{"id":89629,"date":"2024-11-04T14:02:54","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T14:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/?p=89629"},"modified":"2025-11-17T17:38:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T17:38:56","slug":"from-chaos-to-clarity-6-simple-ways-to-fix-a-chart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/2024\/11\/04\/from-chaos-to-clarity-6-simple-ways-to-fix-a-chart\/","title":{"rendered":"From chaos to clarity: 6 simple ways to fix a chart"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the challenges with large datasets is how easy it is to get bogged down in detail. Turning a \u2018spaghetti\u2019 chart into something meaningful has its challenges. It’s something we do regularly and we have a good example of that below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you visualise raw data, it\u2019s the small decisions that can make a big difference to the story you want to tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To demonstrate this, we loaded some crime stats from the SA Police Service into\u00a0Flourish<\/a>, which produced a very colourful spaghetti chart. It\u2019s clear there\u2019s a lot going on there, but impossible to work out the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n



Here’s how we try and make some sense of the data:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colour can improve understanding<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Colour is a powerful communication tool but less is (almost always) more. Because we wanted to show that Inanda police station recorded the highest number of murders in 2023, we\u2019ve used red as the primary colour, brought the line to the front and made it bold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve kept the other stations to provide context but as it is supportive rather than primary information, we\u2019ve used a neutral colour to help de-emphasise it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make sure the labels are legible<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s pointless including information if it is hard to read. The labels on the original chart were at an angle and in grey, which is seldom a good choice for text as it can look blurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, we\u2019ve aligned the text horizontally and put it in a bigger font and in black. It\u2019s much clearer and cleaner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t leave readers hanging<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Information such as scale, range and actual quantities should be included to ensure that the chart is understood correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our chart, we\u2019ve labelled the y-axis to indicate what is represented \u2013 the number of murders reported. We\u2019ve also dropped the zero to clean up the visual clutter. Most people will (correctly) assume that the y-axis starts at zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White space is a design tool<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Giving a chart space (or ‘breathing room’) reduces the appearance of clutter and makes the whole chart easier to read. Also, making sure the margins around your chart are equal makes the chart feel balanced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Words make a chart<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Adding a title to the chart frames the purpose of a chart. The title helps readers quickly grasp your main message. The aim is to be succinct, but also as descriptive as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t forget to include a source. Every dataset has an origin and, without it, a chart loses credibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To recap\u2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2705 Use colour to create focus
\u2705 Add missing units of measure
\u2705 Make labels easy to read
\u2705 Clean up with good spacing
\u2705 Sum it all up with a succinct headline
\u2705 Always include a source<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notebook<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\ud83c\udf52 Get The Outlier\u2019s free guide to unlocking the power of colour<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":89641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[448,1387],"tags":[1199,1247,1246,360,1205,471,1248],"newsletter-post":[],"site":[],"class_list":["post-89629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to","category-the-outlier","tag-charts","tag-colour","tag-data-insights","tag-data-visualisation","tag-dataviz","tag-flourish","tag-tips-and-tools"],"acf":{"big_number":"","big_number_caption":"","big_number_link":"","big_number_background":"","big_number_text_colour":"#000000","big_number_icon":false,"big_number_wide":"yes","featured_chart":false,"flourish_chart_id":"","flourish_sub_title":"","flourish_chart_width":"medium","is_newsletter_post":"Yes","post_style":"blc","show_on_front":"Yes","link_through":"Yes","chart_url":"","background_colour":"#0089AA","text_colour":"#FFFFFF"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89629"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89650,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89629\/revisions\/89650"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89629"},{"taxonomy":"newsletter-post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter-post?post=89629"},{"taxonomy":"site","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/site?post=89629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}