CP041: 6 charts you’ll see in hell – v2.0

In the 41st session of Chandoo.org podcast, Let’s take a trip to data hell and meet 6 ugly, clumsy, confusing charts. I am revisiting a classic Chandoo.org article – 6 Charts you will see in hell.

What is in this session?

In this podcast,

  • Quick announcement about Awesome August
  • 6 charts you should avoid
  • 3D charts
  • Pie / donut charts with too many slices
  • Too much data
  • Over formatting
  • Complex charts
  • Charts that don’t tell a story
  • Conclusions

Pie of a Pie of a Pie chart [Good or Bad?]

There are some charts that look so stunning and yet confusing. You cant make up your mind whether it tells a compelling story or it is just plain wrong.

Today, let me present you one such chart. I call this Pie of a Pie of a Pie chart.

Excel Links – After a long time edition

Long time readers of Chandoo.org know that we have a regular featured called as “Excel Links“, where I share some interesting Excel articles published around the web. This used to be a weekly feature, then became a monthly thing and later once a few months thing. As I had a hectic weekend, when I got […]

What is the most embarrassing charting mistake you made? [weekend poll]

This week’s poll is very simple. What is the the most embarrassing charting mistake your made?

For me it has to be that one time when I made a sports dashboard using excel. I have adjusted the axis scale of a bar chart so that my favorite cricket player (Sachin Tendulkar, who else?)’s records are emphasized. In a matter of minutes I have received several comments from all over world pointing out the mistake. Even though, the intention was to highlight the achievements of master blaster, the axis adjustment was obviously a mistake.

Lets Pimp a Gauge Chart [Chart Porn Friday]

Egil, one of our alert readers from Norway sent this to me in e-mail, which I swear, I am not making up – A Fancy Gauge Chart. See the e-mail and chart yourself. I’m having a lot of fun with your gauge template 🙂 To make it more industrial-like, I’ve added: 1. Brushed metal background […]

Nightmarish Pie Charts [because it is weekend]

Nothing like a weekend making fun of something worthless. So we will pick on some of the plump, overloaded and visually disgusting pie charts featured on various extremely popular websites. As a bonus, you get to see my hand-drawn pie chart on the usage of pie charts.

What would you do if a co-worker makes ugly chart? [weekend poll]

We talk alot about making better charts and perils of bad charts here.

I want to know what you usually do when a co-worker or boss makes an ugly chart?

  1. You tell them the chart sucks
  2. You gently point out the mistakes of their chart and tell them some nicer and cooler ways to tackle it
  3. You stay calm and send them an e-mail later (may be with a link to PHD chart pages or something like that)
  4. You don’t care (and may be continue doodling)
  5. Any other

Vote your option using comments.