Light entertainment: a self-referencing chart
Apr 25, 2011
Reader Jeannie C. succeeded in coaxing me to put up an infographics poster. It's predictable that such a thing would eventually arise: an infographics about infographics...
If you click on Ivan's link, you will find the real "data" behind this infographics.
Let's do spot the "errors".
I'll go for the easy one. 22+24+24+32 = 102. Typically, one could call this rounding error. But it has always mystified me why the designer does not "round" down the individual numbers such that the total adds to 100%. In either case, we have to accept a small amount of imprecision. (For example, 23+23+23+31 = 100).
Your turn next...
PS. I'm reading this chart as a parody on the infographics genre.
Ivan pointed out that my contribution above is illegitimate since there weren't any rounding. So, my turn again: the yellow bars are not to scale, China is not 4 times the length of U.S.
I'm glad you are analyzing my graphic so closely! Some clarification: It is sheer coincidence that those numbers add up to anything close to 100%. Each chart is actually baed on every infographic, so each chart is out of 100%. Because one single infographic can have multiple charts. Does that make sense? :) -ivan
Posted by: ivan | Apr 26, 2011 at 12:54 PM
Ivan: I should put "errors" in quotes. I'm interpreting your chart as a soft parody on the state of infographics.
I get how you are counting the types of charts, and why it won't add to 100%. Glad it gave me an excuse to rant about the common practice of showing "rounding errors" (even if it doesn't apply to you.)
Posted by: Kaiser | Apr 26, 2011 at 02:26 PM
gotcha! cool! :)
Posted by: ivan | Apr 26, 2011 at 04:19 PM
Nice information! I would say I am impressed with the research you made to make this article awesome and hope to read more about this. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: noleggio proiettori Milano | May 05, 2011 at 04:55 AM
Haha! Nice - an infographic about an infographic. But of course, every single one of these graphics really takes a lot of effort. It's more than just designing with the right colors and font styles. Researching for information is all important. Anyway, what you did here is a cool design!
Posted by: Kathryn McDwell | May 12, 2011 at 05:20 PM
Rounding is overrated anyway. But it does make sense for accuracy purposes.
Posted by: Jim DeRosa | Sep 11, 2011 at 09:36 PM