Bella consults

Rupert deletes out algebraic signs in the Wall Street Journal. And draws triangles instead. Red and green. We already had this. Not good.

Source: Wall Street Journal Europe, 2010–10–25, page 1.

However, the triangle is not the cause. It can be very good. As here, for example.

Source: International Herald Tribune, 2010–12–18, page 1.

Because: The triangles are located below each other. One understands right away. They are black. They do not judge. The algebraic signs are still there. They do not substitute.

Design is fine.

A value has changed by 2 %. In total. A few effects have improved it. Others have worsened it. The effects and their differences should be visible. And must not be squeezed. Therefore 10 billions are cut off. One ponses.

E.ON Group – Drivers of group Adjusted EBIT 2009 vs. 2008. Source: E.ON AG (ed.), Performance and streamlining, April 2010, page 17; PDF. Dotted lines by me.

Ugh. If anything does not really fit: omit it. Or think twice: why? Perhaps the form does not fit to the data? Or one has only miscalculated. Like here. Everything had fit in neatly.

Drawing pictograms is difficult. The Financial Times divides humans into four and amputates arms. Horrible. A little man represents 500 people. A loose arm 150. Strange currency.

Source: Financial Times, 2010–08–27, page 5.

Here it works. The pictograms are ships which were attacked by pirates. Green: The pirates wanted to hijack the ship. Blue: They did hijack the ship. Each pictogram is one ship. Exactly one. And every time it’s about one ship. Just one. Not many or parts. Ship is ship.

Source: Wall Street Journal, 2010–08–17, page 3. I took it from him.

A pictogram works like: Count, what you want to show. Draw, what you want to count. Draw one of it. One per thing. If it doesn’t fit, no pictogram.

Last time: Spoiling shadows. Today: enlightening shadows. Sometimes a column is more imporant than another. Then it is highlighted. That works good with shadows. As we see here.

Source: Wall Street Journal, 2010–11–30, page 25.

Shadow reduces contrast. That’s why sometimes bold is used additionally. Or we differentiate. Shadow and bold: very important. Shadow without bold: nearly very important. As we see here.

Source: same.

I like figures. And tables. And figures also like tables. A chart has to prove first, that it is better.

But some tables look like zebras. The stripes group. The contrast changes. The readability suffers. So does the understanding. Those few figures would not have needed the pattern.

Source: Financial Times, 2010–08–23, page 2.

Here we have many columns. We better divide. Otherwise, the eye can loose the scope and fall off the row. The shadow is neat. But groups again. And makes it less legible. The shadow is good for emphasis. Not for separation.

Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, No. 261, 2010–11–09, page 36.

The zebra is better slim. Unlike the Labrador. Take thin lines after every third through fifth row. For wide tables after three. For small tables after five. Then nothing that’s not a group will be grouped. The contrast remains the same. Also the legibility.

Source: Same newspaper. Same page.

A table with few columns does not need anything.

Source: FAZ, Nr. 59, 2010–03–11, page 25.

One of my rules for all charts: My rules are not for all charts.

In an issue of the USA Today: How do youth hockey players injure. Very often somehow. And quite often others. Intentionally. A decogram, he would say. First I thought: The chart is not serious. The subject isn’t either. The chart doesn’t want to be serious. It doesn’t have to. Then I pondered: Injuries are not funny.

Source: USA Today, 2010–10–18, page 1.

In the same issue of the USA Today: America has spent a lot of money. And saved accounts and cars. America wants this money back. A serious subject. Shown seriously. Good.

Quelle: USA Today, 2010–10–18, page 7A.

Again in the same issue of the USA Today: a carved baseball player. Also a decogram. Again I thought: The chart is not serious. The subject isn’t it either. The chart doesn’t want to be serious. It doesn’t have to. Then I pondered: carving pictograms of humans? Not so funny.

Source: USA Today, 2010–10–18, page 1B.

Serious has to be serious. Funny may be funny. Taste helps always.

Even the German Constitution is concerned with charts. Human beings must not be shrunk. See Article 1. This also applies to politicians. And the German newspaper Handelsblatt.

Source: Handelsblatt, no. 186, 2010–09–27, page 6/7. Who would be the best Social Democrat Chancellor candidate?

Who is not bothered: Volumes are scaled proportionally to their volume, areas to their area. And columns to their height. Who insists to diminish politicians has to make them thinner and smaller.

Here, it almost worked. Dirk actually is tall. Michael is actually not. Too bad that Per puts his shoulder to the ball. Therefore he was moved to the front. And again, it doesn’t match.

Source: forgotten. Long time ago, in 2005. Size comparison of Per Mertesacker.

All school children learn: Go with green. Stop at red. Green is good. Red is bad. Stick to this and you’re less likely to be run over. Traffic lights are simple. Prices are not. For some it’s good if soybeans and wheat, coffee beans and cattle, stocks and money become more expensive. Others prefer it if things get cheaper.

Source: Wall Street Journal, 2010–09–27, page 26.

The Wall Street Journal used to see it that way, too. For resources, indices, and stocks, the price went down in dark gray and up in light gray. It was easy to differentiate and read. You could form an opinion on your own. Now resources and indices are green if they become more expensive. And red if they become cheaper.

Dear schoolchildren, sadly the adult world is more difficult than traffic lights. Look left and right before you cross the street. Even if the traffic lights are green. Dear chart designers, use more gray.

Source: Wall Street Journal, 2010–09–27, page 25.

Drawing charts is geometry. Like in school. In a coordinate system. With zero in the center. Negative values to the left. Or at the bottom. Positive values to the right. Or at the top. Negative values at the bottom are more dramatic than negative values to the left. Negative to the right is forbidden. Not even if all values are negative.

It´s odd if geometry is turned upside down. And it´s hard to understand, too. You might disagree with costs and expenses. But not with weightings.

Source: FAZ, No 288, 11 December 2009, page 11. Weighting in percent of the ten largest stocks in Athex (Greek stock index)

More is more in time series. The longer, the more we can see. And learn. For example: The States has never bought as many houses as in 2005. And since 1964 not as few as today.

Source: Financial Times, 2010–08–23, page 20.

Less is less in time series. The shorter, the less we can see. And learn. For example: If shares are better than houses.

Source: FAZ, no. 198, 2010–08–27, page 24 and 21.

Many is more in time series. The Dax series above and the one below were published in the same FAZ newspaper. I learn: At the stock exchange one often arrives at the same place.

Source: FAZ, no. 198, 2010–08–27, page 21.

Many, different, long is the most in time series. Aha: People smoke less, but don’t pay less.

Source: FAZ, no. 198, 2010–08–27, page 19.

Time: the longer the better, the more the better.

In many charts you see changing backgrounds, colors, contrasts. They should separate what is side-by-side. But they connect what is separated. The eye looks out for meaning.

The Wall Street Journal wants to point out: Which quarters are a year. This works and is stylish. But: It connects 2006 with 2008 and 2010. And 2007 with 2009.

Source: Wall Street Journal, 2010–05–07, page 9.

The WAMS doesn´t point out anything. Background bars as stripes are CI. Because: Everything gets striped. Sometimes that replaces a scale. In the picture on the right every stripe is five wide. Bars and stripes build checks. That is not stylish. In other pictures every stripe is CI. They unite what does not belong together.

Source: Welt am Sonntag,2010–02–21, page 25. From left to right: Compensation for electricity fed into the grid for renewable energy in Bn Euro, Compensation for electricity fed into the grid for solar electricity in Cent/KWh, Electricity Generation 2009 in Terawatt hours (TWh)

Diagrams and CI don´t get along well.

Bernhard commented on my book. He says: I look exquisitely beautiful. And he says: My book does not remain open. That is true. It is really stubborn. One has to bend it to remain open.

Paper is flatland. Houses are 3D land. To see 3D land on paper, perspective has been invented. Not easy to deal with. Otherwise houses are leaning. And sometimes not even doors fit.

Photos by Hannes and Bimpfi.

In the doorway on the left even a Lego nan cannot stand. Because the perspective is wrong. On the right we see how it really is.

Figures are from flatland. And they better stay there. They are bigger and smaller, earlier or later, but not in front or in the back.

Source: Witt, Frank-Jürgen, Witt, Kerin, Controller’s Competition part 2,
Controller Magazin 35 (2010) 2, page 19–25, here page 25.

If figures are in the front and in the back, smaller and bigger cannot be seen. As we see here.

Sometimes we´ve got little data. Which can be counted with just four paws. It´s good to show that. As in the Wall Street Journal. 52 economists were ask where they expect the next bubble to emerge in financial markets. Every opinion is one cube. He also liked it.

Source: Wall Street Journal, 2009–11–13, page 9.

It is bad, when things get dashed, where there´s nothing to count. As here.

Source: Handelsblatt, No. 240, 2009–12–11, p. 17.

Now it’s the World Cup. Germany was against England. And won. 4 : 1. Without extra time, without penalty shootout. The English don´t like penalties. This has been discussed a lot. Where to shoot? Top, bottom, middle, right, left?

Results of a survey on 626 penalty shootouts.
Figure top: hit rate. Figure bottom: number of shots.
Source: Die Welt, 2010–06–26, p. 25.

The goal of a chart: lead the eye. The chart in the newspaper Welt doesn´t work. Because the hit rate is hidden in the areas. They are hard to compare. Pie charts in bright and dark colors are better.

Here, especially good. Look: The pieces of the pies do complement. White to white, dark to dark. We see zones. Where we should shoot. Ideally: under the crossbar. Secondbest: to the right of the keeper. Thirdbest: to the left of the keeper.