5 ms·

I want to take issue with one of their points. They link to an infographic on fuel sources and energy use from loveinfographics.com. Then they ask you to look

by mcherm 13y ago

I want to take issue with one of their points. They link to an infographic on fuel sources and energy use from loveinfographics.com. Then they ask you to look at it for 10 seconds and ask they ask what you have learned. I might as well ask people (who don't speak Chinese) to run the author's article through Bablefish English > Chinese, remove all images, then read "Why We Hate Infographics" article carefully and tell what they learned. It would, of course, be a useless article, but that does not reflect badly on the article: it was never intended to be consumed that way! The infographic they link to is the kind of infographic that I find extremely valuable (and also quite difficult to create). A diagram which conveys a VERY significant amount of information in a very concise format. Looking at that graphic I can glean the following facts: * Gas and oil make up a little more than half of US fuel supplies. * Electricity is used roughly equally by residential, commercial, and industrial clients (well, slightly less for industrial). * I heat my home with fuel oil. Apparently I'm a minority in that, but not by an extreme amount: we fuel oil users make up maybe 5% of the usage (not the population). None of that information was a specific detail that the chart authors wanted to convey, so using less detailed methods would never have conveyed the information. A series of charts with numbers could have conveyed the information, but not in a form I could have processed with my brain (unless maybe I used it to build a chart like this). I want to defend complex data visualizations that convey large amounts of information in easily perceived ways. I still think the "infographics" that just just illustrate things with pretty pictures are stupid.

ghaff 13y ago
Ref: the simplify point. The famous (via Tufte) graphic of Napoleon's invasion of Russia (http://www.improving-visualisation.org/vis/id=205 http://www.improving-visualisation.org/vis/id=205) is widely cited as as a great example of conveying information useful and dramatically. If you accept this as an exemplar--you don't have to of course--it's anything but simple. Rather, it's a graphic that requires study but, given that study, offers up a great deal of information in return.
- lmg643 13y ago
  Edward Tufte has a lot of interesting things to say about charts and data, more than i ever thought possible. This infographic article seems to borrow some of his ideas without even mentioning him. I would suggest folks read tufte's "the cognitive style of powerpoint." Lots of similar concepts in a short pamphlet. http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0001yB&topic_id=1 http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0... http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/powerpoint http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/powerpoint
  - saraid216 13y ago
    Seth Godin also has a short and sweet diatribe about Powerpoint: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/01/really_bad_powe.html http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/01/really_bad_p...
- aubergene 13y ago
  That graphic wasn't created by Tufte, it was published in 1869 by Charles Joseph Minard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Joseph_Minard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Joseph_Minard
Mercutionario 13y ago
Hey! I get your point but complex data visualizations that convey large amounts of information suffer a bias: they are overly complex by condensating too much information, and very often they do so to look obtuse and expert (and thus cool). Our point is that this pieces information could easily have been conveyed in separate simple charts, conveying each of the *data_points you quote one chart at a time. You can understand this type of chart because you can take the time and the effort to work on the comprehension of it. And you're interested. We think it's a segregating way to convey information, leaving on the side of the road people who could have benefitted of the message were it explained in a simpler purer format.
- timthorn 13y ago
  Choose your audience. If you're aiming for quick impact your point stands, but if you want to convey maximum information in a usable form that infographic is excellent. The really simple infographic of the MS/Nokia purchase actually makes no point at all; of course the WinPho marketshare figure is a reasonable proxy for the Nokia marketshare figure, so if one is small the other will be too. The sad thing is that I absolutely agree with your basic message, but your examples are off.
  - Mercutionario 13y ago
    I get the point, but here you're blaming us for choosing a simple infographic which chose an approximation you personnally disagree with. You're blaming the content, but the method of representation is not off in and of itself. This infographic make tons of sense I think at underlining how much of an uphill battle MS/Nokia are facing in the mobile world. But that's not the point of the example. Conveying information in charts is more efficient and quicker (and can lead, yes, sometimes, to data abuse), than using cabalistic data visualizations for the sake of Adobe Illustrator that obscure the clarity of the message by adding density to it. We believe that is not a good way to carry data for maximum impact to your audience, whoever that is.
JoeAltmaier 13y ago
Its like an finding an encyclopedia, when a picture normally presents an idea. The OP criticized your graphic for having too much and no clear main idea. That part was true.
richardjordan 13y ago
I loved the post but I agree that the energy infographic was a bad example to use because it's one of my favourite infographics. I have referred to versions of it often and find it very good at expressing some of the points I want to study or talk about.

by mcherm 13y ago

ghaff 13y ago

Ref: the simplify point. The famous (via Tufte) graphic of Napoleon's invasion of Russia (http://www.improving-visualisation.org/vis/id=205 http://www.improving-visualisation.org/vis/id=205) is widely cited as as a great example of conveying information useful and dramatically. If you accept this as an exemplar--you don't have to of course--it's anything but simple. Rather, it's a graphic that requires study but, given that study, offers up a great deal of information in return.

lmg643 13y ago
Edward Tufte has a lot of interesting things to say about charts and data, more than i ever thought possible. This infographic article seems to borrow some of his ideas without even mentioning him. I would suggest folks read tufte's "the cognitive style of powerpoint." Lots of similar concepts in a short pamphlet. http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0001yB&topic_id=1 http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0... http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/powerpoint http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/powerpoint
- saraid216 13y ago
  Seth Godin also has a short and sweet diatribe about Powerpoint: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/01/really_bad_powe.html http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/01/really_bad_p...
aubergene 13y ago
That graphic wasn't created by Tufte, it was published in 1869 by Charles Joseph Minard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Joseph_Minard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Joseph_Minard

Mercutionario 13y ago

Hey! I get your point but complex data visualizations that convey large amounts of information suffer a bias: they are overly complex by condensating too much information, and very often they do so to look obtuse and expert (and thus cool). Our point is that this pieces information could easily have been conveyed in separate simple charts, conveying each of the *data_points you quote one chart at a time. You can understand this type of chart because you can take the time and the effort to work on the comprehension of it. And you're interested. We think it's a segregating way to convey information, leaving on the side of the road people who could have benefitted of the message were it explained in a simpler purer format.

timthorn 13y ago
Choose your audience. If you're aiming for quick impact your point stands, but if you want to convey maximum information in a usable form that infographic is excellent. The really simple infographic of the MS/Nokia purchase actually makes no point at all; of course the WinPho marketshare figure is a reasonable proxy for the Nokia marketshare figure, so if one is small the other will be too. The sad thing is that I absolutely agree with your basic message, but your examples are off.
- Mercutionario 13y ago
  I get the point, but here you're blaming us for choosing a simple infographic which chose an approximation you personnally disagree with. You're blaming the content, but the method of representation is not off in and of itself. This infographic make tons of sense I think at underlining how much of an uphill battle MS/Nokia are facing in the mobile world. But that's not the point of the example. Conveying information in charts is more efficient and quicker (and can lead, yes, sometimes, to data abuse), than using cabalistic data visualizations for the sake of Adobe Illustrator that obscure the clarity of the message by adding density to it. We believe that is not a good way to carry data for maximum impact to your audience, whoever that is.

JoeAltmaier 13y ago

Its like an finding an encyclopedia, when a picture normally presents an idea. The OP criticized your graphic for having too much and no clear main idea. That part was true.

richardjordan 13y ago

I loved the post but I agree that the energy infographic was a bad example to use because it's one of my favourite infographics. I have referred to versions of it often and find it very good at expressing some of the points I want to study or talk about.