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Canonical: https://semiotic.nteract.io/examples/data-viz-for-dummies
Data Viz for Dummies
The no-cap, all-context scouting report
Charts are players.
Your question is the game.
Welcome, statistician of the group chat. A chart is not a decorative lil guy you summon after the analysis; it is an argument wearing geometry. We shall scout the roster, read the court, and—Joyceanly, joyfully—refuse to let a pie chart enter at dawn merely because someone said “make it pop.”
7 chart families2 taxonomies1 fictional season
VIZ 101RC · 2026
01THE QUESTION
First pick · every draft
99Context
97Clarity
86Vibes
100Receipts
00
Taxonomy · the pregame show
Do not ask ‘which chart?’ Ask what kind of truth is trying to get out.
The same roster can be sorted two ways: by the material in its locker or by the job you need done before the buzzer. Toggle the scouting lens. Notice that chart families overlap; the borders are useful, not holy.
COACH’S CHALLENGEA taxonomy is a trail map, not a personality test. If the data cannot support the task, no chart has enough rizz to save it.
01
Bar chart · point guard
Behold the bar: clean-cut nepo baby of position, still earning the minutes.
Bars turn magnitude into length along a common baseline, which human vision reads with frankly suspicious competence. For ranking, the chart does not merely answer who leads; sorted order turns every neighbor into an instant matchup.
COACH’S CHALLENGEDo not truncate the value axis when length carries the claim. A bar beginning at 24 can make 31 look like a celestial event. That is not emphasis; that is fan fiction.
02
Grouped bar · wing defender
Comparison is ranking after it acquires subplots, lore, and a shared calendar.
When each player owns several measures, grouping keeps like with like: paint beside paint, three beside three. You can compare within a player or across the roster, but every extra color levies a tiny tax on working memory.
COACH’S CHALLENGEIf groups exceed a handful, the chart becomes a supermarket aisle at closing time. Consider small multiples, a dot plot, or filtering to the comparisons the reader actually came for.
03
Line chart · transition offense
Time enters the gym and suddenly every point has a before and an after.
A line joins ordered moments into motion. The slope is not a decoration between dots; it is the change itself, a little sentence conjugating the data from was to is to perhaps. Use it when continuity is defensible and sequence matters.
COACH’S CHALLENGEDo not connect categories that lack an order, and do not make a smooth curve imply measurements you never observed. The line remembers; it also invents between points.
04
Histogram · sixth player
The average arrives late, says ‘my bad,’ and misses the shape of the whole party.
A distribution shows where values gather, spread, split, and go feral. Bins trade detail for legibility: too few and the story becomes oatmeal; too many and random noise cosplays as structure. Try several boundaries before publishing.
COACH’S CHALLENGEThe tallest bin is not automatically the most important fact. Report bin rules, show the sample size, and resist diagnosing two populations from one charming bump.
05
Scatterplot · two-way playmaker
Two variables meet. Correlation enters the chat. Causation remains on read.
Position reveals relationship: up together, apart together, clustered, curved, or magnificently indifferent. Size can add a third measure, but each new encoding must earn its keep like a rookie on a ten-day contract.
COACH’S CHALLENGEA fitted line is a summary of association under assumptions, not a permission slip for causal verbs. Show uncertainty, inspect outliers, and ask what selection process put these points in the room.
06
Sankey · floor general
A total becomes a journey: where it came from, where it went, what got lost.
Flows are not just categories with ribbons. They are conservation claims. A Sankey makes volume legible across stages, ideal for funnels, budgets, journeys, and possessions—provided the edges mean the same kind of stuff all the way through.
COACH’S CHALLENGEIf ribbons cross like headphone cables from 2009, reduce the network. If values do not balance, disclose why. And never let a dramatic thick stream imply moral importance by width alone.
07
Treemap · roster depth
Hierarchy is a house of rooms; area tells you which rooms consume the rent.
Treemaps compress parent, child, and magnitude into one rectangle. They are excellent for overview and locating large branches, less excellent for exact comparison because area is a slippery witness. Use labels and hierarchy together; never make color carry ancestry alone.
COACH’S CHALLENGEIf the question is a precise ranking, bars will clear. If the structure matters more than size, use a tree. A treemap is the hybrid athlete: powerful, compact, occasionally asked to play out of position.
Playbook · usage share
Attack owns the binder; every rectangle keeps its family name
Area estimates use frequency; nesting reveals strategic family. The chart helps locate dominant plays, not read a box score to the decimal.Overtime · the actual cheat sheet
Choose the sentence before you choose its geometry.
If you can complete “I need my reader to…”, the chart shortlist mostly drafts itself.
I need to…Find the leader
Sorted barCommon baseline. Zero drama. Elite scan game.
I need to…Compare subgroups
Grouped barKeep the legend short or facet the roster.
I need to…See what changed
LineTime or another defensible order belongs on x.
I need to…Understand spread
HistogramInterrogate the bins; report the sample.
I need to…Test association
ScatterplotShow the points. Causality is not in the contract.
I need to…Trace movement
SankeyThe ribbon width must conserve one quantity.
I need to…Browse nested parts
TreemapOverview first; exact comparison second.
I need to…Say one number
BigNumberAdd context, target, date, and what changed.
“The chart is not the answer,” said the data, adjusting its tiny spectacles. “I am the question made inspectable.” And reader, that absolutely ate.
THE GOLDEN RULEEncode the task. Preserve the evidence. Explain the weird bit.