Comments on: Sparklines, Excel, Crystal Xcelsius and stealth-mode charts

By: AdamV

AdamV — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:20:49 +0000

Interestingly I was having a conversation the other day about the SmartArt features in Office 2007, and that made me recall some training I gave to an early-adopter client of mine. After the training session was over, the sales manager came up to me and said “Hmmm.This SmartArt syuff looks really easy to use, much better than drawing diagrams by hand. The boxes are really pretty small though, so you can’t get much text in with all the graphical stuff going on as well”.
Here it comes, I thought, he’s going to say it’s useless because he can’t fit his long-winded bullet points in any more. But to my suprise…
“Now this means we’ll all have to stop just putting too much text on the page and think about what are the most important words to use that will get the point across”.
Wow!
Just like with charts that require more space for each (data) point – if you don’t have room for that luxury, maybe you need to consider if you are trying to show too much detail.
I know, from a purist data visualisation point of view, less is often more. And sometimes we just do need to see all that data and the context it provides. But there are other times when makig a simple point is the intention, not analysis, and for these times a bit more gloss may not go amiss.

By: dashboard pete

dashboard pete — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 14:14:56 +0000

Got me thinking…. again…. I design dashboards so that the my audience starts to THINK about the data being presented…. maybe even get the WOW! factor. So Xcelsius et al are very valuable as they provide a level of interactivity. But I work with loads of disparate data, which takes me into the realm of multiple slides on the dashboards, so stealth-mode would live easily in my presentations. Insert a link in the micro-chart to the full blown graphic, so that the curious can drive the presentation & feel like they’re discovering something unique. Makes them feel good, raises my profile a tad perhaps (or not maybe).

Tufte, Stephen Few, Wayne Eckerson, Shadan Malik, Eric Peterson, Charley Kyd and many others have provided the practitioners with the tools and rules – it’s up to us how we use them.

By: admin

admin — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 10:58:56 +0000

Tony
Thanks. They are doing something right for a relatively small group of "aficionados"... But there is some hope. I have a feed from a Google blog search for "Tufte" and there is a surprisingly high number of posts from recent convertees.

[Interestingly enough, to be a fan of Tufte's work can be a competitive advantage in the marketplace.]

And, as you can see in my previous post, his principles are often misunderstood. They are a simple set of rules, but you must understand how they fit in/are derived from the theory.

By: Tony

Tony — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:37:58 +0000

It’s interesting that you “call out” Tufte and Few because of what they preach. Then, quote Few’s latest blog post and use principles that Tufte, Few and Playfair put on the map… Also note, Tufte and Few are two of the most successful names in the data visualization industry. They must be doing something right, right?

I just had a discussion with a dashboard developer at Dundas who says, “software vendors cater to what people want to do rather than what they should do! For this reason, it is necessary to show what is possible rathan than what is ideal”. Tufte and Few simply promote what is the most effective venue for communicating results or data.

I’ve said it before. When a company and create the optimal balance between effective and eye-appealing, it will be bliss! So far we have seen eye-appealing, but not really effective.

Overall, good post. I also agree that “Stealth-mode Chart” is probably not the best choice.

By: admin

admin — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 22:09:45 +0000

Mike
I was trying to find something at the same level. Like “eye-catching”, the expression should have a degree of manipulative behavior and to be viewed as an exact opposite. And to be as eye-catching as possible Any alternative expressions would be much welcomed.

In the post I emphasize the preattentive processing, but the real divide is data density, context and the use of textures. A more rigorous expression should take this into account.

Stack
Tufte, Few and others are preaching in the desert… Every BI software vendor seems to be researching better rendering algorithms to make the graphic objects even more “real”. This is what the Marketing Dep. tells them to do and, of course, the “wow” factor is crucial. Meanwhile, we need better, data-rich tools and what do we get? The “Ambient Orb”…

Thanks for your advise regarding the dashboard. There are at least three major areas that must be addressed in this project of recreating the Excel dashboard in Xcelsius: data visualization, data access and interactivity. I’ll gladly add “file delivery”.

By: Stack Lee

Stack Lee — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 16:27:55 +0000

Oh….I personally think the best application of Xcelsius for you personally is not simply recreating your Excel charts, or trying to make them look better, it is file delivery via the widespread use of Flash, Adobe, Word, HTML, PPT and other less “technical” applications than Excel. Yes, you can create and forward a dashboard with “what if” functionality, filters, and even animation in Excel (as your demographics dashboard demonstrates well), but, would it be better if you could deliver it in a format understood by virtually all computers?

For the average excel user out there, Xcelsius may help them implement the interactive features without becoming an expert at Excel.

By: Stack Lee

Stack Lee — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:56:30 +0000

To implement “Stealth Mode” in Xcelsius, go to View – Change Skin – Select Halo.

That is an interesting observation about the way glare, shading, etc. seem to overwhelm the visual recollection of a data display. To use accounting jargon it’s F.I.F.O (first in, first out) when it comes to our mental picture of something.

I guess “wow, that demo looks cool” is key to getting a buy for any BI software vendor because they can’t possibly package their product with the proper individual context necessary to succesfully market “Stealth Mode”.

By: Michael Gaffney

Michael Gaffney — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:51:31 +0000

Nice post, but I have to be honest, I don’t like the term ‘stealth-mode charts’. However, I do like that you are trying to give a name to charts that are designed to be data rich and not “eye-catching”.