Charts usually show values as visual properties, like the length in a bar chart, the location in a scatterplot, the area in a bubble chart, etc. Unit charts show values as multiples instead. One famous example of these charts is called ISOTYPE, and you may have seen them in information graphics as well. They’re an interesting family of charts and they seem to have some unusual properties that most other charts don’t have.
Articles
XIII
This website is nw thirteen years old. While it has slowed down somewhat recently, it’s still alive and kicking. Now in its teens, it is looking for new experiences and trying out new things.
Data: Intent and Primary Interpretation
Take a JPEG image file and a CSV file. Which of these two is data? Is one of them more obviously data than the other? I think the key difference is the intent behind the data and its primary interpretation.
[Read more...] about Data: Intent and Primary Interpretation
Introducing eagereyesTV, My New YouTube Channel
After writing about visualization for over a decade, it’s time to mix things up a bit and try a new medium: video. I just uploaded the first video to my new YouTube channel, which I’m calling eagereyesTV. Take a look and tell me what you think!
[Read more...] about Introducing eagereyesTV, My New YouTube Channel
eagereyesTV Episode 1: The DataSaurus, Anscombe’s Quartet, and why summary statistics need to be taken with a grain of salt
When dealing with large amounts of data, we often use summary statistics like average, median, standard deviation, sum, etc. They’re useful because they actually hide data, they reduce the amount of information we need to look at to give us a sense of the data. But the same averages and can describe datasets that look vastly different.
Highlights from EuroVis 2019, Part 2
This is the second part of my highlights from EuroVis earlier this year in Porto, Portugal. There are papers about decision making and interaction, as well as a report on the capstone talk and a look to next year’s conference, which will be a bit different.
Highlights from EuroVis 2019, Part 1
The EuroVis 2019 conference took place in early June this year in Porto, Portugal. While I enjoyed the city and conference venue, I found the program a bit underwhelming this time around. I’ve kept pushing off writing this report because I found myself griping rather than talking about the content.
What Is A Misleading Chart?
I see a lot of discussions of misleading charts lately, and there are certainly many of them out there. One distinction that isn’t always made, but that I feel is important, is whether the chart itself is poorly designed, or whether an otherwise correct chart is taken to mean something it does not. It’s an important difference that often gets glossed over.
Visualization for Communication Workshop Deadline Pushed to July 15
You may not be aware that we’re organizing the Visualization for Communication (VisComm) workshop at VIS again this year. That’s why we’ve decided to push back the deadline to July 15, so you can submit all your amazing research papers, position papers, posters, and visual case studies.
[Read more...] about Visualization for Communication Workshop Deadline Pushed to July 15
Two Short Papers on Part-to-Whole Charts at EuroVis
Why do pie charts look the way they do? What makes this particular way of slicing up a circle the preferred way of showing part-to-whole relationships? In two short papers that I’m presenting this week at EuroVis, I looked at the design space of circular part-to-whole charts, including pie charts.
[Read more...] about Two Short Papers on Part-to-Whole Charts at EuroVis