It’s never too early for data visualization!
Last weekend I got a little carried away while enjoying some one-on-one time with my daughter. At just over two years old, she was able to design a better dashboard then many of the software vendors in today’s market (shown below). She understands that less is better…
Thinking back to grade school, I remember being introduced to fractions and percentages. Like almost every other person, I think fractions were taught using a pie [cutting] metaphor. e.g. halves, quarters, eighths, etc. If you didn’t learn with the pie, it may have been the candy bar. Either way, if that is how we are taught at an early age, this could explain why pie charts are so prevalent in business, annual reports, presentations, analytics, etc.
Pie charts may be less effective in data visualization scenarios, but when introducing fractions, they are effective.
Besides the fact that these two charts [above] are 3-D, I think they are very Tufte compliant. I can clearly see that the attention span of a two year old dramatically decreases after hour one and hour two (top chart). Also, note the percentage of color used to create the pie chart:
20% Blue
30% Yellow
50% Pink
I can just imagine what we could do with more colors, Photoshop and a larger data set… Forget the zoo animals, I may take this to the next level and start her on bullet charts, bubble charts and thematic maps . With thematic maps, I could reinforce learning of both geography and data visualization in one shot!
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April 2nd, 2008 at 1:12 pm
“Pie charts may be less effective in data visualization scenarios, but when introducing fractions, they are effective.”
Well, I don’t know, maybe. But then you messed up this:
20% Blue
30% Yellow
50% Pink
To me the blue and yellow both look like 25%. And whether they are or are not effective in introducing fractions, pie charts can never be Tufte-compliant.
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Jon – You helped prove part of my point that pie charts are not the most effective option to show this data. My original goal was for blue and yellow to both be 25 percent each. After finishing, I put them on top of each other to learn they were not equal; hence the 20 and 30 percent in this post.
Not taking into consideration the quality of the photo (camera phone) and 3-D shadow, it is difficult to tell. Good point that Tufte would never use a pie chart. A better note would have been the minimal amount of chartjunk. Thanks for the comment!
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
she’s a viz rembrandt
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Tony - Actually I did notice that the yellow section was slightly larger, I almost said 26/24 in my comment. But then I figured that was unintentional.
Thinking about your comment about using pies to introduce fractions… This may in fact be true, but I think that pies can only really be effective for a small number of uniformly sized segments, to illustrate 1/N, where N can be at most about 8. Perhaps you could also get away with the progression of 1/2, 1/4, and two 1/8 wedges, similar to your daughter’s dataviz project.
Beyond these simple examples, you’re beyond the usefulness of the pie. Don’t try to teach 5/8 with just two pieces, for example; instead use five blue ones and three yellow ones. Don’t try to illustrate twelfths, either, because it’s too many to count by eye, and the angles are also too small to be measured by eye.
I will commend the simplicity of your daughter’s dashboard, and the absence of extraneous decorations. Most children go overboard with their crayons, and I’ve seen middle-aged professionals do the same. Maybe not with crayons, of course, but with their PowerPoint color schemes and default styles.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Jon – I agree that beyond 8 slices, a pie chart would clear its peak of effectiveness for the reasons you state. The same can be applied to those people that must use a pie chart in presenting data. Beyond eight data elements, the slices become even less effective, if that’s possible [it is].
Here at DSA Insights, I often beat up on pie charts and for good reasons. In trying to keep an open mind, I found one fairly good use of them for ages 2-8.
Thank you for your insights!