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Join us as we explore the ways data have been visualized throughout history, from ancient times to the modern era. Today, we look at cave star charts, which are (hypothetically) rudimentary celestial maps found among Upper Paleolithic cave art! Maps are among the oldest kinds of data visualization, and maps of the stars have played an important role in navigation throughout history, going back… well, as far as we know.

I saw this excellent slope chart from the European Correspondent while browsing Instagram, and wanted to remake the left side. Slope charts are great at demonstrating the direction of change, and this chart certainly makes the point that spending in (nearly) all countries has increased (not you, Iceland).

I frequently see charts with too many dimensions, 3D shapes, or awful tangentially-related clip art. Generally, artistic elements should be functional and we should avoid unnecessary complexity. Now, complexity is fine. Often we simply fail at making complexity approachable. Beauty is important (how else do we expect viz to catch the eye?

I came across this chart just browsing Instagram and thought I could do better. The gold colour of the “put into savings” category calls attention to it quickly (“wow, only a quarter of Americans plan to save their refund?!”), but there’s a larger story here.

Join us as we explore the ways data have been visualized throughout history, from ancient times to the modern era. Today, we look at tally bones, which are the oldest form of data visualization discovered to date! What are tally bones? # Tally bones are elongated pieces of bone marked with notches.

Welcome to ‘Elements of Dataviz Style’, where I’ll be distilling data visualization research and best practices down into guiding design principles. We’ve all seen bad charts. Chances are, their creators weren’t guided by any principles, but just figured things out as they went. I worked this way for a long time, and my early charts were awful.

A friend linked me to a pie chart published by the Government of British Columbia on Instagram because they weren’t sure if they were interpreting it properly. The confusion was certainly warranted. My first reaction: “Is this a parody account?” That’s not the impression you want your dataviz to have.