1 Point in Time – Depict Data Studio https://depictdatastudio.com Tue, 11 Apr 2023 16:06:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 Overlapping Bars https://depictdatastudio.com/charts/overlapping-bars/ Mon, 10 Sep 2018 17:35:07 +0000 https://depictdatastudio.com/?post_type=chart&p=9987 Use overlapping bars when every bar/column has a different goal. (Use a target line when every bar/column has the same goal.)

]]> Tree Maps https://depictdatastudio.com/charts/tree-maps/ Mon, 10 Sep 2018 15:42:28 +0000 https://depictdatastudio.com/?post_type=chart&p=605 Tree maps display nested categories–a hierarchical part-to-whole within a part-to-whole comparison.

 

Synonyms

  • Nested area

 

Resources

 

Tools

]]> Waffle https://depictdatastudio.com/charts/waffle/ Mon, 10 Sep 2018 15:40:34 +0000 https://depictdatastudio.com/?post_type=chart&p=603 more »]]> Waffle charts display part-to-whole patterns with a grid-like appearance. They typically involve 100 miniature squares, but you can also create waffles with a different number of squares (e.g., 10 or 1,000).

Synonyms

  • Square pies

Resources

Tutorials

 

]]> Social Network Maps https://depictdatastudio.com/charts/social-network-maps/ Mon, 10 Sep 2018 15:38:47 +0000 https://depictdatastudio.com/?post_type=chart&p=602 more »]]> Social network maps are for visualizing relationships or connections between people or between organizations.

Each dot or node represents one person (e.g., a Twitter handle).

Each line or edge represents their relationship or connection (e.g., whether someone retweeted another person).

Synonyms

  • Sociograms

Tools

Resources

Tutorial

]]> Pies and Donuts https://depictdatastudio.com/charts/pies-and-donuts/ Mon, 10 Sep 2018 15:36:07 +0000 https://depictdatastudio.com/?post_type=chart&p=599 more »]]>

Contrary to popular belief, I don’t lose sleep over pie charts. (Hundred-page “professional” reports filled with jargon are what keeps me up at night.) Here are my seven guidelines for using pies and donuts.

I can always tell when someone has attended a data visualization training in the past because they tell me, “Ann! I know everything there is to know about data visualization! I know that I can never use pie charts!” That advice about never using pie charts is only half-true.

Pie charts are okay when they:

  1. are well-formatted. No 3D, exploding slices, leader lines, or legends.
  2. display nominal variables. Ordinal variables don’t belong in a pie chart.
  3. add to 100%. I’ve seen pies that only add to 90% because the designer deleted the “other” category and forgot to recalculate the new percentages.
  4. they contain positive numbers. I’ve seen designers place a mix of positive and negative numbers inside the same pie chart, which doesn’t make any sense.
  5. display a single point in time. Patterns over time belong in a time series graph, like a slope chart, line chart, or dot plot.
  6. only have two or three slices. Four slices is pushing it.
  7. are displayed individually. Only show one pie chart at a time. No small multiples pies. Comparisons across multiple pies are time-consuming.

Finally, while I don’t consider this to be a strict guideline, pie charts tend to be easiest to read with common fractions, like a one-fourth vs. three-fourths pie or a one-third vs. two-thirds pie.

Resources

]]> Bar https://depictdatastudio.com/charts/bar/ Mon, 10 Sep 2018 15:33:41 +0000 https://depictdatastudio.com/?post_type=chart&p=596 more »]]> If you’re not sure which chart to use, start here with the classic bar chart. Most of the time, bar charts will be an excellent choice for your dataset.

Resources

Tutorial

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