My own visualization practice
Over the last few days I came across some really WTF visualizations from respected people and organizations here. They all share the international language of bad design, so I’m sure you don’t need to know Portuguese to (not) understand them. Público, a newspaper: The National Council of Education: Jorge Braga de Macedo, an economist: FFMS, a foundation who’s … Read more
In the beginning of the Greek debt crisis, Greek hairdressers became one of the symbols of a badly managed country (they could retire at 50 with full benefits). But there is more and more interesting things to say about them. Take a look at inflation rates for hairdressing salons and personal grooming establishments in Greece. … Read more
Time Magazine published a very boring combo dual-axes chart with a broken scale. Most of the time these charts beg for a connected scatterplot, so I made the one above. The original chart was something like this: I’m sorry, Time mag, but my chart tells hands down a much more interesting story. [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column … Read more
People keep asking what the difference is between data visualization and infographics. Since I’m not completely satisfied with the available answers I thought I could return to the subject and write my own. First, you have to recognize that you can’t compare them because they are not at the same level. Things get much simpler if … Read more
Pies charts are fun to use, but it’s almost impossible for grown-ups to find a good reason for using them at work. So your first, safe-for-work choice is a bar chart. The boring bar chart. I don’t like bar charts. There, I said it. This is a little rant about bar charts, but also about … Read more
I’m sure you’re familiar with the Walmart growth map. A basic visualization looks like this: Obviously this has a lot of potential for a more design-oriented approach, and there are many examples online. Here is the map created by Nathan Yau at FlowingData: I wanted to play with the data too, but from an Excel … Read more
(click to enlarge) I have a single and very simple resolution for 2013: make more charts. Simple charts, just to play with the data. Here is the first one. I like scatter plots with a time dimension, even though data points often look like drunken sperm. When you plot education and wealth in Europe, you … Read more
Here is the percentage of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the European Union and a few other countries: We are going to resist the urge to identify them and use our preconceptions against them. Let’s dig deeper instead. Some groups are more exposed to the risk of poverty. Let’s see what … Read more
Here is the draft result of my little weekend project, making horizon graphs in Excel: I’m probably using too many color bands, but I like it! The horizon graph is a very compact way to display lots of data points and a shiny example of how to break the rules for a good cause. It … Read more
In data visualization, animation is overrated. OK, it’s an interesting option if you can see a clear pattern emerging when displaying data over time/space (and, thanks to animation, we were introduced to this communicator extraordinaire named Hans Rosling). It’s fun to make an animated GIF like the one above, but you must see animation as … Read more