies.

Click Create profile. Studio builds the profile, which usually takes about a minute.

Step 6: Look around

  • At the top, What stands out lists the most notable findings, ranked.
  • The Sections rail on the left lists every section. Click one to jump to it.
  • Under each table, the Source line says where the numbers come from.

An Existing Conditions profile for Burlington city, Vermont, with What stands out at the top

See Navigate a profile.

Step 7: Make one change

Pick any table and use the dropdown in its header to show it as a Column chart. Your change is saved right away. See Tables and charts in a profile.

Switching a table to a Column chart and then a Line chart

Step 8: Export it

  1. Click Export at the top of the profile.
  2. Choose PDF.
  3. Leave everything selected and click Export PDF.

When the card says Ready, the file downloads. See Export a profile.

The Export dialog with format, font, and contents

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