Working Smarter : Charts and Graphs

Visuals versus Text: What Makes You Say “A-Ha” Faster?

Rich — Wed, 27 May 2009 09:31:00 GMT

In a previous entry, “Why Communicate Visually,” it was asserted and backed by scientific study that communicating visually is a far easier and quicker way to comprehend both simple and complex information for 8 out of 10 people.

Skeptical? Would you like to see for yourself? Below are three side-by-side visual versus text comparisons of the same information. Which of these engages you more quickly and creates the “a-ha” moment first?

Restroom Location at a Family Restaurant

VISUAL

TEXT

Directions to restroom from front door

- Walk towards the kitchen for about 15 feet.

- Make your first right past the tall palm tree.

- The first door to your right is the restroom for Women.

- The second door to your right is the restroom for Men.

Company History

VISUAL

TEXT

- In 2005, Standard mobile phone sold approximately 22.1 million units. In the same year, 6.1 million units of Smart Phones were sold.

- In 2006, standard phones sales dropped by 7 million units compared to the previous, while Smart Phones increased by over 2.5 million units.

- By 2007, Smart Phones passed standard phones in total units sold by nearly double.

- In 2008, Smart Phones sold 24.7 million units, while standard phones continued to decline only selling 5.7 million units.

Department Organizational Structure

VISUAL

TEXT

- Bill Jones is the Marketing Director for the company.

- Natalie Ryan reports to Bill Jones and supervises the Graphics Coordinator Samantha Davis.

- Connor Michaels is also a mid-level manager serving as the Website Manager. Travis Duncan, the Web Coordinator, reports to Connor.

- Jan Smith is the head Copywriter and Editor and manages one other Staff Writer Jeremy Yates.

- Thomas Dodd manages the internet Marketing strategy and supervises Carlos Lopez, who serves as the team’s Marketing Analyst.

As you can see, bulleted information is not always the easiest way to absorb and comprehend information. With visuals, one is able to comprehend more quickly an abundance of information and recall it from memory more easily.

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Screencast: Building Sequenced Charts in PowerPoint® Using SmartDraw 2009

Aaron Stannard — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 05:23:00 GMT

As a follow-up to yesterday's screencast where we demonstrated the difference between the sequenced presentation approach and Death by PowerPoint® we'd like to show you how we actually produced that presentation using SmartDraw 2009. So it is our pleasure to present to you our second screencast this week (there will be a third on Thursday), "Building Sequenced Charts in PowerPoint® Using SmartDraw 2009." Please watch the video below:

This SmartDraw screencast requires plug-ins enabled and the latest Adobe Flash Player installed.

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Using Graphics For Evil: Why I Deserve A Raise (Part 1)

Laurence — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:43:00 GMT

There are two groups of people in the world, those that understand the persuasive power of effective communication techniques, and those that are persuaded by the first group. Now, I'm not advocating the use of these techniques for immoral personal gain - a diabolical agent of manipulation could certainly take advantage of our built in cognitive biases for his/her own ends ...but I could really use a raise.

1) People make decisions based on emotion (emotional reasoning). Once you've gotten a positive emotional response from the viewer/listener they probably won't notice irregularities in your data. After all, you've already made up their mind.

I'm always the first person to help out, the first one to pitch in.You just can't measure that kind of individual impact in sales charts!

2) Claim what isn't yours (personalization). Remember, there is no such thing as natural growth. While you're at it, take responsibility for future growth in the same area (jumping to conclusions).

My new word of mouth campaign has been boosting sales since we released the new product. Just look at this 20% increase! By years end, we'll easily hit our targets...

3) A quick warning, only take responsibility for positive trends and outcomes. As soon as things go south, blame factors outside your control (self-serving bias).

Buyer behavior has really changed these last few months. It's inevitable that we suffer some losses as we adjust to the new demands of the marketplace. Here's my analysis on where we've gone wrong...

4) When all else fails, be confusing and technical. Most people will pretend they understand in order to avoid looking dumb.

Using a proprietary mathematical model, I've run some regressions to figure out where the revenue is really coming from. Those initiatives I pushed for have driven almost all of our growth this quarter...

Once you've mastered the art of obfuscating data and manipulating the facts, you'll be well on your way to a career in journa...I mean polit...howabout just getting that raise?

Chart Your Success: Presenting Data with Persuasive Charts

Laurence — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 23:32:00 GMT

Visuals can make or break a presentation, proposal or other business document. To do the job, your visuals should support your message-whether it's in a document or in a presentation.

Sometimes the support will be more conceptual-key strategic factors, change in trends, geographic differences. Other times, the visuals will be quantitative or data-driven such as market share, revenue growth, and regional numbers.

Presenting data

Data driven charts allow the audience to perceive your message at a glance rather than puzzling over a list or table of data. Furthermore, it is easier (and more persuasive) for the audience to see trends and comparisons on a chart than to calculate them from the raw data. With your chart as support, you can then speak to your conclusions, insights and recommendations-your message.

Four types of chart can cover most data visualization tasks-the pie (and its cousin the relative value chart), the vertical bar chart, the horizontal bar chart and the line chart.

The right chart depends on the message

As with any presentation or document, you must first understand the message you wish to convey. After that, you can choose the right data set and choose the right chart. The last step is to make your chart both visually compelling and quickly digestible by your audience.

In general, one of biggest mistakes in creating graphics for a presentation or document is using the wrong visual for your message. This is especially true when presenting data-the wrong chart only serves to confuse the audience or reader.

From message to data to chart

If your message is about share or distribution of a total, a pie chart or relative value chart is appropriate. If you are comparing shares from different categories, then a stacked bar chart works better than multiple pie charts.

If your message is about a comparison of values, the bar chart is the most appropriate chart. Again, if you have multiple categories, such as years or product lines, a grouped bar chart or a pairing of bar charts work best.

If you message is about a trend over time, the line chart not only shows the values but also gives a visual feel for the rates of change. To show values from discrete time frames, such as sales total per quarter, a vertical bar chart may work better than a line.

Charts created for frequency distributions and correlations will use line and vertical bar charts.

Visual impact

You've got your message, your data and the right chart type. But how do you make it persuasive and memorable?

First, consider incorporating images into your charts. Image Charts are not only eye-catching and memorable, but also help your audience grasp quantities and relative values quickly.

When not using an Image Chart, you can still follow some guidelines to make sure the chart supports your message as strongly as possible. Use color (and lack of color) to compare, contrast and highlight the part of the picture that aligns with your message. Don't clutter your chart with too many gridlines, data labels and axis labels. Only show what is needed to draw the viewer to your message.

Hopefully, this overview has you thinking about how to better present your data. For more detailed guidelines, download the white paper here. SmartDraw users can download a free collection of new SmartTemplates here.