A good source of bad chart are the corporate annual reports. Take a look at GE’s 2006 Annual Report, for example (I just saw one of the charts in http://supportanalytics.com/blog/2007/10/ ).

There are several scientific papers that show how misleading charts in annual reports are (see for example the classic V. Beattie: “The Use and Abuse of Graphs in Annual Reports”). Frequently an eye-catching design is used to hide potential distortions.

As an information designer who spends 40+ hours a week balancing financial data, branding and information design, I think we de a damn fine job of making sure the goals of “design”, ie legibility, simplicity, communication of a message, etc serve the purpose of the underlying data.

Too often, designers like us are assumed to be extinct because the outliers (just great design, bad data presentation / ugly chart, good data) are so immediately visible. Know that in Boulder, Colorado there are 30+ web and graphic designers who put as much thought into the data presentation as we do into the design of the chart and the surrounding elements and layout.

I’d love to see examples of the “naughty” charts you mention above. Otherwise, this post is entirely rhetorical.