No neither my observations on the work of Kafka, nor that of Escher [1]. Instead some musings relating on how to transform a bare bones and unengaging chart into something that both captures the attention of the reader and better informs them of the message that the data displayed is relaying. Let’s consider an example:
Before:
After:
The two images above are both renderings of the same dataset, which tracks the degree of fragmentation of the Israeli parliament – the Knesset – over time [2]. They are clearly rather different and – I would argue – the latter makes it a lot easier to absorb information and thus to draw inferences.
Both are the work of Boris Gorelik a data scientist at Automattic, a company that is most well-known for creating freemium SAAS blogging platform, WordPress.com and open source blogging software, WordPress [3].
I have been a contented WordPress.com user since the inception of this blog back in November 2008, so it was with interest that I learnt that Automattic have their own data-focussed blog, Data for Breakfast, unsurprisingly hosted on WordPress.com. It was on Data for Breakfast that I found Boris’s article, Evolution of a Plot: Better Data Visualization, One Step at a Time. In this he takes the reader step by step through what he did to transform his data visualisation from the ugly duckling “before” exhibit to the beautiful swan “after” exhibit.
Boris is using Python and various related libraries to do his data visualisation work. Given that I stopped commercially programming sometime around 2009 (admittedly with a few lapses since), I typically use the much more quotidian Excel for most of the charts that appear on peterjamesthomas.com [4]. Sometimes, where warranted, I enhance these using Visio and / or PaintShop Pro.
For example, the three [5] visualisations featured in A Tale of Two [Brexit] Data Visualisations were produced this way. Despite the use of Calibri, which is probably something of a giveaway, I hope that none of these resembles a straight-out-of-the-box Excel graph [6].
While, in the above, I have not gone to the lengths that Boris has in transforming his initial and raw chart into something much more readable, I do my best to make my Excel charts look at least semi-professional. My reasoning is that, when the author of a chart has clearly put some effort into what their chart looks like and has at least attempted to consider how it will be read by people, then this is a strong signal that the subject matter merits some closer consideration.
Next time I develop a chart for posting on these pages, I may take Boris’s lead and also publish how I went about creating it.
Notes
| [1] |
Though the latter’s work has adorned these pages on several occasions and indeed appears in my seminar decks. |
| [2] |
Boris has charted a metric derived from how many parties there have been and how many representatives of each. See his article itself for further background. |
| [3] |
You can learn more about the latter at WordPress.org. |
| [4] |
Though I have also used GraphPad Prism for producing more scientific charts such as the main one featured in Data Visualisation – A Scientific Treatment. |
| [5] |
Yes I can count. I have certificates which prove this. |
| [6] |
Indeed the final one was designed to resemble a fractured British flag. I’ll leave readers to draw their own conclusions here. |