Pretty pictures vs clear data representations

Graphic designers love to use colour and innovative diagrams to catch the readers eye. Unfortunately this can make it difficult to analyse any underlying data.

Below is a pie chart taken from the 2008 annual report for Westfield (the worlds largest shopping centre owner). Pie charts are difficult to analyse because the reader is expected to compare the differences in the angles of the pie slices. This pie chart also has a strange choice of colours with New Zealand and United Kingdom having very similar colours making it difficult to differentiate between them. The faint shadowy circle within the pie is also distracting.

Explaining economics with clear visuals

Clear, compelling visuals do not require high end illustrations. Common Craft is an organisation that knows how to use simple visuals to explain concepts. The video below is an example of where they explain how to invest money using basic drawings. Not only is it informative - it is also fun to watch!

Different ways to visually explain the Global Financial Crisis

The Global Financial Crisis is complex and everyone grapples with trying to understand how the world got into this mess. An excellent explanation using clever visual techniques is available on the Jonathan Jarvis's website.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Another good visual explanation of the crisis has been created by Xplane.

I like the Xplane explanation but Jonathan Jarvis is easier to follow. The strength of the Jarvis approach is he moves back and forth from a high level overview to more detail views. This allows us to keep track of the context of the answer and not get lost.

Lastly is a visual explanations that uses crude graphics (and crude language!) to explain the financial crisis. It is a good example of using very basic drawings to get your point across. View it here.

Brain Rules

I have just finished reading Brain Rules by John  Medina. It is a great book, full of insights on how to make your brain more effective.

In the Clear Messages Foundation Course we emphasis the technique of organising your ideas into a hierarchy. Medina's book back this up with brain research:

"... if you want to get the particulars correct, don't start with details. Start with key ideas and, in a hierarchical fashion, form the details around these larger notions" p84, Brain Rules

The book goes on to describe research on how to differentiate between experts and novices. The difference is that experts do not simply memorise a collection of facts, rather they organise their knowledge around key concepts and this guides their thinking.

More details about Brain Rules go here, or better yet buy a copy of the book.