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A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO CREATING
Made with Visme
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Part 5
How to Create Persuasive
Charts and Graphs
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Step 1:
Resist The Urge to Immediately Choose a Chart
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THE FOUR TYPES OF CHARTS
Source: Good Charts by Harvard Business Review
Step 2:
Consult For Context Before You Start
Who is your audience?
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What do You Want Your Audience to Know?
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What Setting will this be used in?
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How Can You Use Your Data to Make This Point?
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Step 3:
Define The Focus of The Graphic and The Story You Want To Tell
States your unique point of view
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Defines what’s at stake
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It must be a complete sentence
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Before
When do people buy on our website?
women's
men's
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
12 am - 3 am
3 am - 6 am
6 am - 9 am
9 am - 12 pm
12 pm - 3 pm
3 pm - 6 pm
6 pm - 9 pm
9 am - 12 pm
Source: Good Charts
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WHEN DO PEOPLE BUY ON OUR WEBSITE?
PERCENTAGE OF SALES
Women's Apparel
Men's Apparel
12 - 6 am
6 am - 12 pm
12 - 6 pm
6 pm - 12 am
TIME OF DAY
After
Source: Good Charts
Step 4:
Use Physical Markers, Pencils and Paper to Storyboard Your Idea
RELATIONSHIP
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What would you like to show?
COMPARISON
COMPOSITION
DISTRIBUTION
VARIABLE WIDTH COLUMN CHART
TABLE WITH
EMBEDDED CHARTS
BAR CHART
HORIZONTAL
BAR CHART
VERTICAL
CIRCULAR AREA CHART
LINE CHART
BAR CHART
VERTICAL
LINE CHART
SCATTER PLOT
SCATTER PLOT
SCATTER PLOT BUBBLE SIZE
Two Variables
Two Variables per items
Many Categories
Few Categories
One Variable per Item
Among Items
Cyclical Data
Non-Cyclical Data
Single
or Few Categories
Many Categories
Over Time
STACKED 100% BAR CHART
STACKED BAR CHART
STACKED AREA 100% CHART
STACKED AREA CHART
PIE CHART
WATERFALL CHART
STACKED 100% BAR CHART WITH SUBCOMPONENTS
TREE MAP
Few Data Points
BAR HISTOGRAM
LINE HISTOGRAM
Single Variable
Many Data Points
Two Variables
Static
Changing Over Time
Few Periods
Many Periods
Three or more Variables
Only Relative Differences Matter
Relative and Absolute Differences matter
Only Relative Differences Matter
Relative and Absolute Differences matter
Simple Share of Total
Accumulation or Subtraction to Total
Components of components
Accumulation to total and absolute difference matters
RELATIONSHIP
Step 5:
Refine Your Chart By Decluttering
Title 12%
Subtitle 8%
Field 75%
Source line 5%
Source: Good Charts by Harvard Business Review
Before
Non-Mortgage Debt Outstanding
Source: Good Charts
Most important of these elements
After
Source: Good Charts
Student loans
Auto
Credit Card
Home equity
Other
NON-MORTGAGE DEBT OUTSTANDING
2004
2013
BILLION OF $US
Most important of these elements
Mobile
SCREEN TIME IN THE U.S.
Computer
Television
NUMBER OF HOURS PER DAY
Source: Good Charts
Use only two to three colors to highlight important points.
TIME BY ORIENTATION
PERCENTAGE SHARE
Vertical Screens
Horizontal Screens
Source: Good Charts
Use only two to three colors to highlight important points.
Before
Slow Comcast Speeds Were Costing Netflix Customers
Source: Good Charts
Do away with chart gridlines and borders
2012
After
SLOW COMCAST SPEEDS WERE COSTING NETFLIX CUSTOMERS
NUMBER OF CALLS TO NETFLIX FOR REBUFFERING/
SLOW LOADING (20% SAMPLE)
Feb. 2014:
Netflix agrees to pay Comcast to directly connect to its network
Nov
Jan
2013
May
Jul
Nov
Jan
2014
Source: Good Charts
Do away with chart gridlines and borders
Before
How Interested Are You In This Product?
NOT AT ALL INTERESTED
EXTREMELY INTERESTED
MODERATELY INTERESTED
MINIMALLY INTERESTED
Source: Good Charts
Limiting eye movement from one end of the chart to another
After
HOW INTERESTED ARE YOU IN THIS PRODUCT?
EXTREMELY
MODERATELY
MINIMALLY
NOT AT ALL
Source: Good Charts
Limiting eye movement from one end of the chart to another
