Support Analytics Blog

If you’re like me, this Dilbert comic may give you a chuckle.  I typically read Dilbert because there are some pretty funny strips and you need to laugh every once in a while, right?  As of late, a little laughter might offset some of the crying from looking at investment or 401(k) returns [or lack of] from 2008 and year-to-date. 

With the one below that was posted on March 9th, there is a message that I think is important to those folks that are creating charts and graphs and those that are viewing them.  My rule of thumb is to question the data or designer when I see a lot of "dressed up" data.  The more glitz and chart bling, the more it makes me question the data and creator.  A good data visualization or data presentation will speak for itself and doesn’t need chartjunk or gaudy colors to send a message. 

The old saying goes: "If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with buIIshit".  Well, if you apply this saying to data, it might go: "If you can’t enlighten them with elegance, baffle them with bling".

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Updated per Jon’s link in the comments.  This one never gets old…

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Below you will find a three different data series for countries across Europe.  The legend in the upper right corner states that:

1. The orange data point is for the percent of unemployment
2. The yellow data point is for the percent change in GDP
3. The red data point shows the percent auto sales, which is atrocious

Typically, I find that overlaying data on a map doesn’t really add a lot of value and tends to dilute the message.  This chart is one exception that I found.  If you had asked me to name these countries without the labels back in the 8th grade, I may have gotten most right.  To be honest, I doubt I could name all of the ones on the right (Denmark to Bulgaria) besides maybe Poland, had the labels not been listed.

This chart takes up a lot of room, but I think it’s important to show the relationship (distance) these countries are from each other.  Looking at the data, I wonder why Poland has a fairly high unemployment rate with the best auto sales.  Then, looking at Poland’s neighbors, it further questions why the numbers are so different.  That conclusion would be much harder had the map not been shown.

Yes, you could list these countries out in a bar chart, but showing their proximity to each other adds a great deal of value, in my opinion.

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There are a few design changes I would make to the column chart below had I been the one to create it.  This chart appeared in a recent copy of the Baltimore Sun newspaper and actually looks better here than in the print edition.  In the print copy, there is shadowing on the columns, which makes it harder to read.

Here are the few changes I would make:

1. A better title or no title at all.  The title is very poorly written.  This chart is showing the percentage of students who passed at least one Advanced Placement (AP) exam during high school.  There is no possible way to understand what the chart is telling you without reading the text below the title.  The title is very ineffective.  Also, I typically capitalize the first letter of the words in my titles.
2. The x-axis has a black line, but it is hidden by the columns because they are set to the front of the axis.  I would have made the axis line set to the front. 
3. The abbreviation for the county (Co.) is not necessary.  The only people that wouldn’t know that these are counties around Baltimore are people that probably don’t care. 

The biggest change is probably the easiest to make.  The title and sentence below the title take up at least a 1/3 of the entire area of the graphic.  If you add in the source and designers signature, we are probably up to about 1/2 of the entire graphic.  The data-ink ratio is diluted by the excess wording and non data ink used to create this chart.  Simply put, use a good title and keep it clean.  On a positive note, I like the lack of excess formatting that doesn’t add value; like gridlines, y-axis, column borders and tick marks.

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A little while back I wrote a post that used an online tool called Wordle to visualize my iTunes library, which can be seen below.

In the past few weeks leading up to the 51st Grammy awards, I’ve seen this advertisement, which goes along the same idea for presenting songs.  Granted, many of the words are not even visible, but the big ones definitely stand out.  You can see more by visiting their YouTube site.

I guess the question is; does this type of visualization have a place in business and/or education?  I could definitely see using this type of tool to visualize either customer feedback or internal survey data from comments.  Being able to visually see how prominent specific words are in an employee opinion survey or customer feedback survey could be very powerful.

[via Graphjam]

I stumbled upon this little gem and thought I would share it here.  With all of the discussion lately around pie charts, I thought this one may either get a chuckle or help drive home a point.  That point is to stay away from 3-D pie charts because the only thing worse than a pie chart is a 3-D pie chart.

As Jon recently said, “Leave the donuts for the cops and the pies for the diners, and visit a nice bar.”

P.S. I definitely fall into the yellow and green segments if I can vote twice.  Where do you fall?

I guess this is the result when you have a web designer creating data visualizations without any insight from the experts in the field.  Here is what the creator wrote about the icons.

“In general the idea was to create a stock-like collection of widely usable graphs with a professional look and feel. The initial idea was to create a singe graph icon, which was then extended and “The Graphs” was born. During work on various corporate projects I often find myself in the need of simple graphs to show the success of my client (to graphically represent progress), and I don’t always have the time to make custom graphs. That’s why I created “The Graphs”. I needed a nest for graphs, so I made one. ” (source)

What really blew my mind – the comments left.  There were a few critics, but most were fans.  Here are some that stuck out:

• It’s good , but not great. Simple.
• not bad at all.
  gr8 stuff keep em coming
• great work…shiny and clean
• Excellent graph design.
• Great set. Thanks smashing magazine!!
• Looks very very very nice!!!
• Thank you very very very much !
• Very nice set. Thanks.

What do you think – Shiny and clean or ineffective and gaudy?

I received an email from the service ShareThis with the image below embedded.  The pie chart shows the top sites by category on ShareThis.  On a positive note, at least the labels are clear and pretty easy to read.

Anyone else see similar colors in the slices?  Poor choice or just the popular and most common choice?

The above statistic was shown in a recent copy of Businessweek and shows the average U.S. State debt per capita.  This method of calling attention to data is typically seen in magazines, newspapers and other periodicals.  I can honestly say that I read 99% of these callout boxes when I come across them.  Maybe it’s just me, but they effectively grab my attention.  Now, I could be biased because I am so tied to data and statistics, but I would guess others may feel the same way. 

One tip that I will give readers is that this method of highlighting data can be effectively used in presentations to draw attention to the slide.  I would be much more apt to notice a fact or statistic like this versus a slide with just bullet points.  Some of the best PowerPoint presentations I’ve seen include this method of presenting data.  All the work that goes into the data gathering and analysis is a waste if nobody pays attention to the results, right?  This method can also be used in dashboards if done sparingly and only for extremely important statistics.

Do you typically read these callouts when you come across them?

Do you agree that they are effective in presentations?

As you may have noticed (unless feed reading) there have been some layout changes to the Support Analytics blog. During the design phase, I did a little research on layouts, which prompted me to write this post. There is much documentation and research that shows most people scan pages or screens in the form of the letter “F” for FAST. Simply put, readers start in the upper left corner and scans across to the right. The difference between online/computer literacy and classic hardcopy reading, is that the reader looks less to the right as they make their way down the page. As the source states,

At the top, users read all the way across, but as they proceed their descent quickens and horizontal sight contracts, with a slowdown around the middle of the page. Near the bottom, eyes move almost vertically, the lower-right corner of the page largely ignored. It happens quickly, too.

So what does this all mean in terms of dashboard design.  It means that just about every dashboard I’ve seen has not been created or optimized for the reader.  I don’t care about the company’s logo, probably the most overused and inefficient object in the whole dashboard.  The logo should be minimized and placed in the lower right corner if included at all.  When creating dashboards, I always put the most important metrics or KPIs for the company in the upper left corner.  When location and “real estate” are so valuable, don’t waste it with a logo or [cringe] image/junk.

Other suggestions:

• Less is almost always better to an extent – but utilize space like it’s Boardwalk & Park Place.
• Save the images for your photo album
• 3 C’s
  • Color – Use a single color for charts except for data points that you want to stand out.  For example, use a light hue for all of the bars except the current month if using a bar chart.
  • Consistency – Use a common theme for charts and graphs that compliment each other.
  • Clarity – Have a goal and purpose in mind from the start.  Don’t try to add everything, just include what’s important.
• Pretty – If you’re trying to “pretty-up” the dashboard, reread this post and pick up a copy of Information Dashboard Design.

Understanding effective dashboard design will start you on a path to superior analytics.

Recommended:

Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few

In a post last week, I presented a flight patterns video from Aaron Koblin.  Hadley Wickam was kind enough to point me to the original flight pattern video, which is really impressive given that it was created 14 years ago.  Click on the image below, or here, to see the original flight pattern video.

There are a bunch of great videos spanning the last 30 years or so in the library section of the American Statistical Association website.  Here is a link to the video section. 

If you are interested in statistical computing and a little history, including PRIM-9, check out this page/video.  The video features: John Tukey and Jerome Freedman.

A special thank you goes to Hadley for his contribution on this post.  Hadley is an Assistant Professor at Rice University with a PhD in statistics from Iowa State University.  To learn more about Hadley and his contributions to statistics and data visualization, click here.