Designing Data Visualizations
to Successfully Tell a Story

Choose an Appropriate Display

Cédric Scherer // posit::conf // September 2023

Encodings

Mapping data values to visual attributes.

Same Data, Different Encodings

Same Data, Different Encodings

Same Data, Different Emphasis

Same Data, Different Emphasis

Source: Data to Viz

Source: Data to Viz

Source: “Data Points” by Nathan Yau (p. 104)

Cleveland’s and McGill’s Scale of Perpetual Elementary Tasks
Source: “The Functional Art” by Alberto Cairo (p. 120)

Cleveland’s and McGill’s Scale of Perpetual Elementary Tasks
Source: “The Functional Art” by Alberto Cairo (p. 120)

Cleveland’s and McGill’s Scale of Perpetual Elementary Tasks
Source: “The Functional Art” by Alberto Cairo (p. 120)

Source: “Data Visualization: A Practical Introduction” by Kieran Healy
Results based on Cleveland and McGill (1984, 1987)

Source: “Data Visualization: A Practical Introduction” by Kieran Healy
Results based on Cleveland and McGill (1984, 1987) and Heer & Bostock (2010)

Always Start at Zero?

Source: “Hands-On Data Visualization” by Jack Dougherty & Ilya Ilyankou

More on the topic: Correl, Bertini & Francoeri 2020 and Witt (2019)

Always Start at Zero?

Always Start at Zero?

Always Start at Zero?

Source: “Hands-On Data Visualization” by Jack Dougherty & Ilya Ilyankou

Source: Francis Gagnon

Same Data, Different Scaling

Same Data, Different Scaling

“Russia attacks Ukraine” by SCMP Graphic (South China Morning Post)

“Russia attacks Ukraine” by SCMP Graphic (South China Morning Post)

“Russia attacks Ukraine” by SCMP Graphic (South China Morning Post)

“Russia attacks Ukraine” by SCMP Graphic (South China Morning Post)

Same Data, Different Palettes

Same Data, Different Palettes

Same Data, Different Palettes

Color Palette Types

Color Palette Types: Dark Equals More (?)

Color Palette Types: Dark Equals More (?)

Color Palette Types

Color Palette Types: Sequential or Diverging?

Color Palette Types: Midpoint

Color Palette Types

Color Palette Types: Sequential

Source: Lisa Charlotte Muth, DataWrapper Blog

Color Palette Types: Sequential Qualitative!

Source: Lisa Charlotte Muth, DataWrapper Blog

Chart Type Choice

Source: Data to Viz

Source: Data to Viz

“Warming Stripes” by Ed Hawkins (showyourstripes.info)

“Warming Stripes” by Ed Hawkins (showyourstripes.info)

“Warming Stripes” by Ed Hawkins (showyourstripes.info)

“Warming Stripes” by Ed Hawkins (showyourstripes.info)

“How maps in the media make us more negative about migrants” by Maite Vermeulen, Leon de Korte & Henk van Houtum

“How maps in the media make us more negative about migrants” by Maite Vermeulen, Leon de Korte & Henk van Houtum

“How maps in the media make us more negative about migrants” by Maite Vermeulen, Leon de Korte & Henk van Houtum

“How maps in the media make us more negative about migrants” by Maite Vermeulen, Leon de Korte & Henk van Houtum

“How maps in the media make us more negative about migrants” by Maite Vermeulen, Leon de Korte & Henk van Houtum

“How maps in the media make us more negative about migrants” by Maite Vermeulen, Leon de Korte & Henk van Houtum

“How maps in the media make us more negative about migrants” by Maite Vermeulen, Leon de Korte & Henk van Houtum

“How maps in the media make us more negative about migrants” by Maite Vermeulen, Leon de Korte & Henk van Houtum

Chart Types to…

Visualize Distributions

Visualize Distributions

Visualize Distributions

Compare Distributions

Compare Distributions

Compare Distributions

Compare Distributions

Compare Distributions

Compare Distributions

Compare Amounts

Compare Amounts

Compare Amounts

Compare Amounts

Compare Amounts

Compare Amounts

Compare Amounts

Compare Amounts

Compare Amounts

Compare Proportions

Compare Proportions

Compare Proportions

Compare Proportions

Compare Proportions

Compare Proportions

Visualize Relationships

Visualize Relationships

Visualize Relationships

Visualize Relationships

Visualize Relationships

Visualize Relationships

Visualize Relationships

Visualize Relationships

Visualize Relationships

Compare Relationships

Compare Relationships

Compare Relationships

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Compare Relationships

Visualize Uncertainty

Visualize Uncertainty

Visualize Uncertainty

Visualize Uncertainty

Weissgerber et al. (2015) PLoS Biology

Modified from Weissgerber et al. (2015) PLoS Biology

Modified from Weissgerber et al. (2015) PLoS Biology

Modified from Weissgerber et al. (2015) PLoS Biology

Modified from Weissgerber et al. (2015) PLoS Biology

Modified from Weissgerber et al. (2015) PLoS Biology

Modified from Weissgerber et al. (2015) PLoS Biology

Modified from Weissgerber et al. (2015) PLoS Biology

Modified from Weissgerber et al. (2015) PLoS Biology

Visualize Uncertainty

Visualize Uncertainty

Visualize Uncertainty

Solving Common Chart Issues

Overplotting Issue

Spaghetti Plots

Spaghetti Plots

Spaghetti Plots

Spaghetti Plots

Spaghetti Plots

Stacked Bars Issue

Stacked Bars Issue

Stacked Bars Issue

Stacked Bars Issue

Stacked Bars Issue

Dual Axis Issue

Examples by Lisa Charlotte Muth, DataWrapper Blog

Dual Axis Issue

Source: Spurious Correlations

Dual Axis Issue

Source: Lisa Charlotte Muth, DataWrapper Blog

Dual Axis Issue

Source: Lisa Charlotte Muth, DataWrapper Blog

Dual Axis Issue

Source: Lisa Charlotte Muth, DataWrapper Blog

Dual Axis Issue

Source: Lisa Charlotte Muth, DataWrapper Blog

Skewed Data

Skewed Data

Skewed Data

Skewed Data

Skewed Data

Exercises

Exercise 1

Discuss the following graphic.

• What is the main message?
• Does the chart type work?
• Is there a better chart type?
• Draw an alternative version(s) using different chart type(s).

Exercise 1

Market share of visits to social network sites in November 2017,
found in the blog post on “Why you shouldn’t use pie charts” by The University of Melbourne

Exercise 2

Imagine you could get your hands on additional data on market shares of visits to social network sites.

• What kind of data would you love to explore?
• What would be stories you’d like to tell?
• What could be suitable chart types to tell such a story?