Information design

Member lesson

Where a chart becomes propaganda

Lesson 12 of 12 in Information design.

Lesson

A chart can be entirely accurate and profoundly misleading, and that is the more common case. The distortion is usually in what was chosen: the date range, the comparison, the categories combined, the thing omitted.

from zero0a 4% differencefrom 9595the same 4%every number on both charts is correct
The same two values drawn from zero and from a truncated baseline.
A long strip with a falling line has a short rising piece cut out by scissors, and that piece is pinned alone on a board where a presenter points at it.
Scissors cut a short rising stretch out of a long falling line. Shown alone, the piece tells the opposite story, and nothing on it shows what was left out.
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  1. Question 1, locked

    Which of these words means this? “The choices around the data: range, comparison, what is left out.”

    • Zebra striping
    • Aspect ratio
    • Framing
    • Base rate
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Choosing the window that supports the claim. Invisible in the finished chart.”

    • Zebra striping
    • Aspect ratio
    • Base rate
    • Cherry-picking
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “What the number should be compared against. Its absence is the commonest distortion.”

    • Tabular figures
    • Base rate
    • Dual axis
    • Actionability
End of Information designMembers onlyNow play it5 games from this module at four levels, and a stamp for your ticket book.

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