tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34928391.post9136041539790236540..comments2023-10-12T03:32:59.387-05:00Comments on Truncated thoughts: Today's bad graphszbicyclisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850387889082662189noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34928391.post-10178004659345065332008-12-26T09:42:00.000-06:002008-12-26T09:42:00.000-06:00The whole premise of that infographic was lost on ...The whole premise of that infographic was lost on me. The "tree-ring chart" looked like nothing more than a roll of toilet paper being unrolled, and the red outer ring had me thinking of red ink, as in huge losses, which is the general theme in the latter part of 2008. The unintended graphical metaphor of a roll of TP was saying our profits are in the toilet.<BR/><BR/>It took closer examination to realize the chart was showing revenues, and I didn't see the cash register printer in the lower left corner until it was much too late to imprint the intended metaphor in my mind.<BR/><BR/>A few line charts would have told the story in a more understandable form: total revenues, holiday season revenues, and ratio of holiday sales to total sales. I've found, however, that the intent of most infographics like this is not to present useful numerical data, but to spread images and impressions, or to show off how clever the artist is (e.g., all the ascii art).<BR/><BR/>Regarding the scale of the tree rings, there obviously is a scale, but it doesn't start at zero, and the reader has no idea if the variable is encoded in the radius or the area of the circle.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34928391.post-48171252263573928522008-12-25T21:19:00.000-06:002008-12-25T21:19:00.000-06:00See also Kaiser's take on this chart at the JunkCh...See also Kaiser's take on this chart at the JunkCharts blog http://junkcharts.typepad.com/junk_charts/2008/12/seen-at-starbucks.htmlzbicyclisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10850387889082662189noreply@blogger.com