Like any good analyst, I enjoy scrolling through r/dataisbeautiful. And when I say enjoy, I really mean “I’m doom-scrolling through reddit because twitter is depressingly worse.” Of course this leads me here, to our first entrant into “Charts Reconsidered”, where every week I will revisit a chart from reddit and suggest some improvements.
That leads me to this chart – the 5th ranked chart on the subreddit on July 21st, 2020. It tells us who does and doesn’t use masks, by a few different breakdowns. It is an interesting story, but it could be told in a better way.
Sorting
There are 4 distinct groups in this chart – Gender, Political Party, Education, & Overall. They are all mashed together with no space.
In excel, I would use “blank” series to add space between each group to improve readability while enabling shared axes. I would also pick a consistent series to sort on from high to low.
Colors
Green & Grey isn’t a great color combo and gets amplified by a lime green gridline color. It’s not a good look.
Keep the gridlines in background, a lighter gray perhaps. For a chart like this, I would use a light and dark tone of the same color. Or you can steal the Ben Evans approach – and use shades gray + a single color for emphasis (in his case, red).
Labels & Gridlines
Too much info crammed into this part which muddles the story. There are major and minor Y gridlines, which are then labeled without a percent sign. The bars are also labeled. Lastly, the X & Y axis labels are switched.
Turn off minor gridlines and make the major gridlines either 25 or 50. Add Percentage labels so the units are clear. And fix the axis labels (or remove them).
Chart Type
3D bars with series stacked front to back is not a good look. This is most obvious in the GOP group, where the labels overlap the bars. The lack of spacing between groups makes it challenging to see differences between groups as well.
Just use a regular, stacked bar chart.
New visualization
With the magic of PowerBI – I’ve crafted a new chart, with the same data, to tell a more visually appealing & easier to understand the story.
The labels are removed, the legend is cleaned up, and the colors are simplified. Did it take longer to make this chart? Yes! Does it tell a better story – also yes!
I hope you found this feedback helpful. Let me know what else you would change in the comments below.