10 chart and slide design tips for better reports

10 Chart and Slide Design Tips for better Reports and

Data Presentations

Juice, Inc. copyright 2016

1. Understand how people interpret radials.

copyright Juice, Inc 2015 http://www.excelcharts.com/blog/optimal-number-categories-pie-chart/

2. When to use a Pie Chart. (Hardly ever)

http://www.fusion41.com/visuals/

3. Rarely use 3D charts.

http://www.juiceanalytics.com/design-principles/rarely-use-3d

Does 3D add or take-away From the information being shared?

Images courtesy of Tim Bray: http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/03/13/Data-Ink

4. Reduce Chart Junk. remove chart elements that are decora/ve or ornamental


4. Reduce Chart Junk.


5. Increase Data to Ink Ratio. (make every pixel tell a story about your data)


5. Increase Data to Ink Ratio.


Help your audience focus on the most important items.

Edward Tufte introduced the concept of data-ink in his 1983 classic The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Tufte asserts that in displaying data we should remove all non-data-ink and redundant data-ink, within reason, to increase the data-ink-ratio and create a sound graphical design. Only have items on your charts that add to your audience’s understanding.

Chart Junk and Data to Ink apply to tables as well.

Remove the ornamental elements.

Make horizontal tracking easier by breaking up data.

Display the fewest amount of numbers needed

Serif

Sans-serif

Georgia

Arial / Helvetica hhSerif

Verdana / Tahoma

Times New Roman Palatino

Trebuchet

6. Spend time on Typeface

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History of Medicine

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Simple Font Framework

http://www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/simple-font-framework


History of Medicine


Body Text Clean readable text, 50-80% of your text will look like this.

• 10-16pt • Arial or Georgia


History of Medicine


Header Use to separate and name sections

• 150%-200% of body


History of Medicine


Notes Additional things a user should be aware of

• 85% of body • Lower contrast


History of Medicine


Emphasis Draw the eye to key points

• Same size as body • High-impact color/bold/italic


History of Medicine


CategoricalLots of contrast between each adjacent color

SequentialColors can be ordered from low to high

DivergingTwo sequential schemes extended out from a critical midpoint value

http://colorbrewer2.org/

Low

Low

High

High

7. Color has Meaning

http://www.juiceanalytics.com/design-principles/limit-colors/

SequentialColors can be ordered from low to high

DivergingTwo sequential schemes extended out from a critical midpoint value

CategoricalLots of contrast between each adjacent color

7a. Use Contrast Note the focused color (orange) vs. the unselected


8. Avoid Using Dual Axes Charts

A more detailed explanation http://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/visual_business_intelligence/dual-scaled_axes.pdf

if it is your only choice, nothing but lines should be used to display values in graphs with dual-scaled axes, because only lines focus attention on the overall pattern formed by the values and comparisons of those patterns. S. Few


9. Consider Slope Graphs as Chart Option

This is an example of Edward Tufte’s use of a slope graph with disease data. More detailed explanation of Slopegraphs http://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/visual_business_intelligence/displaying_change_between_two_points_in_time.pdf


9. Consider Slope Graphs as Chart Option

Slopegraphs in Excel - http://peltiertech.com/slope-graphs-in-excel/


10. Use Common Language

http://www.juiceanalytics.com/design-principles/use-common-language/


Here are some additional resources for chart templates and chart design tips. http://peltiertech.com/ - A good source of chart templates and Excel chart tips. www.excelcharts.com - a good source of Excel tips. http://www.juiceanalytics.com/design-principles/ - a list of design principles to consider when sharing information. Data Fluency Book - http://www.juiceanalytics.com/data-fluency/ http://lifehacker.com/5909501/how-to-choose-the-best-chart-for your-data - Some more details on how to select the optimal chart. A quick test on how well you create charts. http://www.perceptualedge.com/files/GraphDesignIQ.html

Additional Charting and Presentation Resources

Thank you!

juiceanalytics.com

@juiceanalytics

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Juice, Inc. copyright 2016

10 chart and slide design tips for better reports

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