Teaching:TUW - UE InfoVis WS 2007/08 - Gruppe 05 - Aufgabe 3

Poor Graphic

Beschreibung der Aufgabe 3

Besucherverteilung West - Ost

Review

• The essential data values are hidden in the labels that are scattered in small print all over the graph.
• The graphical representation of the data is hard to impossible to grasp: one can suspect that the height of the circular stairs are supposed to be proportional to the percentage. However, there is no reason, why there should be 3D stairs, and even less why those stairs should be circual.
• The pictorial illustration of the different performance types hides the data-related parts of the graph and unnecessary complex as a visual way to distinguish between performance types. In combination with a better graph, and done in a less complex way, such icons could be useful though since they do allow an immediate association of the performace type and are - in comparison to color coding - accessible for color-blind people.
• Overall, data-ink ration on this graph is very low: apart from all the ink-consuming 3D shading, the actual data can really just be gathered from the percentage given in the label texts.
• Organization of the graph into two halves for east/west comparison is good, but to display the data values for each half as rounded stairs makes it extremely difficult to get an impression of the actual distributions.
• Another problem is that the percentage for "Kinder und Jugendthater" is given separately for "West" but is combined with "Schauspiel" for "Ost".
• The values are given sometimes with one digit after the comma for east, but with no digit after the comma for west data.
• It is not clear what the actual source of the data is. The text to the left of the chart hints towards the "Bundesministerium für innerdeutsche Beziehungen" but what has the Promot GmbH got to do with it? What does the "75" in "Quellen" mean and what are the "eigene Berechnungen"?

Revised diagram

Explanation of changes

• The percentage of "Kinder und Jugendtheater" has been combined with "Schauspiel" for "West" too, so that the comparison is made more easy.
• The percentages for "West" and "Ost" are displayed in a standard form for percentages: a stacked bar chart for each of West and Ost (an alternative would have been to use two pie charts, but we believe the data stands out more directly in the stacked bar chart).
• The different categories per chart are coded using both color and patterns (in order to be usable by color blind people).
• The labeling of the categories was done using the text only
• Y-axis shows percentages to re-inforce that the charts show portions of a whole and add up to 100%
• Grid lines are used to make it easier to compare parts
• Values for east have been rounded to the next integer percentage value.
• The year for the comparison is assumed to be 1988, the source is given based on assumptions. If this is not clear, it would be better to not use the data at all.

Links

• InfoVis:Wiki UE Homepage

• UE InfoVis

• Gruppe 05