At the heart of every data visualization is one thing; a story. Every designer uses art to convey a message that will leave an impact on their audiences. There are multiple techniques a designer can use to do this. However, not all of these methods of storytelling are credible. You can be persuasive, or you can be manipulative with your work.
Persuasive vs. Manipulative
Let’s begin with the better of the two options, persuasion. Being able to easily draw attention to the main idea of a visualization is what will make it persuasive (Berinato, 2016). According to Scott Berinato, author of Good Charts, the easier an idea is to access then the more appealing and persuasive it becomes. Once you hone in on your main idea you can then add color, highlights, pointers, labels, etc. to make it stand out to onlookers. These characteristics will assign meaning to your story (Berinato, 2016).
Let’s take a look at a persuasive chart. Below is an example.
In this chart you can see that the creator used labels and color in order to draw attention where it needed to be. Clearly, the goal of this chart is to show the fact that Company B and C control 65% of market X. If the title of the chart was more general like, Companies That Control Market X, and all of the bars were the same color, this chart would be considered non-persuasive. However, the emphasis on particular elements changes the purpose of the chart completely.
Most of the time, creating data visualizations require persuasion in order to get your point across, but there comes a point where lines can blur and your charts can turn from persuasive to manipulative.
Manipulation is the exaggeration of your data. A lot of the time this is done by truncating your chart’s Y axis, creating a double Y axis, and by using maps in a way that misrepresents land area, population, etc. (Berinato, 2016).
Here is an extreme example of a truncated Y axis. Over the span of 8 points, the Y axis value only changes .014 of a percent. You can see how this makes for a much more drastic trend.
Below, you can see the same data shown on a full Y axis. Looking at these two charts next to each other, you can see how they look like two completely different datasets.
When creating your graphs there are some things you can ask yourself in order to clarify if you’re making something that is persuasive or manipulative. Am I showcasing my idea, or am I changing the idea? Am I hiding information that goes against my idea? Would I feel manipulated if I was presented this chart? (Barinato, 2016).
Below is a final example which displays a chart that more so tells a story rather than being persuasive or manipulative. The story is that the more fruit yielded per pound, the higher the cost. The less fruit yielded, the lower the cost. The X and Y axis show a full range of data and color gradient, along with size, are used for all points throughout the dataset. None have a particular emphasis over the other, rather each point has its own emphasis. The axis may not have even intervals throughout, but this does not affect the trend, therefore I do not see this as manipulative.
Samantha Mantiglia 