From the course: Learning Data Visualization

Choose charts with intention

From the course: Learning Data Visualization

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Choose charts with intention

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- Just about no one was ever taught how to pick the right chart for their data. Seriously, data analysts aren't taught this. Finance people aren't taught this, scientists nobody, and that's ridiculous because that means that pretty much everyone who visualizes data, which is just about everyone these days, is picking charts using the same intention and process as trying to pin the tail on the donkey. If you simply choose a chart for a reason, you're at least going to do a better job than most. Rather than picking visuals randomly or by rote or through some other thoughtless pattern or blind hope, just make a decision with focused intention. What you're probably doing now is just clicking on the buttons that aren't disabled in your software and hoping for the best. Maybe running with the one that looks the best or seems most familiar. That's part way towards a thoughtful reason but it isn't quite there yet. Why? Because you probably can't explain why you think that choice is better than any other at helping your audience make sense of your data. Oh, right. You're actually supposed to be picking a chart, not so you can just finish the stupid slide that you're working on and get on with your life. You're picking a visual to help your audience understand, remember, and take action based on your data. So I guess maybe you should be thinking about whether your chart does that specifically. Okay. Now you can at least think about your visual in the right context. If you know what your data is saying, you know what your audience needs to hear, and what you really want to say, then that should be what you grade your visual against. You can look at a visual you choose and ask yourself if it supports the truth in the data, your audience's needs, and the particular angle you're focusing on, and maybe you can even test it. Ask someone else if it works given the context of your KWYs. Sweet! Now you have a way to think about the right chart and even how to start to test it, but we're not going to stop there. I'm going to arm you with more information to help you pick charts more strategically in the rest of this section of the course.

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