I’ve seen the following scenario play out many times in the organizations with which I work:

A chart creator decides to “get creative” by using a histogram, connected scatterplot, ribbon chart or some other chart type that they know to be unfamiliar to the audience. They could have used a simpler, more familiar chart type to say the same things about the data, but they wanted to “challenge the audience,” or “teach them new chart-reading skills.”

The chart then goes over like a lead balloon. The audience misreads the chart, skips reading it altogether, or gets annoyed with the chart creator, who then feels bitter, believing their audience to be intellectually lazy or just dumb.

The thing is, I think the audience would have every right to be annoyed. Most people aren’t interested in data visualization (shocking, I know) or in learning new chart types. They’re interested in treating patients, minimizing defects, raising donations, or maximizing investment returns, and charts are just tools that help them do those things more effectively. They want useful information that can be consumed with as little cognitive effort as possible and, IMHO, that’s OK. If bar charts and line charts get them the information that they need to do their jobs, teaching them to read more “advanced” chart types isn’t a good use of their time, and they know it.

Yes, people should know how to read scatterplots, histograms, and other “advanced” chart types. They should also know basic coding, how the economy works, and world capitals. The reality is that we all have limited time and cognitive energy to learn new things and forcing people to learn new chart types that they don’t actually need because you thought they should learn them isn’t very considerate. If the audience wants to learn about more advanced chart types, great! Teach them! But don’t force them to learn them just because you think that it’s important.

Now, sometimes, the data and/or insights to be communicated are fundamentally complex and the simplest possible way to tell the audience what they need to know might require chart types that are unfamiliar to them (which is why I cover over 50 chart types in my Practical Charts course). That should be the last resort, though, when there really are no simpler options that can communicate the same insights.

If you want to play around with more advanced chart types for your own interest or to share with other dataviz enthusiasts, or if you’re creating data art, go for it! I love that stuff, too. I just also think that there’s a time and place for that kind of thing, and it’s generally not with busy people who are just trying to do their jobs.

Black Friday Sale!

BTW, my books and my Practical Charts On Demand course are on sale for 25% off until Dec. 2 (Cyber Monday)!