Lecture Pod 5

Summary:

Why Use Graphs ? To make comparisons easier.

There is an over use of bubble charts – Designers often chose graphs styles purely based on aesthetic purposes, even though it doesn’t   effectively aid the information.

Bar goods are good because they allow for simple comparisons. Bubble charts prompt the viewers to compare the height & width of the bubbles, instead of comparing the circumference of the circles. Circles almost always prompt audience to compare the circle sizes. Squares are much easier to compare, more accurately.

 

Bubble charts + colour scales often suggests the statistics are similar , even thought the actually aren’t, as it’s hard for the human eye to recognise a difference In the information.

 

The wrong type of graph can obscure really important information (which could have saved lives, in the historical example of the Nasa rocket crash).

 

Bar charts are most commonly understood because they have a great familiarity. They allow for you to quickly compare information & they contrast the differences between high & low.

 

Pie charts are another graph that are commonly mis-used. They are for minimal amount of data comparison.

*This image was taken from the lecture pod.

 

References

McCandles, D. (2010). leonGraphsPod720p. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/177306425

 

 

Reflection:

 

Designers choose what is aesthetic, our vision and brains struggle to measure surface area, better equipped at analysing length. Due to this we struggle to differentiate statistics that involve circles and tend to underestimate size, figures and values. So in conclusion, Why do we use graphs? To make comparisons easier! As Alberto Cairo started ‘The more accurate and easier it is to make a judgment the more likely the reader will take away a perception of the presented patterns’.