Junkchart and pistongeekery on the same page!

The sites I refer to when I talk about charting, data analysis and good (and bad) charting techniques are normally quite different from the ones where I satisfy my gearhead lust with the news from the latest car models in the market. This time the guys at motortrend did it for me in their article “Finding the best-handling car in the US”: both fixes in just one page

Look at the following chart: well, it’s easy to tell the winner on their tests is the yellow line (if you are curious, the Porsche 911GT3). But can you tell from the green and red lines in the middle of the pack which one is better?

If you go to their gallery, you’ll see many other charts that fight fiercely for the top place in the Junk Chart museum. Just a couple of samples below

 

Spider charts may be useful, but only in very limited cases. Leave the webs to the guy in the custome, enjoy the movie, and stick to other chart types in your professional reports. You would be better off. Your audience will get it faster.

Read on to see a proposal on how this chart could be better.

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