The Proper Use of Graphics
Peter de Jager is a provocative Speaker, Writer and Consultant. His primary focus in on how we manage change, technology and the future.
In addition to speaking at conferences worldwide, he also writes monthly columns for CIO Magazine and Computerworld Canada.
His goal is always to question what we think is so, and in so doing perhaps open up new opportunities.
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If a graph had a motto, it would be 'I swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, to help you understand me'. The sad truth is, graphics usually have the motto 'Wow! Don't I look wonderful! Trust me!'
This is unfortunate when you consider the promised benefits. Graphicdata
has the ability to visually represent information to summarize it and present it quickly and honestly.
Numbers are a treasure chest of information, but they are useless, without the proper key.
1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, ?... What's next?
If you're no good with numbers, don't be ashamed, to most people, mathematics is a 4-letter word. Many have difficulty with puzzles, and they'll go to great lengths to avoid them.
Spotting a trend in a series of sales figures is even a more demanding
task than understanding the numbers above. So why do we acknowledge we're poor at the first type of puzzle, and think we're experts in the second?
Graphics can help. If you use a line graph to represent those 6 numbers, you'll practically 'see' 28 without thinking. Pie charts, stacked bar charts or other representations
of the same data won't work as well.
Numbers, by themselves, mean nothing. If my sales last week totaled $10,000, you don't know whether to congratulate me or start bankruptcy proceedings. Numbers are representations of the real world, devoid of information until they're put into context.
What are the attributes of good graphics? They have no ego. The viewer's attention is drawn to the meaning of the data and not the beauty of the representation.
Graphics should be appropriate to the data. Don't use a 'closed' graphic (a pie chart) to represent time series data (sales by month.) Never imply a relationship between the data (a line graph) to represent non-related data (sales by region.)
A graphic should never mis-represent the data. In plainer words, it should not lie. Stated yet another way, a 10% increase should LOOK like a 10% increase. (Interesting assignment ... take a ruler and carefully examine graphs in your favorite news magazine ... what do all those little 'lies' imply about the media?)
We use graphics to represent data visually. If the visual representation
we choose distorts the data in any way, we should throw it out and start over. Unless of course
our desire is to deceive, because that's what the graph will be doing.
How tall is the stack of 'data' you receive each morning? What information are you trying to extract? What's important? And what's just noise? Is there a graphic to help you understand the data better? Have you sat with someone who knows graphics, to find such a representation? When you find it, you'll only need glimpse at it, to know what information your data contains.
© 2005,
Peter de Jager – Peter is passionate about change, how it affects both
individuals and organizations and allows them to grow and prosper. To contact him, and
host internal seminars on Change Management visit www.technobility.com
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