6. How to make graphs that work
(advice from Seth Godin)
1. Don't let popular spreadsheets be in charge
of the way you look.
2. Tell a story.
3. Follow some simple rules.*
4. Break some other rules.
7. Classics – The Table
• While it might be possible to display data
better graphically, a table often does the job
quite nicely.
9. Sales data in units
1st
Quarter
2nd
Quarter
3rd
Quarter
4th
Quarter
8.2 1.4 3.2 1.2
10. Classics – Pie Charts
• Pie charts have a mixed reputation.
• They are popular in business and the media but
many information designers have criticized the
technique.
• Some claim that the pie slice shape
communicates numbers less exactly than other
possibilities such as line length.
• At least one study indicates that use of a pie chart
for analyzing a problem as opposed to a bar chart
changes the way people think about the problem.
11. *Godin’s Rules
• Pie charts are spectacularly overrated. If you
want to show me that four out of five
dentists prefer Trident and that we need to
target the fifth one, show me a picture of 5
dentists, but make one of them stand out. I'll
remember that.
17. Classics – Line Graphs
• Line graphs are classic diagrams that usually
give a good picture of the data.
• Line graphs should only be used when the
positions on the x-axis have a natural
ordering. If your labels are "2000, 2001,
2002" that's fine. If your labels are "US,
England, Germany" you should consider a bar
graph instead.
18. *Godin’s Rules
• Good results should go up on the Y axis. This
means that if you're charting weight loss,
don't chart "how much I weigh" because
good results would go down. Instead, chart
"percentage of goal" or "how much I lost.
20. *Godin’s Rules
• "Don't connect unrelated events. For
example, a graph of IQs of everyone in your
kindergarten class should be a series of
unrelated points, not a line graph. On the
other hand, your weight loss is in fact a
continuous function, so each piece of data
should be attached.
21. Classics – Bar Charts
• Bar charts are classic diagrams that usually
give a good picture of the data.
• Their main problem is that when there are
many bars, labeling becomes problematic.
• They also imply that the data is discrete; if
your data is something that is plausibly
continuously changing over time, for
instance, you might consider a line graph
instead.
23. New Classics – Network Diagram
• Real-world information often comes in the
form of relationships between entities or
items, such as people who know each other
(social networks), or Web pages that are
connected to each other.
• In a network diagram, entities are connected
to each other in the form of a node and link
diagram.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30. New Classics – Word Cloud
• A "Word Cloud" enables you to see how
frequently words appear in a given text, or
see the relationship between a column of
words and a column of numbers.
• You can tweak your word "clouds" with
different fonts, layouts, and color schemes.
• Wordle.net
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38. New Classics - Infographics
• Information graphics or infographics are
graphic visual representations of
information, data or knowledge.
46. Example: NYT Cascade
• Cascade allows for precise analysis of the
structures which underly sharing activity on the
web.
• Links browsing behavior on a site to sharing
activity to construct a detailed picture of how
information propagates through the social media
space.
• The tool and its underlying logic may be applied
to any publisher or brand interested in
understanding how its messages are shared.
