We (datavis folks) like to believe that one of the key advantages of charts over tables is that charts are much better at providing context, displaying patterns and so on, while a tables “merely” gives you the exact value. Fortunately, life is not that simple. Many people dislike charts and a good table with the … Read more
I’ll assume that you are not paid for your artistic skills. You’re a mere mortal in a corporate environment, trying to make sense of your data and making rational decisions if possible. You make charts all the time, but you don’t really know if this new “data visualization” is the same thing with a pompous name … Read more
I spent the last two weekends among kings and witches, foxes and wolves, dumb men and devious women, visiting castles in Scotland and villages in Africa. Two weekends of great storytelling. One little thing bothered me, though. Explicitly or not, many stories ended with the words “and now you know why”. And now you know … Read more
What is wheat and what is chaff? Here is a list to help you take sides: If you want to fit the data into the shape of real-world objects, that’s not data visualization; If you use more than one dimension to represent a data point, that’s not data visualization; If your project breaks basic perception … Read more
Let’s assume that a bad chart is a chart that breaks basic perceptual laws, contains too much fluff, do not respect data relationships and do not clearly answer the underlying question (if you can find one). Why do people make such charts? Below you can find some reasons. Check the ones you agree with. You … Read more
A new page is available in my tutorial “Data visualization for Excel Users”. It’s the first page of a mini series on how to make a chart and we’ll learn how to ask questions and what type of questions we should ask.
(…) On the top of the mountain was a plain. There stood an old stone house, and in front of the house lay a great fish-pond, but behind it was a dark forest. He saw neither men nor animals, everything was quiet; only the wind rustled among the trees, and the clouds moved by quite close above his head. … Read more
We stop loving someone or something when we feel there is nothing more to discover, when we have no more questions, when we don’t care about the answers. I started writing my Data Visualization for Excel Users series because I have an unhealthy number of open questions. I’d like to go beyond it depends but there … Read more
A new page for my tutorial Data Visualization for Excel Users is available. It’s about Gestalt laws. Don’t forget to leave a comment!
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] Here is an interesting technique: using two y-axis to display the same data at different resolutions. Yellow (BMI) and blue (Weight) lines should overlap (there is a one-to-one correspondence between BMI … Read more