Data Visualization For Dummies® by Mico Yuk & Stephanie Diamond

Author:Mico Yuk & Stephanie Diamond
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781118502891
Published: 2013-12-24T10:42:10+00:00

To have a little more fun viewing bad data visualizations, visit one of my favorite sites at http://wtfviz.net.

Visual fits the data

The visual has to fit the data. (See Chapter 4 for information about choosing effective charts.) Visuals are more than just charts, however, and certain visuals just don't fit certain data. Usually, you can present data in multiple ways. Your job is to find the most effective way to do so.

You should never use a pie chart, for example, to show data with more than five data points or to display any data set with little to no variation in magnitude. Similarly, you should never use a table or scorecard to show a trend over time. Chapter 14 covers the challenge of choosing the right visual and other pitfalls of data visualizations.

Figure 9-3 shows two visualizations that chart the same data. The line chart at the top is the best option for showing the Sales Margin trend in 2014, because it makes it blatantly clear that the company's expenses are soaring way above its profits. The column chart at the bottom doesn't convey that trend as clearly. Column charts are best used to compare items.

Figure 9-3: The line chart is the better representation of this data.

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