✚ this is misleading, this is not really misleading

There’s an internet joke — Godwin’s Law — that says if an internet discussion goes long enough, the probability that someone mentions Hitler approaches a probability of 1.

The visualization equivalent, which I hereby declare as Yau’s Law, is the following: If a discussion about a chart goes long enough, the probability that someone claims the chart is misleading approaches 1. It doesn’t matter how well-designed, how thorough, or how thoughtful the work is.

The truth is that all charts are misleading. In some sense.

To access this issue of The Process, you must be a member.
(If you are already a member, log in here.)

Membership

Gain instant access to step-by-step visualization courses and tutorials for insight and presentation — all while supporting an independent site. Source code and data is included so that you can more easily apply what you learn in your own work.

Members also recieve a weekly newsletter, The Process, which looks more closely at the tools, the rules, and the guidelines and how they work in practice.

You can find what’s new for members in the sidebar. Or, see samples of everything you gain access to: