Chart(er) School, Part II

Yesterday I started this theme of charts and graphs. I found a number of interesting resources related to chart-making, and put up a huge list of variations. When I got home my wife pointed out that I failed to show all of the charts on my list. I made a few feeble excuses but promised her that I would create more charts today.

These took quite a long time to assemble, so you won't get a lot of complicated math discussions out of me today. The data presented here is imaginary. This grouping is a combination of my original creations, some suggestions, and a few images that I downloaded, altered and integrated. [click the image to enlarge]

Many of these charts are not found in academic texts that I own, but have been developed spontaneously by users looking for a way to convey meaning that can't be done with text alone.

NOTE: Marimekko is a fabric company in Finland. Their name has been "poached" for business and the management charts where all bars are equal height, without spaces, and divided into different height segments. A "marimekko or mekko" chart vaguely resembles a Marimekko fabric.

NOTE: In this heat map, the colors are not portraying temperature. They are showing the price of regular gasoline, by US county. The red colors are higher priced, and the green are lower. Click here to go to GasBuddy and see today's gasoline heat map.

The name for this general field of graphic/chart -building is infographics, for Information displayed through graphics.

Most elementary math students using Excel Math do their first charts with crayons. So it's appropriate to close today's blog with a crayon color chart. I found this at the Data Pointed blog by Stephen Von Worley. He's showing how the 8 colors in 1903 have morphed into an elaborate palette today - a very complex challenge to display visually!

Click here for a larger, interactive version which enables you to place your cursor over a color and have the crayon color name pop up.