Yes, I’m a firm critic of 3D charts. They skew perceptions and make it difficult to understand data properly. But this bar chart, showing the frequency of letter use is one 3D bar chart I’ll permit.
Tag Archives: bar chart
Invesco: A Firm That Wants My Business #MRX
This is why 3D charts suck. They might just kill you.
Pick One: Pretty or Pretty Misleading #MRX
Look how cool this chart is! The blue, red, and green are neutral and non-offensive. There is no blinding florescence nor strange strobing visual effects. Colours aside, without the scale, obviously a chart no-no, you’re left to your own to determine the size of each slice. Take a minute and decide on the values of the slices yourself. You will probably conclude that the green slice is the smallest, followed by the blue slice, and the red slice is the largest. Want to bet on it?
Here is the exact same pie chart only it’s designed as a 2D chart rather than a 3D chart. Care to change your answer? The green slice, of course, is still the smallest slice. But now, we can see that the red slice and the blue slice are actually identical. Check the 3D pie chart again – you could convince yourself that the red and blue slices are the same but you’re just fooling yourself. If you had used that 3D chart, you would have succeeded in misleading your audience.
Care for another example? Here’s a 3D bar chart that is far less likely to cause confusion. Simply draw a line across the top of the bar to determine the value of each bar. There are even some helpful guidelines to make our work easier for us. The first bar represents 1.7, the second bar represents 3.7, and the third bar represents 5.7. Or does it…?
Again, here is the exact same chart, but drawn as a 2D chart instead as a 3D chart. I swear to you it is the exact same data. But now it appears as though the bars reflect the values 2, 4, and 6. Honest and truly. This is the same data. You’ll just have to try it for yourself to believe it.
3D charts are pretty. They are decorations for boring powerpoint slides or flashy marketing materials. They are not scientific illustrations nor information sharing tools. If you seek to share factual information, stick with 2D. It’s the only option.
cohdra from morguefile
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Pie-Packing by Mario Klingemann: More fascinating pie chart art
I am definitely not a fan of modern art but for some strange reason, I really appreciate this artwork. These are more stunning examples of pie charts done correctly. If you are this talented, you are welcome to create all the pie charts you want!
Check out all of Mario’s artwork here.
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Now click on this image to see what Mario says about his reason for creating it. “But when I look around what is being done in data visualization today I have the suspicion that in many cases the design is more important than the actual information and that the use of data is more an excuse to justify the use of aesthetics.” Hmmm, seems I’m not alone!
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