Tips to Create Useful and Beautiful Visualizations 10

Tell a story!Profitable vs. Unprofitable IPOs

IPO Decade:2000s1990s1980s

Day Since IPO:0 to 800

0 255 510 765

Trading Days Since IPO

0%

50%

100%

150%

*Average Return Since IPO

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

39%

86%

110%

89%

153%

36%

Profitable at IPONot profitable

Profitable

Every viz should tell a story. As you create your visualization, make sure to continually ask, “What story does this tell?”

This viz shows us that companies that IPO’d after reaching profitability were far more successful in the long run.

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Orient text horizontallyIL OH

Chicago Teachers Illinois MunicipalIllinois SERS

Illinois Teachers Illinois UniversitiesOhio PERSOhio Police & Fire

Ohio School Employees

Ohio Teachers

0K

200K

400K

600K

800K

Liability per Employee

Unfunded Pension Liability by State

0K 200K 400K 600K 800K

Liability per Employee

IL Chicago Teachers

Illinois Municipal

Illinois SERS

Illinois Teachers

Illinois Universities

OH Ohio PERS

Ohio Police & Fire

Ohio School Employees

Ohio Teachers

Unfunded Pension Liability by State

Sometimes the small changes make all the difference in understanding

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Avoid pies! Except on maps…Age Group

0-15 16-24 25-40 41-64 65+

Can you tell which slice is largest? RegionEast

South

West

Age Group

0-15 16-24 25-40 41-64 65+

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%Percent of Total Users

This is the same information represented as bars. Comparisons are much easier.

Graffiti by Precinct and Resolution

Bar charts beat pies every time! The human eye can compare height much easier than area.

But… pies can be effective on maps.The same comparison problem exists, but pies allow analysis in small spaces.

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Use multiple views

Source: Bureau of L..

60 Years of Unemployment

---0 ---1 ---2 ---3 ---4 ---5 ---6 ---7 ---8 ---9

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

Unemployment

Unemployment by Decade and Year Highlight Decade:1940's

1950's

1960's

1970's

1980's

1990's

2000's

-1,000K -500K 0K 500K 1,000K

Change in Employment from Prior Month

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

Unemployment

Average= 5.6%

Average= 116K

September 1983January 2009

Month over Month

Use two coordinated views to show depth, rather than trying to place everything into one view.

4

Bullets beat GaugesCash on Hand Among the Top US Companies by Market Cap

$200B $400B $600B $800B

Cash (Green) and Debt (Red)

Goldman Sachs

JPMorgan Chase

Citigroup

Bank of America

Wells Fargo

General Electric

Apple

Cisco Systems

Microsoft

Google

Berkshire Hath.

Oracle Total Cash

Total Debt

$3,705.5BTotal cash

($749.6B)Net Cash

$4,455.1B

Total Debt

Besides being difficult to read, gauges take up tons of space. Use bullets charts!

>

5

Increase effectiveness with color

The human eye can detect subtle differences in color much faster than it can read subtle differences in text. Using color saves on space too!

6

But not too many colors at once

District of Columbia Crimespotting

About Tableau maps: www.tableausoftware.com/mapdata

OFFENSEHOMICIDE

ADW

ROBBERY

SEX ABUSE

ARSON

BURGLARY

STOLEN AUTO

THEFT

THEFT F/AUTO

Using more than 10 colors can cause them to blend together and confuse.This view is only using 8 colors, but it is still difficult to differentiate the greens.

7

Labels make it clear

Region

$0K $1,500K

Sales

Central

East

South

West

$1,079,525

$765,411

Min/Max

Region

$0K $500K $1,000K

Sales

Central

East

South

West

$765,411

HighlightedOrder Date

2007200820092010

$50K

$100K

Profit

West

East

Line Ends

Labels are wonderful for calling out key data points and actions

8

Make it interactive!

Enable filters, highlighting and clicking for more detail to supercharge the usefulness of your visualization

Major contributors to obesity by countyEat your vegetables, go for a run and don't smoke, while you're at it!

Select a state:All

60% 70% 80% 90%

Consume few fruits or veg.

0% 20% 40%

Persons who do not exercise

0% 20% 40%

Smokers

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

Obesity (% of pop)

Select point(s) to view details in chart below:

Click to highlight region:Midwest Northeast South West

State County Obesity Consume few fruits or veg.Persons who do not exercise Smokers

Georgia Burke

Illinois Madison

Ohio Clark

21%41%77%39%

25%24%78%28%

24%21%73%36%

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No ornamentation necessary

This viz shows the National Activity Index. Not exactly exciting stuff. Yet, this simple visualization tells a story and does it without ornamentation or added presentation layers.

Let the data tell the story!

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