Good Charts

two types of charts that represent flows: alluvial and Sankey diagrams.

the neuropsychiatrist Jon Lieff points out, “The over-arching analysis of visual signals depends

Often, it’s useful to prototype on the basis of a small subset of the data to create accurate pictures without feeling the burden of having to prototype everything.

This is called belt-and-suspenders design. You don’t need both to hold up your pants, so pick one.

• You find yourself designing the charts, focusing on color, titles, and labels. • You feel that you don’t have any more ideas.

Color choice, too, should follow convention.6 Contrasting data? Contrasting colors. Complementary data? Complementary colors. Groups of data? Same or similar colors. Data ranges? “Empty” colors (low saturation, paler, whiter) for lower values and “full” colors (higher saturation, richer, darker) for higher values.

what’s necessary for the idea to come through?

Visual confirmation. You’re answering one of two questions with this kind of project: 1. Is what I suspect is true actually true? 2. What are some other ways of looking at this idea?

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