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TDWI Upside - Where Data Means Business

Data Stories: Avoiding Visualization Failures

Data visualizations are powerful, but they can be misinterpreted or misleading -- accidentally or intentionally.

 

Misreading a Confusing Chart

automation misread

‎This article explains why a confusing chart design for an OECD study on job automation caused media coverage to misinterpret and misrepresent the results of the study. The author also provides a suggested alternative chart.

 

Common Mistakes

KD bad Viz

Confusing or poorly designed data visualizations often stem from a few common errors. Here are a handful of examples of what not to do.

 

Alternatives to Bad Visualization

Quartz

This Quartz piece is an older article, but it does a good job collecting examples of misleading graphs and demonstrating how each set of data could be more accurately and clearly represented.

 

About the Author

Lindsay Stares is a production editor at TDWI. You can contact her here.


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