Charting Best Practices

I do an overview of the basics of charting best practices: when to use color, where to use it, what attributes not to use, what charts are appropriate for which occasions, and why you shouldn't use pie charts.

Transcript

1. Charting Best Practices Dave Fowler CEO @ Chartio
2. Physics at Gustavus MS EE at U of MN IBM Rochester Y Combinator Chartio
4. Stephen Few Edward Tufte Academic Artistic High Level Business Focused Pragmatic Specific
6. Chart Monster
7. Chart Monster Data Hero
8. Type Textures Grid Colors Labels Scales Dimensions
9. “Does this look impressive enough?”
10. “Does this show the data clearly?”
11. Chart Types
12. 0 25 50 75 100 2007 2008 2009 2010 0 25 50 75 100 2007 2008 2009 2010 Year Profit Growth 2007 17 20% 2008 26 52% 2009 53 104% 2010 96 81.1% 0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20 Total Profit $11,689
13. Gauge Charts
15. Bullet Graph
16. Toy Charts
17. Pie Charts 0 20 40 60 80 2007 2009 2011 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
19. r 4r 16x larger
20. Chart “Attributes” to Avoid
21. Gradients 0 25 50 75 100 2007 2008 2009 2010 0 25 50 75 100 2007 2008 2009 2010
22. “Does this add an extra dimension?”
23. Textures 0 25 50 75 100 2007 2008 2009 2010 0 25 50 75 100 2007 2008 2009 2010
24. Extra Colors 0 25 50 75 100 0 25 50 75 100 2007 2008 2009 2010 2007 2008 2009 2010
25. Dimensions 0 25 50 75 100 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
26. Dimensions 0 25 50 75 100 2007 2008 2009 2010 0 25 50 75 100 2007 2008 2009 2010
27. Backgrounds #F0EFE9
28. Color Palette •Vastly different Hues •Similar Intensity •Contrast from background •Avoid Red and Green Combo
29. Color Palette High Focus Medium Focus Low Focus
30. Focus 0 25 50 75 100 2007 2008 2009 2010 Year Profit Growth 2007 17 20% 2008 26 52% 2009 53 104% 2010 96 81.1% Year Profit Growth 2007 17 20% 2008 26 52% 2009 53 104% 2010 96 81.1% Total Sales $51,689 Total Profit $11,689 Region 1 Region 2
31. Focus 0 25 50 75 100 2007 2008 2009 2010 Year Profit Growth 2007 17 20% 2008 26 52% 2009 53 104% 2010 96 81.1% Year Profit Growth 2007 17 20% 2008 26 52% 2009 53 104% 2010 96 81.1% Total Sales $51,689 Total Profit $11,689 Region 1 Region 2 Year Profit Growth 2007 17 20% 2008 26 52% 2009 53 104% 2010 96 81.1%
32. Focus 0 25 50 75 100 2007 2008 2009 2010 Year Profit Growth 2007 17 20% 2008 26 52% 2009 53 104% 2010 96 81.1% Year Profit Growth 2007 17 20% 2008 26 52% 2009 53 104% 2010 96 81.1% Total Sales $51,689 Total Profit $11,689 Region 1 Region 2 0 25 50 75 100 2007 2008 2009 2010
33. Focus 0 25 50 75 100 2007 2008 2009 2010 Year Profit Growth 2007 17 20% 2008 26 52% 2009 53 104% 2010 96 81.1% Year Profit Growth 2007 17 20% 2008 26 52% 2009 53 104% 2010 96 81.1% Total Sales $51,689 Total Profit $11,689 Region 1 Region 2 0 25 50 75 100 2007 2008 2009 2010 Year Profit Growth 2007 17 20% 2008 26 52% 2009 53 104% 2010 96 81.1%
35. Thanks! Dave Fowler dave@chartio.com We’re hiring! - http://chartio.com/jobs/