Chartosaur Blog

Two Charts, Same Study

Designing for Different Readers

Same study, same numbers, two completely different chart designs. Neither one is wrong, they're just doing different jobs.

Same Data, Different Story

A dataset doesn't have a story in it. You put one there. And it's a lot easier to put the wrong one there than most teams realize.

Controlling the Narrative

How Charts are used to Mislead You

From cherry-picked data to manipulated axes, here are five real world case studies of how charts can distort the truth.

NBC's Grocery Price Tracker

The Mixed Story Behind Your Shopping Cart

NBC's tracker uses real checkout data to show how grocery prices have changed across different metro areas. Some items have dropped from earlier peaks while others are higher than last year.

Citi Bike's Entire History, Animated

An interactive dataviz of Citi Bike trips over time. It's simple, but the longer you watch, the more patterns you notice.

When 3D Blocks Hide What Matters

Country Size vs GDP

I came across this chart on r/dataisugly comparing country size to GDP. It's visually ambitious with 3D isometric blocks, but the design makes it harder to see the relationship between how big a country is and how much economic output it generates.

Spain's Fiscal Profiles

The Age Groups Paying In vs. Taking Out

This chart packs in multiple tax types, spending categories, and every single age from 0 to 90.