Techniques

There are many visualization techniques, or chart types. These articles describe what they are, how they work, and what they are good for.

  • Sonification: The Power, The Problems

    Sonification: The Power, The Problems

    Sonification turns data into sound, just like visualization turns data into pictures. Except it’s a lot more complicated and limited. Something about sonification has always bugged me, and I think I’ve finally figured out what: the crowding on the time axis. I’ve also recently discovered some of the powers of sonification, though.


  • Nassi-Shneiderman Diagrams

    Nassi-Shneiderman Diagrams

    Programming languages use words and symbols to represent structures like blocks and conditions. A visual representation of these structures seems useful to keep track of all the different cases, see the scope of variables, etc. Nassi-Shneiderman diagrams offer just such a representation.


  • Stacked Bars Are the Worst

    Stacked Bars Are the Worst

    Bar charts are great. They always work. They’re always the safe choice. Right? Well, no. Stacked bar charts are deceiving because we think they work just like regular bars, when they’re really pretty terrible.