The chart below gives an overview of the top ten global brands in the years 2006 to 2015.
The chart’s data sources are from interbrand.com who state that they use financial data, brand role and brand strength to come up with the ranking. Let’s take a closer look.
Audience – This data visualization is aimed at a general audience of internet users, particularly those who are interested in business trends – business people & the curious.
Action – The chart does not provide any actionable insights / they are not apparent at first glance (or even after a few glances).
Key Takeaway – The different brands that have been ranked the top ten globally in the years 2006 – 2015.
What I like about the chart –
Color – The overall choice of color is good. The chart is visually pleasing and the color palette doesn’t throw off users by distracting or misguiding their focus. The brand names are also clearly visible within the circles, care has been taken to make sure the font colors are in contrast to the surrounding circles to enhance readability.
Readability – The chart as a whole clearly communicates what it aims to present to the audience. There are no unnecessary elements like 3D shapes to deter readability. The brand legend on the right and the year scale at the bottom are clearly labelled. The bottom scale is also uniform with one year increments. The lines between the circles also add to the readability by helping the audience map the brand’s journey in the top ten ranks through the different years.
What I don’t like about the chart –
The metrics that are used to rank the brands aren’t stated on the chart.
Although this chart is thoughtfully designed, it lacks a number of communicative elements that could have made it much better. Although it is not apparent at first sight, some of the brands have completely dropped out of the top ten while others have emerged only in the middle. Some brands have reemerged after a hiatus only to gain a top position after having dropped out at a much lower rank.
After admiring the chart for its aesthetics, one is left with more questions than to begin with when one shifts focus to the trends/data.
Redesign –
A part of the chart’s audience is business users / inquisitive general users. And as such the chart would provide more value to the user by highlighting important turning points in a brand’s journey through hovering tooltips or content filtering. Selective / optional communicative depth means the chart would better cater to its users – business, inquisitive and casual. Inquisitive users would be able to focus on a brand of interest, delve deeper into the brands journey and possibly gain useful business insights.
I made a rough redesign concept based on the above pointers. You can view it here.
In the redesign, Toyota’s turbulent journey has been highlighted. Users can drill deeper into the whats and whys of how Toyota remerged in 2012 in the top ten and went on to get a hold of the 6th place in 2015.
Interactivity on this chart allows for a more rich and holistic contextual experience while hiding away that level of detail from less interested users.
Source : https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/686l51/top_10_global_brands_20062015_oc/
References : http://www.scribblelive.com/blog/2012/08/06/interaction-design-for-data-visualizations/
http://interbrand.com/best-brands/best-global-brands/methodology/