For this assignment, you are to find a graphic depicting quantitative information in the media or in a company’s published materials.
There are two options for this assignment: (a) find a bad graphic, or (b) find a great graphic.
(a) In the first option, explain what you think is poorly designed or misleading about the graphic you found. Your job is to describe the problem you identify, suggest how to correct the problem, and, if you can, generate a graphic that corrects the problem you identified in the first step.
(b) Your second option is to find an example of an unusually good graphic. In this case, explain what is unique about the graphic, and why you find it effective and informative. Explain what you learned from this graphic, and see if you can’t generate a similar, even better graphic with Excel or by sketching and photographing your artwork and pasting into your deliverable.
Your submission should be 2-3 pages, including graphics.
NOTE: The graphic you write about must have been published recently–since July 1, 2021.
Assignment checklist:
Include a screenshot or copy of the graphic in your write-up
Give a citation for the graphic — where did you find it? Your citation should allow me to quickly locate the original. Don’t just say, “from the Wall Street Journal.” Give me a URL directly to the article.
I want to read your thoughts on data visualization, not someone else’s. There are websites with catalogs of bad graphics. Those may be helpful for inspiring you, but you may not submit a graph from such a source. You’ll have to read the news or watch for graphics in your social media feeds to find fresh quantitative graphical examples. I will not give credit for graphics & interpretations you found on the New York Time’s “What’s going on in this graph?” feature, or Reddit or any source except the one where the image was first published. Since July 1 of last year.
Read that last bullet again, especially the part about what you can do to earn no credit for your assignment.
See the file “data visualization sample assignment.pdf” in the modules section.
