Polar coordinates
U N D E R S TA N D I N G D ATA V I S U A L I Z AT I O N
Richie Cotton
Data Evangelist at DataCamp
Pie plots
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
ESPN famous athletes, by sport
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Bar plot + polar coords = pie plot
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
When should you use polar coordinates?
Almost never.
If you have a variable that is naturally circular (time of day, compass direction).
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Histogram of animal activity
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Histogram + polar coords = rose plot
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Let's practice!
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Axes of evil
U N D E R S TA N D I N G D ATA V I S U A L I Z AT I O N
Richie Cotton
Data Evangelist at DataCamp
Nonsense bar lengths
1 [Link]
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
The same applies to stacked bar plots
1 [Link]
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Dual axes are misleading
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Better to use multiple panels
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Let's practice!
U N D E R S TA N D I N G D ATA V I S U A L I Z AT I O N
Sensory overload
U N D E R S TA N D I N G D ATA V I S U A L I Z AT I O N
Richie Cotton
Data Evangelist at DataCamp
Measures of a good visualization
How many interesting insights can your reader get from the plot?
How quickly can they get those insights?
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Chartjunk
Any element of the plot that distracts from the reader getting insight
Pictures
Skueomorphism: reflections, shadows, etc.
Extra dimensions
Ostentatious colors or lines
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Pictures
1 [Link]
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Skeuomorphism
1 [Link]
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Extra dimensions
1 [Link]
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Ostentatious colors and lines
1[Link] 2
[Link]
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Let's practice!
U N D E R S TA N D I N G D ATA V I S U A L I Z AT I O N
Congratulations
U N D E R S TA N D I N G D ATA V I S U A L I Z AT I O N
Richie Cotton
Data Evangelist at DataCamp
Histograms: show a distribution
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Box plots: show lots of distributions
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Scatter plots: compare two numeric variables
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Line plots: show trends over time
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Bar plots: show counts by category
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Dot plots: show log scale metrics by category
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Extra dimensions
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
3 types of color scale
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Pair plot: compare many variables
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Correlation heatmap: show related variables
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Parallel coordinates plot: find patterns across variables
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Rose plot: show a cyclical distribution
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Dual axes are bad
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Eliminate chartjunk
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
Next steps
Introduction to Data Visualization with ggplot2
Introduction to Tableau
Introduction to Data Visualization with Matplotlib
Introduction to Data Visualization with Seaborn
UNDERSTANDING DATA VISUALIZATION
You made it!
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