See the difference

See the difference in the two graphs in answering the below question. Both used the same dataset.

Which of these cities has the lowest percentage of renter households?

Data source: U.S. Census, 2006-2008 American Community Survey 3 Year Estimates

- Graph 1 -

- Graph 2 -

Answer: Phoenix

Why is Graph 2 easier to understand? Let’s take a look at this example in more detail.

Consider your audience. We synthesized the information in Graph 2 to make sure it provides the most relevant information for our audience. This is the most critical thing that we changed.

We were able to do synthesize the information in this way because we could assume the Visual Voice reader understands percentages and the two main types of housing (renter occupied and owner occupied). We can assume they know what states the 10 largest U.S. cities are located, so we don’t need to include that information as well.

It is important to remember that these assumptions would not hold true for all audiences, so make sure to consider yours.

Simplify your graph. We eliminated unnecessary lines and borders. We got rid of the 3-d effects.  We combined the two datasets into one, which eliminated the need for the key. This gave us more space to make the bar chart area larger.

Make relevant information easy to find. We labeled information directly on the graph, so you don’t need the y axis to determine values.  At a glance you can see the percentages for each city.

Place data in a meaningful order. Rather than placing the cities in order of their population size, we have arranged the data from the city with the highest percentage of renters to the lowest.

Choose your colors wisely. General rule of thumb, yellow is hard to see on a graph.