Helping you become a more effective information designer. You want to create effective data visualizations. That’s hard work. There are so many decisions to make, like chart type, annotations, and color! Will this podcast help? Host and fellow data viz designer Alli Torban is in the trenches with you. She shares the latest tools and methods that she’s discovered while on the job and interviewing top designers. If you’re an analyst, journalist, or designer who wants to hone your skills with specific tactics, then this show could be just what you need.
47: Charts Can Lie, But Here’s How You Remain Vigilant - Featuring Alberto Cairo
It’s no secret that some charts lie. You might be thinking that only a subset of people who maliciously create a chart to serve their interests are guilty of this, but the truth is, there are many ways in which a chart can lie.
You can make a mistake in your design, or use data that’s insufficient, or make conclusions that aren’t accurate. I’m guilty of this, and guess what… so is Alberto Cairo! He wrote a whole book on How Charts Lie based on his experience creating and reading charts.
In this episode, I finally got to ask Alberto’s opinion on some burning questions that I have, like
- how he personally reads charts to assess their quality,
- how he’d structure a graphics team today to make sure they create quality graphics, and
- where he thinks we’ll be fighting misinformation in the coming years.
- Most importantly, he explains why we shouldn’t throw up our hands and give up on charts even when some mislead us.
Alberto's book How Charts Lie
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