Regular readers know that I’m updating my Excel dashboard tutorial and making it available online in a protected area of excelcharts.com. In exchange for their feedback, current users will get free access to the updated tutorial for Excel 2003 and also to the new Excel 2007 version.

This is something I’ll be working on throughout the year of 2010 (and beyond) and I’d like you to help me. That’s why I’m extending the free subscription period to December 31 (instead of a  fixed three month access). You will also be eligible for a 50% discount when buying other courses. These are the good news I’d like to share.

I’m opening the members area this month. I actually wanted to open it today (Feb. 1). Unfortunately, some issues remain to be solved (I wasn’t happy with Wordpress as an e-learning environment so I had to switch, and the IE6 completely messes up the current template). I think I’ll be able to solve these issues shortly. I’ll let you know when everything is ready.

Why don’t you take advantage of this delay and become a charter member while I fight the goddamn browser?  To become a charter member you just have to get the current dashboard tutorial. Click here to get it now (you may want to read Chandoo’s review first – read the comments also).

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Post from: Excel Charts Blog.

Members Area Update

You may also be interested in:

1. An Holiday Gift for You: Excel Dashboards Online Tutorial
2. How Can I Help You? My Plans for 2010

Did you know that turkey consumption soared after the launch of Microsoft Windows 1.0? And did you know that this growth trajectory lasted until Windows 3.0? Coincidence? I don’t think so…

I find this amusing. Sorry.

By the way, don’t try to be funny when making charts. Most of the time you’ll fail, specially if you use clip art, kitten pictures and the like. They are useless, annoying and distracting. Use them in a glossy 3D pie chart and you’ll deservedly burn in hell (well, if you do use 3D pie charts you’ll bur in hell, anyway).

Clip Art as Legend Replacement

OK, there are exceptions, like replacing the chart legend, or adding a visual comment. In both cases your image must be relevant and add value. Keep them simple (use icons). If you have multiple charts, you must use those images consistently.

(Excel tip: the turkey on the chart is just a marker in a dummy data point. If the data changes, the turkey moves.)

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Post from: Excel Charts Blog.

Don’t Try to Be Funny (Grumpy Old Man’s Guide to Making Charts)

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1. Don't Try to Be Memorable (Grumpy Old Man's Guide to Making Charts)
2. Don't Try to Be Creative (Grumpy Old Man's Guide to Making Charts)
3. Charts Are for Sissies (Grumpy Old Man's Guide to Charts)

Stephen Few left a comment in my post “Is Data Visualization Useful? You’ll Have to Prove it“. We all have much to learn with Steve, so instead of leaving the discussion buried in an old post, I thought it would be interesting to make it more visible. Please read the comment then come here and join the discussion. Here is my answer.

Steve, sorry if I sound provocative, that’s not my intention. You are the leading expert in data visualization for business, you are doing a remarkable work with your books, with your blog, with your forum, with your patience to answer posts like mine. I have to be thankful for that. And I do agree with 95% of what you write. But you don’t want to be surrounded by people who fully agree with you, do you?

The Effectiveness of Data Visualization

You say “the effectiveness of data visualization is well established by a large body of empirical evidence”. I want to believe that too. However in this study Jarvenpaa writes:

“Graphical charts are generally thought to be a superior reporting technique compared to more traditional tabular representations in organizational decision making. The experimental literature, however, demonstrates only partial support for this hypothesis.”

And J.-A. Mayer adds:

“This study refutes the general superiority of visual information in improving the decision quality (‘naive superiority hypothesis’). The choice and design of visual presentation is determined by information structure, decision environment, the decision-maker and the task decision. (…) The successful use of visual information depends substantially on its acceptance by the manager and the environment.”

What do these authors tell us? First, we cannot be 100% sure about the effectiveness of data visualization. Second, there are many other variables at play. And third, managers must accept it. This is a critical factor. Managers love impression management, and making a good impression using the dreaded “professional-looking charts” is the path of least resistance.

Data Visualization Success Stories

I have no doubts that you could share with us many success stories. When I write about an “admission of impotence” I am not questioning your ability to create/lead/mentor successful data visualization projects. But if you want to use those projects to inspire the layman I think you’ll fail most of the time, unfortunately.

Let me tell you how the layman looks like in my part of the world. He makes charts like this:

He believes that a 3D pie chart “looks more precise” and he doesn’t know that Excel chart defaults can be changed (more advanced laymen are able to switch to more “impactful” colors like reds, yellows and bright greens). In my part of the world, a layman doesn’t even know what “data visualization” is about (and they don’t even care). (Here are some more profiles.)

If you are preaching to the choir your conversion rate may be high. But the layman is not easily impressed. You must convert one at a time, and that’s something many of us can’t afford. Can you? He”ll keep making those pie charts because that’s what his manager requires him to do, he doesn’t know better, he’s lazy or you fail to convince him of a causality effect between better charts and better results.

The Layman Must Like Your Charts

In a business environment, charts don’t have to be memorable, only results do. But if you want to change behaviors, your audience must like the new behavior and accept the unavoidable pain. Likable charts help conversion.

You say “I do not discount people’s emotions”. I don’t see it, I’m sorry. The way I see it, you sacrifice everything to the altar of “chart effectiveness”. I don’t find a single one of your charts where the use of color is not purely functional. You say “you should support your claim with concrete examples”. I do have lots of examples: all your charts!

Let me reemphasize this: I agree with you. Chart effectiveness is what we should aim at. But I’m part of the choir. I’m not the layman. I don’t use pie charts.

Pie Charts Again

Unlike most people, I don’t think pie chart addiction is a disease. It is a symptom of a much more serious problem: low numeracy and poor data management skills. Address this problem and pie charts will virtually disappear.

How do you address this problem? “I don’t use pie charts, and I strongly recommend that you abandon them as well.” Researchers like Ian Spence and Stephen Kosslyn don’t think pie charts are as bad as you paint them. Even if they are, it’s very hard to talk people out of an addiction with purely rational arguments.

Perhaps this is my European soul speaking, but I do prefer a gradual approach (“this is acceptable, for the time being”) whereby people (hopefully) start to develop some kind of sensibility to the perceptual issues.

By the way, how come we keep telling people that charts are about trends and patterns, not about the precise figures and then we argue that pie charts are bad because we can’t tell the difference between a 13% slice and a 14% slice? It doesn’t make sense (I’m exaggerating).

We must find more compelling arguments. I don’t like pie charts just because they are a waste of space (low data density) and can only answer very basic questions, better answered using a table. These arguments are good enough for me. I don’t care if we humans are bad at calculating areas and angles. That’s an academic argument that is irrelevant in the real world (I’m being provocative now…).

To Sum Up

You have  a very consistent approach to data visualization and you practice what you preach. You believe that you can convince people using rational arguments.

Mine is a much more comfortable position. I know that eye-candy is a can of worms that shouldn’t be opened. I know that we should protect the layman from himself. I know that simple rules with no exceptions work better than complex rules no one bothers to learn or understand.

But I like the gray areas. I like to protect the poor and the oppressed pies and I try to find their small role in the world of data visualization. The same with eye-candy. The same with emotions. The right amount can get your foot in the door. What is “the right amount”? I don’t know. I’m still searching.

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Post from: Excel Charts Blog.

Stephen Few, Data Visualization, Eye Candy and the Pie

You may also be interested in:

1. Is Data Visualization Useful? You'll Have to Prove It.
2. Sub-Prime Charts: Should Data Visualization Be Boring?
3. Data Visualization: Who Needs a Reality Check?

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.

Here is a good example of give-a-fish versus teach-to-fish: if you search for “excel dashboard” you’ll get at the top of the search results my own Excel dashboard tutorial and Charley Kyd’s Excel dashboard reports. These are two completely different approaches on how to help people making dashboards in Excel. While Charley’s gives you a nice fish, mine teaches you to fish. Which is better? Judging from that old saying, teaching people is always the right choice, but old sayings are often wrong. The right answer? It depends. (I already wrote about Kyd’s Excel dashboard reports.)

Example #2: imagine for a moment that you can buy some kind of dashboard-making device. How should it be designed? Dan Saffer is a designer and he writes about the difficulty of finding the right balance when adding controls to a device:

“(…) by reducing controls (and thus reducing complexity for the user), you also reduce, well, control over the device. Users can do far less with it, and have little to no options for customization. Again, sometimes this is desirable. But sometimes, it is a disaster. Reducing complexity means reducing control, and some users, particularly those whose skill goes beyond that of amateur/beginner, don’t just want control, they need it to perform their tasks effectively. Thus, it becomes a balancing act, with simplicity and automation on one side, and complexity and control on the other.”

Again, you may want the fish (simplicity and automation) or the fishing rod (complexity and control). Actually, you want neither: you just want to get things done using the tools that best match your current or future skills (if you are willing to learn).

It’s tempting to pursue many interests at the same time, spreading yourself too thin. More often than not, that’s not the wisest thing to do. However, you can extend yourself by buying the fish (delegating, outsourcing, automating or finding the right templates). And the more specialized we become, the larger the fish market.

On the other hand, you must be good at something, right? For example, if you want to have a deeper understanding of how data visualization works, how it can help you and your business and how this can be applied to Excel charts and dashboards, you must learn. The more you know, the easier is for you to recognize or to create new connections between things and ideas. Outsourcing everything is not the answer.

What Are the Core Skills for the Data Visualization Worker?

This post sets the stage for a series on core skills for the data visualization worker, but it’s not easy to come up with a good answer. That’s why I’m asking you: what do you know / should know? What kind of skills should be promoted or de-emphasized/delegated? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

(Do you want to help me get more answers? Click the button on the right to share this post with your Twitter followers. Thanks!)

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Post from: Excel Charts Blog.

The Fish and The Fishing Rod: Core Skills for the Data Visualization Worker

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1. Data Visualization Personas
2. Is Data Visualization Useful? You'll Have to Prove It.
3. Stephen Few, Data Visualization, Eye Candy and the Pie

Big changes in this blog for 2010! First, since slightly more people search for “Excel charts” than for “Jorge Camoes” I decided to accept reality and move the blog to a new domain name, from charts.jorgecamoes.com to www.excelcharts.com/blog/. Also, the blog will be hosted on a more reliable host, and will get a serious face-lift.

excelcharts.com: Excel Charts for the Masses, with a Twist

Discussing data visualization 101 is a dirty job, but someone has to do it. We can’t complain about how low graphic literacy is, and how bad business charts are, if we don’t help people to understand that:

• Good data visualization can improve their (professional) lives;
• F11 is not a data visualization key;
• Excel is good enough to learn and apply best practices within a business environment.

I believe that shifting focus from my name to what the blog is about will help me reach more people, but I will not make excelcharts.com a tips & tricks blog. I’ll keep discussing data visualization in general and how its principles can be applied using Excel.

The New Members Area

Blogs are great for tips & tricks, but they are less well-suited for a more consistent learning. That’s why I’m adding a new members area using a different platform. All the new tutorials will be published there. There will be free tutorials (everything that I would publish here will remain free) but also some paid content, like my Excel Dashboards Tutorial.

More Content

For a data visualization blog, there should be more charts around here. That’s something that I must address. I’m also planning to:

• Write more entry-level content;
• Share more often what I read and like online;
• write product reviews.

Have your Say

Will you help me shape the path of this blog in 2010? Please add your suggestions below.

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Post from: Excel Charts Blog.

How Can I Help You? My Plans for 2010

You may also be interested in:

1. Members Area Update
2. An Holiday Gift for You: Excel Dashboards Online Tutorial

Do you want to know how to create an advanced Excel dashboard? Do you want to learn it online? Then I have great news for you: I’ve been working on a web-based version of my Excel dashboard tutorial and it will be available soon. Better yet, it will be available for free for all current users.

Here’s the deal: get the current tutorial before February 1 and you’ll be granted a full three-month access to the online version. And I’m not just making the current version available online. I’m redesigning the dashboard and creating two different Excel dashboard tutorials, covering both Excel 2003 and Excel 2007. And you can use them both.

The Fine Print

Too good to be true, right? OK, here are the (not so) bad news: this is a new project and it should be considered in beta stage. As a charter member you must be aware that there may be some glitches and some things may need to be evaluated. I may ask for your feedback from time to time. Fair enough? (No, there are no hidden monthly fees.)

I don’t expect thousands of new users but, well, you never know. So, just as a precautionary measure, I’ll have to limit this offer to the first 1,000 new users.

More Bad News

This is clearly an advanced Excel course. When compared to other tutorials, it is (shockingly, I would say) underpriced. The price tag of the online courses will reflect their real value better (this means that it will sharply increase). This is another reason why you should take advantage of this offer now.

Why Should You Buy More than One Copy?

I’m sure you know someone who could benefit from this course. Don’t you think it makes a great holiday gift? Each copy you purchase grants you one access code you can use as a gift.

What Happens Now?

Get the tutorial today. By the end of January I’ll send you the access details, including your access code and instructions on how to use it. That’s it.

(Even if you are not able to get an extra copy, why don’t you share this post with your friends? Use the button below to email them the link. Thanks!)

Questions?

Feel free to add them to the comments or email me (charts AT jorgecamoes.com).

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Post from: Excel Charts Blog.

An Holiday Gift for You: Excel Dashboards Online Tutorial

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3. Better Color Palettes for Your Excel Charts [Video Tutorial]

Making a chart is so simple that even a chimpanzee can be trained to do it – press F11 and get the banana (that would explain the poor quality of many business charts and presentations – and the raising banana consumption).

To prove that they are better than chimpanzees at making charts, humans invented the eye-candy and its epitome, the glossy 3D pie chart. Some well-known data visualization experts believe they are poor and useless, nothing more than lipstick (on a pig?).

A don’t agree. A think they are rich and very informative: there is no better chart to tell us that the author hasn’t the slightest idea of what to do with the data. (I am sure there is a strong inverse correlation between 3D pie charts and scatter plots. The more you love one, the more you hate the other.)

This is not just another rant about 3D pie charts. It’s about charts in general, even the good ones. If your only data analysis / communication strategy is to pollute the air with yet another chart then you are fully immersed in the sissy world, and lipstick is all over the place. Charts can help reduce information overload, but chart overload is not better.

A chart is just one of several tools you can use to make sense of your data. You need text, and plain figures, and statistical measures, and tables and yes, some charts. The best results come from the right blend of all those tools.

How do you know if you are a sissy (chart-wise)? Here is a simple clue: if you know how to use and interpret a box-and-whisker plot then you’re on the right track (extra points if you can do it in Excel). If not, do yourself a favor and find a good entry-level statistics manual.

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Post from: Excel Charts Blog.

Charts Are for Sissies (Grumpy Old Man's Guide to Charts)

You may also be interested in:

1. Don't Try to Be Memorable (Grumpy Old Man's Guide to Making Charts)
2. Don't Try to Be Creative (Grumpy Old Man's Guide to Making Charts)
3. Don’t Try to Be Funny (Grumpy Old Man’s Guide to Making Charts)

We all love Edward Tufte (perhaps too much), but if you want a more consistent and articulate data visualization theory you must read the French cartographer Jacques Bertin.

And did you know that one of the best (and remarkably unknown) data visualization experts is Rolf Hichert, from Germany? Unfortunately he isn’t eager to share his ideas in English (and if you try to translate his site, Google completely messes up the site layout).

If you know French you can read Bernard Lebelle’s Impact Visuel about charts and dashboards (“tableaux de bord“) in Excel. Bernard is a regular commentator here and a while back he was kind enough to send me a copy of one of his books, Convaincre avec des graphiques efficaces. I definitively recommend it.

I am sure there are great non-English blogs and sites out there, and I’d like to know them.  Can you help me?  I’m interested specifically in data visualization for business, not the entire data visualization field. Please leave a link in the comments and if possible a short description including country and language. Please don’t submit echo chamber and Excel tips & tricks blogs. The plan is to create a directory of non-English data visualization blogs and sites.

Thanks. Gracias. Merci. Obrigado. Dank. Grazie. Arigato. Dankon.

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Post from: Excel Charts Blog.

Help me Find International Data Visualization Blogs

You may also be interested in:

1. The Fish and The Fishing Rod: Core Skills for the Data Visualization Worker
2. Data Visualization: Who Needs a Reality Check?
3. Stephen Few, Data Visualization, Eye Candy and the Pie

I often read that you should make your charts “memorable”. Well, I’m not sure if this is a good advice, specially when people use “memorable” and “professional-looking” in the same sentence.

It’s OK if you are a graphic designer and you want to spend some time crafting an unique chart that draws the attention of the casual reader. For the rest of us, simple mortals, who just need to make those 300 charts before the end of the day, crafting a chart and make it memorable is a laughable idea.

In business visualization, “memorable” can only mean two things:

1. the chart makes a good use of the working memory and
2. the chart is very efficient at producing insights, and that leads to better, memorable decisions.

Here is a memorable chart.

Suppose I’m testing a new ad in a small market. The outlier show that the ad is working pretty well. Now I can test it in larger markets. Do I need a “memorable”, “professional-looking chart?

There is nothing special about this chart, you didn’t spend hours perfecting its design. Just a clean and simple message.

Unfortunately, this is not what many people mean by “memorable”. They mean something that belongs to the realm of graphic design and that’s very unhelpful from a business point of view.

So, if you are making charts make your insights memorable. Make sure patterns, trends and outliers are clear and easily spotted and offer different views to explain and support the decision making.

Memorable charts? Forget about it.

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Post from: Excel Charts Blog.

Don't Try to Be Memorable (Grumpy Old Man's Guide to Making Charts)

You may also be interested in:

1. Don't Try to Be Creative (Grumpy Old Man's Guide to Making Charts)
2. Don’t Try to Be Funny (Grumpy Old Man’s Guide to Making Charts)
3. Charts Are for Sissies (Grumpy Old Man's Guide to Charts)

Creativity is such a positive quality that it is almost painful to argue that you shouldn’t try to be creative when making charts. But you shouldn’t. Really.

If you are too creative and the users can’t understand the chart in a few seconds they will dismiss it as useless. If you break basic conventions (time series in a horizontal axis, from left to right) users will have a hard time trying to figure out what the chart really mean. If you add 3D and other gratuitous verbiage you will obscure, truncate and distort your message.

Use creativity to improve your communication skills. Play with colors to emphasize your arguments. Show several charts instead of one. Show the data from different angles. But do everything using a familiar framework .

Try to enlarge the users comfort zone one step at a time. Remove 3D effects but keep the pie chart. Use pale colors instead of primary colors. Gray out grid lines. Reduce the number of pie charts. Add simple scatter plots. Make smaller charts. Do it slowly.

If you are not a graphic designer, if you work in a business environment, if your business needs go beyond a simple chart from time to time, then there is no room for creativity (or perhaps misplaced creativity). Your audience is busy. Respect that and make your charts as clear as possible.

How creative can we be when making charts for business? Share your thoughts below.

Photo credit: jef safi

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Post from: Excel Charts Blog.

Don't Try to Be Creative (Grumpy Old Man's Guide to Making Charts)

You may also be interested in:

1. Don't Try to Be Memorable (Grumpy Old Man's Guide to Making Charts)
2. Don’t Try to Be Funny (Grumpy Old Man’s Guide to Making Charts)
3. Charts Are for Sissies (Grumpy Old Man's Guide to Charts)