Video: Hans Rosling: Debunking third-world myths
I’ll be adding some classic videos here, and Hans Rosling must of course be one of the first to be included. He is using visualization software that later was bought by Google. I am using it to display old vs young dependencies.
Excel dashboard competition
Bonavista Systems announced today an Excel Dashboard Competition. Participants stand a chance to win an iPhone, a workshop hosted by Stephen Few and a copy of Few’s “Information Dashboard Design”. Unlike other competitions, there is no data set. You just have to use Excel and MicroCharts, their sparkline generator. You don’t need to buy MicroCharts … Read more
Using Google's Motion Chart to visualize population trends
In my Demographic Dashboard I have a scatter plot that shows the trend towards an aging society. Today I wanted to test the new Google Chart API and the Motion Chart with the same data set. The chart displays the old dependency ratio against young dependency ratio. It clearly shows the shift from high ratios … Read more
Creating a VBA-free Excel dashboard
Do you need VBA to create an Excel dashboard? Our recent discussion clearly shows two lines of thought: a) you should use it because there are things you just can’t do without VBA and if you have access to a powerful tool you should put it to work; b) you should avoid VBA like the … Read more
Poll: Do you use VBA in your Excel files?
I just added a poll to the sidebar on the right (RSS readers might need to visit the site to see it). I’d like to know if you use recorded macros or write VBA in Excel. I ran an informal poll among friends and colleagues with catastrophic results and I’d like to compare results. Please … Read more
Less is more, more is more
Always ask yourself: “what can I remove from this chart”? Remove Excel defaults, remove grid lines, make the chart smaller, use soft colors, remove irrelevant labels, remove the legend (by directly labeling series), remove series that you don’t really need, remove frames, remove decimal places, remove visual fluff. Then ask yourself: “what can I add … Read more
Video: Royksopp – Remind Me
I am sure that, if you aren’t a visitor from another planet, you already saw this video. I’m playing with the blog’s template during this week, trying to add interesting stuff from the information visualization point of view, like videos and images, and this is a good test video. This will not change my focus … Read more
Fibonacci, working memory and information overload
More data = better decisions, right? Not always. When you are getting more information than you can process within a specific time period information overload starts creeping. Confusion, stress, anxiety and low motivation usually follow. Can we prevent that? In general, the more information you have, the more accurate your decisions will be. But at … Read more