I recently discussed four options for labeling line graphs. A personal favorite is to place the labels directly on top of the data points, like this: There’s been a lot of interest in this labeling technique, so here’s your step-by-step tutorial! First, set up…
I recently partnered with a group of public health researchers. We were brainstorming different ways to display the number of new HIV infections in each subgroup. The organization wanted to compare HIV infections among men who have sex with men (MSM), African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and injection…
Data visualization is more about strategic thinking than about following steadfast rules. Take a simple line graph, for example. How will you label your line graph? With vertical axis labels and light gray grid lines? With labels directly above or on top of the data…
I recently saw this graph at http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/10/21/357629765/when-women-stopped-coding. The topic caught my attention but the labels made me cringe. This graph is challenging to read in color (which turquoise category goes with which line?) and would be impossible to read when printed or photocopied in black…
Let’s pretend you’re tracking whether friendly reminder messages bring in more responses to your survey. Can you spot the fatal flaw? See it? Go check out the x-axis. Where the heck are Days 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, and 20? (This is where you…