just because you have numbers doesn't mean you need a graph

I subscribe to updates from the Pew Research Center. They arrive in my inbox with subject lines like "Future of Internet, News Engagement, God and Morality" (yes, this was an actual title from their March 13th update - quite a span of topics!) and probably 90% of the time get moved to my trash without a second thought. But in a fraction of cases, something in that subject line catches my eye and I open the email to read more. Sometimes, this even prompts me to click further to the full article.

The snippet that caught my attention this time was "Stay-at-Home Mothers on the Rise." The link I clicked on within my email brings you here.

A quick scan through and I found that I was hardly able to focus on the article because of the issues plaguing the visuals that accompany it. There are many. But I'll focus on just a single one today and keep this rant very short and sweet:

Just because you have numbers doesn't mean you need a graph!

The following graph prompted this adage:

That's a whole lot of text and space for a grand total of two numbers. The graph does nothing to aid in the interpretation of numbers here! Even the fact that 20 is less than half of 41 doesn't really come across clearly here visually (perhaps because of the way the numbers are place above the bars?).

Rather, the above can be conveyed in a single sentence:

20% of children had a "traditional" stay-at-home mom in 2012 (compared to 41% in 1970). 

Just because you have numbers doesn't mean you need a graph!

For a less ranting delivery of a similar lesson, check out my post the power of simple text.

a storytelling with data ad

One of my favorite indulgences on a weekend morning is to sit in the sun on our terrace and read the latest copy of Dwell magazine. A number of things in the universe have to align to make this possible: namely, the sun must be shining and the child must be sleeping. The universe aligned in just this way this past Saturday (bliss!).

I find that the design of products and the design of spaces can sometimes influence my thinking, spark an idea, or act as inspiration when it comes to the visual design work on which I focus much of my attention. On this particular read through Dwell, it was the following advertisement that caught my eye:

This ad caused me pause for a few reasons:

1. The leading stat - 1 in 5 children go to school hungry - is powerful. When it comes to communicating a number or two, tables and graphs don't usually have a place, as the numbers themselves carry a lot more attention-grabbing power.
2. The use of preattentive attributes to make certain elements of the visual distinct: the numbers at the top are in bold, all caps and underlining draw attention to the second line, and the sort of sea-green in the logo and text at the bottom emphasize the un and is (when it comes to this last point, I might have chosen different portions of text to draw attention to, but I think that's one of those things that can be up for debate and probably there was a good reason the designer chose these particular pieces - perhaps the dichotomy between un and is?).
3. The story. It's short and sweet, but still a robust example of storytelling with data, which, with the personal anecdote and picture are made to be much more human than a simple stat on its own would be.
4. The picture. Speaking of pictures, one frequent question in my workshops is about the use of pictures when it comes to visual communication. I don't use pictures a lot personally, but as mentioned above, I do definitely think there are ways to use pictures that appeal on a different level than numbers do. Here, I think the pairing of the two is effective.

What do you think of this ad as an example of storytelling with data? Is it effective? Why or why not? Leave a comment with your thoughts!

US prison population revisualized

The following graph caught my eye recently in my Twitter feed:

Source: https://plot.ly/~Dreamshot/361/ 

I've been debating whether to post about it (and finally decided that I couldn't resist).

I don't want to rip it apart.

Well, that's not entirely true.

I do want to rip it apart, but it's not in an effort to be mean. The above visual breaks pretty much every best practice out there when it comes to effective graph design. It's simple data. Probably not so much is being lost in terms of being able to interpret the data through this less-than-stellar data viz. But the specifics of the design choices (or lack thereof) drive me batty. To the extent that I can't help but comment and resolve to show what it has the potential to be.

First, let me list the main components that get under my skin (and I should note that it's possible some of these are constraints in the Plot.ly tool through which the above visual was published, which I have not used directly) :

• No meaningful ordering to the data (rather, the categories are shown in reverse alphabetical order... not so helpful);
• Lack of axis labels (sure, we can infer, but why should we have to?);
• Diagonal text on x-axis (avoid, avoid, avoid!); and
• Grey background, white vertical gridlines, and black bar outlines add unnecessary clutter (eliminate!).

I think the only positives I have to say about the original visual are: 1) a horizontal bar chart is a good choice here because we're dealing with categorical data with long category names, 2) good descriptive graph title, and 3) it makes me happy to see the data source listed (both as general good graph hygiene, as well as because it allows me to get to the source data to remake the visual).

Speaking of remaking the visual, here's what it could look like when we tackle the above issues:

If we just want to show the data, we could proceed with the above. Taking a cue from the original visual - a single point is labeled with its corresponding value: Drug Offenses - perhaps there is a story here worth highlighting. If that's the case, our visual might look something like the following:

Meta-lesson: if you're going to go through the effort of visualizing data, take the time to be thoughtful about your design choices!

If you're interested in the Excel version of the above makeovers, you can download it here.