My tip: Before I publish any report, I ask someone who knows nothing about the information being presented to give feedback. If it takes them longer than five mins to understand anything then I reevaluate my design
I find that the study referenced changes these tips from optional, personal preferences to proven techniques. I love the eye tracking charts! Thank you!
I love this type of analysis which drills down to how people actually read and interpret graphs! Very insightful video Leila! Cheers, David from Australia! 😉👍
Great Chart lesson ! :) First part with eye tracking is very impressive. But the thing I also would consider when I make chart is Color mathing as well.❤️
Thanks once again Leila, Nice to have study data to back up what we have been trying to impress on people for years. Especially like the NO 3D...nearly 50% slower comprehension. Probably even more for 3D Pie Charts. Be great if your Uni sends the results of the study to Microsoft for their Excel and Power BI development teams...
Great info overall. If I may offer some feedback, your #4 tip is very vague, uses unusual wording (don’t break the axis?), and the 5 second comparison doesn’t highlight the difference. I think the takeaway is to scale the axis with the data to ensure the graph visually highlights the information and pertinent trends. Ie, doesn’t always have to start with 0.
Some great tips! Like always. Thanks Leila. What I did missed and maybe was worth mentioning is a target value, this way anyone that see the chart can understand that the results are low or high.
Thank you so much Leila for your videos. I have improved a lot of my reports for the management thanks to your Excel tips. I will implement these 5 design tips in my reports to make them even more efficient and effective.
Axis braking: This is an excelent example for the influence the chart designer has on the viewer. You want to tell the story that nothing changed? Don't break the axis. You want to make them belive that there was a radical change / high volatility? Beak it ;-)
I wish there was a mandatory law to make those who create the awful presentations charts to watch this and learn the correct way it should be done. Thank you Leila.
Hi Liela Thank you so much for your videos - you were the first person I started watching on youtube to do with excel and I've not stopped yet :) Anyway this is just an idea please - I wasn't taught about variance at at school and wondered if you could create an video please about how to build a table and/or graph which best covers this for multiple area. At work I various processes running on many PCs and I would like to create a variance graph that shows variances to do with how showing which PCs take the longest to run the different processes. That way I can inform the customer for those PCs to be checked out for example to perform PC health checks on them. Anyway I hope you find this challenge interesting and can cover this please for us IT Support people :)
If someone want to confuse his boss then work alternatively. If further confusion is required then use secondary axis and remove the labels. If you want to show no differences then don't change origin, otherwise change. Good tips for dealing abusive bosses.
Another great video. I use bar charts and trend charts. I can see the difference more easily between current year and SPLY with trend charts, but that's just the way it works best for me. All great information in this video. I like making the title standout in font size. Thanks Leila.
Leila, this critique is something my mechanical engineering professors had a pet peeve about. I also developed and adopted the same frustration in the field of manufacturings engineering. Units!!!! I cannot count the number of charts where people, engineers, accounting, sales, and all other department present charts with absolutely no units, just numbers. Ridiculous😡. I’ve seen 3 decades of presentations with four or five charts per presentation and none had units. In your future tip email please add tip to include units to the chart Bar or as text in a note box
Hello Leila, great stuff as usual. On DONT BREAK THE AXIS, kindly expand. Are we you start from ZERO or another figure that then allows for a higher degree of accuracy if one had to guess the values (supposing they are no data labels).
Don't use thick lines in black font for scale lines, make them very light, if required at all. Always try to use consistent colours for series between charts. Never use Excel's default colours for charts, they're horrendous! I use all the techniques mentioned, but interesting to know why I do though! Thanks
Great video. BUT I am really surprised that is took this sophisticated study to conclude the obvious. HOWEVER, it only makes sense when you look at how many people create charts with these "mistakes". Not breaking the axis is extra important and many times the axis IS "broken" to intentionally mislead the viewer!!
Great info as usual. I loved the idea of measuring the eye movement; it's so scientific. In general, 2D is better than 3D; but the 3D here wasn't of a great design.
Thank you Leila! For rule number 3, it is very important not to write numbers with a font size too small indeed but rather than write vertically, I prefer to format my numbers in thousands for example and always write them horizontally because it is our normal reading direction.
Love your videos as usual. Nevertheless, I noticed you spent a lot of time on the eye tracking issue and then cut down on the main points, particularly towards the end. Thank you though so much, as I find your videos to always be useful.
You thanked us for watching, we thank you for existing! (and providing us with all this) Thanks a lot for this, i can only imagine the number of UX pilot tests this took...
This is a great video Leila - I've been trying to find the report for ages but can't seem to locate it. The link on your description keeps asking me to sign in. Please can you give me the details of the report so I can either search for it or if you could provide it to me, that would be even better.
Thank you for the tips Leila, I love your way of teaching, it just makes me naturally understand the concepts and techniques, and your online courses are just great, I am grateful
Very nice research in deed. I never use 3D charts for this only reason as they are not real 3D but psuedo 3D. For real 3D we need another axis data which is z (bubble chart and surface chart use this). More to know: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misleading_graph
Hey Leila, following on your video, I would change the title to something related to bar charts, instead of just stating “charts”. A little misleading I would say. Also, I would include markers in the video (like with music playlists, to find the next song) in case you want to just directly to the tips or to a particular one as a future reference.
Fascinating stuff. Trying to get my skill levels up in Power BI and some of the visualisations being bandied around the analytics world these days are just beyond baffling. I think all the analytics package providers would do well to subject their "fancy" outputs to your study - I bet I could guess the results?
Excellent video. The only bad thing about it is that it exposes the many mistakes I have been making over the years. I'm sure I'll review this video a few more times before building charts. Thanks!
Appreciate the effort and supporting data. Thank you. Was looking to delve more into the details, but a good deal of the reference material above is in German - are English versions available? Stay safe, Steve
Hi thank you for the video. I tried downloading the report. However I could find only the German version of it. Can u pls share the link of the English version of the report
@4:27 I've seen that broken axis done to exaggerate the differences. I think it was a microprocessor company trying to make their product look way above the competitors but in fact the difference was irrelevant.
Yes, @@LeilaGharani. Unfortunately I'm spoiled by the user experience ethic that somehow I taught myself: squint! Yes, if you can still tell where the main area of focus is (the value), and then where the controls to update it are (usability)--even when you're squinting at it--then you're succeeding. Whereas Slack has a couple of areas competing for your attention, plus lots of low-contrast, fussy controls that disappear when you squint, even UA-cam has a clear focal point in the playback screen, and the rest of the comments / up next areas get demoted to being just barely there at the edge of the screen. Its main buttons are also high-contrast, and not redundant or vague. There are probably better studies and examples, but I stand by the subjective "gamechanger" experience I had after realizing that Tesla "gets it": the central screen in a Model 3, along with its pair of thumbwheels on the steering wheel, not only takes the place of an entire dashboard and console full of distractions in conventional cars, but rewrites the notion of what a car truly needs. When everything displayed is context-sensitive, "less is more" just begins to describe the feeling. It's more like the UI evaporates and you're just going for the ride. . . . Literally! :-)
She means the chart on the right 'cheated' by not starting the Y axis at zero, thereby making the variances appear larger than they were. This 'breaking the axis' is a frequent trick by people seeking to deceive.
Hi Leila.. eye tracking.. that's cool. It's amazing how much chart junk is out there.. and from sources that should know better. Your 5 points are great and thanks to your various videos and courses.. are all familiar and in my tool bag. Thanks for sharing your amazing knowledge, skills and insights. Thumbs up!!
Leila - thanks for the video - very interesting! Regarding tip #4, I may be misunderstanding your recommendation, but I generally do start a bar graph with 0 on the y axis, otherwise it can be misleading about the relative difference between the bars. Just my 2 cents!
Obviously that was the most beneficial and helpful information in a video I have seen so far in 2019, or may be my entire life. As a data analyst in my department I am always seeking the best practice in data visualization in my report to help reader locate info easily and never get lost. thank you for this valuable video.
Love seeing the results of the eye tracking. Shows that KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) in charts is the way to go.
It definitely is Ron :)
My tip: Before I publish any report, I ask someone who knows nothing about the information being presented to give feedback. If it takes them longer than five mins to understand anything then I reevaluate my design
That's a great tip!
So, you are teaching more then excel Leila. Thank you
You're welcome :) Yes switching things up a bit....
I find that the study referenced changes these tips from optional, personal preferences to proven techniques. I love the eye tracking charts! Thank you!
Yeah, for me it was an eye-opener too.
I love this type of analysis which drills down to how people actually read and interpret graphs! Very insightful video Leila!
Cheers, David from Australia! 😉👍
Me too, it's really interesting. Greetings to Australia!
WOW, I never realized the eye movement in reading a graft. Thank you for this useful information.
You're very welcome Dennis. Glad it's useful.
Values above the bars makes it so much easier! Keep the great tips coming, and thanks for sharing your sources 🙌
I'll do my best :) Glad you like the video Benjamin.
Great History!!!! Great empirical tests for eye movement. Thanks for the "No Chart Junk" Video, Teammate : )
Thanks Mike. Switching things up a bit :)
Great Chart lesson ! :) First part with eye tracking is very impressive. But the thing I also would consider when I make chart is Color mathing as well.❤️
Glad you like the video.
Thanks once again Leila, Nice to have study data to back up what we have been trying to impress on people for years. Especially like the NO 3D...nearly 50% slower comprehension. Probably even more for 3D Pie Charts. Be great if your Uni sends the results of the study to Microsoft for their Excel and Power BI development teams...
Yeah, it was really interesting to see these results in an objective research.
Thank You Leila for basic and very useful informations!
My pleasure Maciej. Glad the video is useful.
Great info overall. If I may offer some feedback, your #4 tip is very vague, uses unusual wording (don’t break the axis?), and the 5 second comparison doesn’t highlight the difference. I think the takeaway is to scale the axis with the data to ensure the graph visually highlights the information and pertinent trends. Ie, doesn’t always have to start with 0.
Thanks for the feedback!
Its great to help me figure what the #4 tip means !!
thanks for both of you ^^
I would like a video on using the proper scale for an axis which is what I think you meant from point #4.
Thank you, Leila! These tips are crucial.
Glad it was helpful!
Some great tips! Like always. Thanks Leila. What I did missed and maybe was worth mentioning is a target value, this way anyone that see the chart can understand that the results are low or high.
Thank you so much Leila for your videos. I have improved a lot of my reports for the management thanks to your Excel tips. I will implement these 5 design tips in my reports to make them even more efficient and effective.
I'm very happy to hear that.
Axis braking: This is an excelent example for the influence the chart designer has on the viewer. You want to tell the story that nothing changed? Don't break the axis. You want to make them belive that there was a radical change / high volatility? Beak it ;-)
I wish there was a mandatory law to make those who create the awful presentations charts to watch this and learn the correct way it should be done. Thank you Leila.
Yeah, that would be good :)
Compliments to you Leila and your Team, you are awesome!
Thank you Francesco
Thank you, once again you excel in these videos and are forever improving my spreadsheets
My pleasure Peter. I'm happy if the tutorials are helpful.
Hi Liela Thank you so much for your videos - you were the first person I started watching on youtube to do with excel and I've not stopped yet :) Anyway this is just an idea please - I wasn't taught about variance at at school and wondered if you could create an video please about how to build a table and/or graph which best covers this for multiple area. At work I various processes running on many PCs and I would like to create a variance graph that shows variances to do with how showing which PCs take the longest to run the different processes. That way I can inform the customer for those PCs to be checked out for example to perform PC health checks on them. Anyway I hope you find this challenge interesting and can cover this please for us IT Support people :)
Love u so much Leila for helping us on Excel 😘😘
If someone want to confuse his boss then work alternatively. If further confusion is required then use secondary axis and remove the labels.
If you want to show no differences then don't change origin, otherwise change.
Good tips for dealing abusive bosses.
Good tips. Especially using a secondary axis never fails :)
Another great video. I use bar charts and trend charts. I can see the difference more easily between current year and SPLY with trend charts, but that's just the way it works best for me. All great information in this video. I like making the title standout in font size. Thanks Leila.
Thanks for the feedback Walter!
Thank You Leila, great analysis.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Leila, this critique is something my mechanical engineering professors had a pet peeve about. I also developed and adopted the same frustration in the field of manufacturings engineering. Units!!!! I cannot count the number of charts where people, engineers, accounting, sales, and all other department present charts with absolutely no units, just numbers. Ridiculous😡. I’ve seen 3 decades of presentations with four or five charts per presentation and none had units. In your future tip email please add tip to include units to the chart Bar or as text in a note box
excellent information, I liked the vertical numbers in tip 3
Impressive
I have never use any of the tricks.
This was real useful👍
I'm glad to hear that.
@@LeilaGharani 😊👍
I love your channel. It’s very helpful.
Wonderful...wonderful....wonderful
keep going.....
Glad you like the tutorial Ahmed. There will be more. Stay tuned :)
Great tips!
Great vid. Maybe deserves more time on this subject
True, maybe I'll expand in a follow-up video. Thanks for the feedback!
Oh Yesss....this is lovely! Thank you Mam. I appreciate you're taking care to include a bit of History as well.
Wow! another great video! Never imagined so much could be involved behind a chart and its understanding! Thanks for these super tips! :-)
My pleasure. Glad you like my little detour to research :)
Thanks so much for this informative piece Leila.
You're very welcome. Glad you find it informative.
Hello Leila, great stuff as usual. On DONT BREAK THE AXIS, kindly expand. Are we you start from ZERO or another figure that then allows for a higher degree of accuracy if one had to guess the values (supposing they are no data labels).
Don't use thick lines in black font for scale lines, make them very light, if required at all. Always try to use consistent colours for series between charts. Never use Excel's default colours for charts, they're horrendous! I use all the techniques mentioned, but interesting to know why I do though! Thanks
My pleasure Rico. Thanks for the additional tips!
Great video. BUT I am really surprised that is took this sophisticated study to conclude the obvious. HOWEVER, it only makes sense when you look at how many people create charts with these "mistakes". Not breaking the axis is extra important and many times the axis IS "broken" to intentionally mislead the viewer!!
I guess it's one thing to assume it's obvious. But when you can actually measure its impact on the viewer it's something else.
@@LeilaGharani It would be a great help if microsoft would set chart defaults to reflect the results of such research
Yes that's indeed helpful tips! Thanks
My pleasure. Glad it's helpful.
Thanks for your advices 💋
I need those for my job 📊
My pleasure. I'm glad if the videos are helpful.
Thanks. Very helpful.
Great info as usual. I loved the idea of measuring the eye movement; it's so scientific. In general, 2D is better than 3D; but the 3D here wasn't of a great design.
I loved the approach too. I'm not a big fan of 3D anyway so at least now I have research to back it up :)
Thank you Leila! For rule number 3, it is very important not to write numbers with a font size too small indeed but rather than write vertically, I prefer to format my numbers in thousands for example and always write them horizontally because it is our normal reading direction.
That works too Christophe. Thanks for the feedback.
getting prettier than ever! :)
May i send email to solve my issue?
...and as always, Thanks Leila!
... and as always, you're very welcome :)
format labels in X.X million or thousands instead of 0000
Love your videos as usual. Nevertheless, I noticed you spent a lot of time on the eye tracking issue and then cut down on the main points, particularly towards the end. Thank you though so much, as I find your videos to always be useful.
Good
Thnx
Tip # 3 is more practical n easy to analyze
You're very welcome :)
You thanked us for watching, we thank you for existing! (and providing us with all this)
Thanks a lot for this, i can only imagine the number of UX pilot tests this took...
So there is also my professor that hates chart titles and data labels. She always tells me to delete chart titles and any data labels from my charts.
I definitely don't agree with it but then again I'm not your professor :)
Hi Leila - any chance you'll explain how to graph/show disparate values ($100 vs $1M)? I've been waiting to your thoughts on that for awhile :)
When I try to read the research paper from your description, it asks for username and password. Is it available in public domain?
Leila, you are just so perfect in everything that you do! I love all your lessons.
Thank you Victoria!
great data viz concepts!
Hi Leila, I think put the number above in combo (Bar and Line) chart is annoying for the eye. what do you think?
This is a great video Leila - I've been trying to find the report for ages but can't seem to locate it. The link on your description keeps asking me to sign in. Please can you give me the details of the report so I can either search for it or if you could provide it to me, that would be even better.
thanks...
I'd like to see the eye tracking when charts with data displayed for primary and secondary axis.
Scanpaths are probably all over the place too :)
What do you mean by not breaking the axis? Is it best not to set the Y axis to zero?
It is, especially for column charts.
Thank you for the tips Leila, I love your way of teaching, it just makes me naturally understand the concepts and techniques, and your online courses are just great, I am grateful
Thank you for the kind feedback Karolina! I really appreciate it.
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge. Very sweet of you. To make such high quality tutorials is very time consuming .... Hugs from Holland
Thanks for the appreciation André!
So detailed video on charts.Useful video
Very nice research in deed. I never use 3D charts for this only reason as they are not real 3D but psuedo 3D. For real 3D we need another axis data which is z (bubble chart and surface chart use this). More to know: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misleading_graph
Thanks for the informative link.
WoW that's super interesting for our kind researchers documentation thanks for sharing Leila 🙏😍feels blessed👍
My pleasure. Glad you like it.
Thanks a lot, is there a way to print out slicers?
Just discovered this channel today and love the way she explains things.
Glad to have you here Marcia.
Super. Loved the video and detailed analysis.
Hey Leila, following on your video, I would change the title to something related to bar charts, instead of just stating “charts”. A little misleading I would say. Also, I would include markers in the video (like with music playlists, to find the next song) in case you want to just directly to the tips or to a particular one as a future reference.
Fascinating stuff. Trying to get my skill levels up in Power BI and some of the visualisations being bandied around the analytics world these days are just beyond baffling. I think all the analytics package providers would do well to subject their "fancy" outputs to your study - I bet I could guess the results?
Me too Chris :)
Excellent video. The only bad thing about it is that it exposes the many mistakes I have been making over the years.
I'm sure I'll review this video a few more times before building charts.
Thanks!
Haha, I've made all of these and many more too. But, the good thing is we can learn and improve :)
Appreciate the effort and supporting data. Thank you. Was looking to delve more into the details, but a good deal of the reference material above is in German - are English versions available?
Stay safe, Steve
You need to scroll down more. The top part is German but further down they have the English material.
Hi thank you for the video.
I tried downloading the report. However I could find only the German version of it. Can u pls share the link of the English version of the report
You need to scroll down more. First are the papers in German and then there is a separate section for the English version.
@4:27 I've seen that broken axis done to exaggerate the differences. I think it was a microprocessor company trying to make their product look way above the competitors but in fact the difference was irrelevant.
Yeah, exactly. Small increases all of a sudden look like major improvements :)
That's creative and informative.....👌👌👌👌👌
Glad you like it!
Color also plays a vital role on reporting. Especially when you are reporting fixed and moving figures.
Very true. Color is important.
Wow Leila you look very nice and beautiful amazing video well done 😊😊❤️❤️👍👍
Great video..thanks !
Great trip.. thanks for sharing.. I never use 3D chart
Neither do I :)
Thanks for the tips, I’ve taken Edward class in California.
That must have been amazing!
Leila Gharani
It was cool, he gives out four other books besides the one you displayed in the video
I am a Tufte fan / follower!
Hi Leila,
How to.make bar chart value vertically?
Thanx
I love your Excel tips!
Last two are wrong in my mind. Definitely break the axis to emphasize the change!
For a line chart yes - not so for column.... unless you have two views.
Leila Gharani I use the two views, too.
this is all good until when you get a new CFO join the company, and wants to turn all charts into tables form.
He probably just has not seen the creative and informative charts we can do :)
More of this please 🙏
Thank you so much Leila for this information.. 👍😊
You're very welcome Peter :)
Thank you Leila
Very helpful presentation tips
You're welcome 😊
Enjoyed learning...
Very helpful as usual
How about comparing different types of charts
Great advice! If only the UI team at Slack would heed this. My eye tracking there is like watching an earthquake at a ping pong ball factory. . . .
Haha, your comment made me laugh John. Is it really that bad?
Yes, @@LeilaGharani. Unfortunately I'm spoiled by the user experience ethic that somehow I taught myself: squint! Yes, if you can still tell where the main area of focus is (the value), and then where the controls to update it are (usability)--even when you're squinting at it--then you're succeeding.
Whereas Slack has a couple of areas competing for your attention, plus lots of low-contrast, fussy controls that disappear when you squint, even UA-cam has a clear focal point in the playback screen, and the rest of the comments / up next areas get demoted to being just barely there at the edge of the screen. Its main buttons are also high-contrast, and not redundant or vague.
There are probably better studies and examples, but I stand by the subjective "gamechanger" experience I had after realizing that Tesla "gets it": the central screen in a Model 3, along with its pair of thumbwheels on the steering wheel, not only takes the place of an entire dashboard and console full of distractions in conventional cars, but rewrites the notion of what a car truly needs. When everything displayed is context-sensitive, "less is more" just begins to describe the feeling. It's more like the UI evaporates and you're just going for the ride. . . . Literally! :-)
Thank you Soo much
@ Leila - What did you mean "don't break the axis?" Does this have anything to do with changing the default values?
She means the chart on the right 'cheated' by not starting the Y axis at zero, thereby making the variances appear larger than they were. This 'breaking the axis' is a frequent trick by people seeking to deceive.
@@silversolver7809 I thought so. Just making sure. Thanks for the reply.
Hi Leila.. eye tracking.. that's cool. It's amazing how much chart junk is out there.. and from sources that should know better. Your 5 points are great and thanks to your various videos and courses.. are all familiar and in my tool bag. Thanks for sharing your amazing knowledge, skills and insights. Thumbs up!!
Thanks for the thumbs up Wayne!
Deep impact..
Great video!
Refreshing.
Awesome as always Leila.👍
Leila - thanks for the video - very interesting! Regarding tip #4, I may be misunderstanding your recommendation, but I generally do start a bar graph with 0 on the y axis, otherwise it can be misleading about the relative difference between the bars. Just my 2 cents!
Absolutely true Tood! Especially for bar charts breaking the axis (not starting at zero) will mislead the reader.
Great Stuff!
Obviously that was the most beneficial and helpful information in a video I have seen so far in 2019, or may be my entire life. As a data analyst in my department I am always seeking the best practice in data visualization in my report to help reader locate info easily and never get lost. thank you for this valuable video.
Thank you for the kind feedback Ahmed! I'm glad the video is helpful for you.
Great Tips Leila. I'm always learning from your videos. You are greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
You're very welcome. Makes me happy when the tutorials are helpful.