Chartjunk

Firstly, I wanted to thank all the people for their votes! To be honest, I was not expecting that much vote.

Here is the result: 28 people voted and we have 28 No vs. 0 Yes!

So, let's learn something new!

When I first heard the term 'Chartjunk', it reminds me the term junk food. Just as junk food refers for foods with low nutritious and unhealty for body, Chartjunk refers a similar meaning.

Edward Tufte has used the term Chartjunk in his book 'The Visual Display for Quantitative Information'. According to him, Chartjunk refers all visual elements and decorations in a chart or graph with no aim.

In Chartjunk visualizations, we are far from making a valuable insight from the data. The data becomes more complex to interpret, which is the opposite of the purpose of visualization.

Visualization is a powerful tool while communicating with your data, then of pages of words. So, we should use that tool effectively.

After finishing your charts or graphs, asking the following questions may help you to apply more effective visualization.

1. Have I changed any information?
2. Have I lost any of the data?
3. Have I respected the proportions, the size, the angles?
4. Have I given a clear message?
5. Do my audience need much more time to understand and interpret the visuals?

The fancy graphs may look cool, but while communicating with your data the visuals which gives a clear and direct message is the best way!

Happy analysing everyone!