With abundance in data, it can be a tedious task to look through your numbers to interpret data and take important decisions. Visualization is an effective way of describing the patterns in data. When visualizations are created for top level executives, Sales/Marketing heads, they will not play around it, and will accept (or reject) whatever visualization is created for them.
One of the most common scenario’s for visualization is sales related information. The below “line graph” shows Sales and Target figures for a given year (monthly)
What I like about the graph
1] Time wise trends in Sales achieved and the expected Target (comparison)
2] Different colors to distinguish between Sales and Target
3] A good scale which covers the data properly
What I don’t like about the graph
1] No details about numbers. Though above line graph gives a general idea about the months in which target was reached/missed, it fails to give the numbers (Executives will be interested in “how much” rather than a general idea)
How can we add value to above visualization
1] Include details. Show numbers. Add bar graphs
The above visualization makes use of “Bar graph” and “line graph” into single picture and gives us information about
1] How much was sales as compared to targets (Percentage up or down) – For CEO
2] Actual sale figures (line graph) – For Sales head
3] Red and Green color combination tells us good/bad news
Conclusion – It is important to identify the target audience and include details accordingly. Do not make your executives do the math ! The more questions they ask from looking at visualization, the more scope of improvement.
References – https://www.klipfolio.com/blog/dashboard-design-mistake-forcing-users-to-do-the-math