In-class Exercise 3

Exploring Tableau & Graph Critique

In-class exercise 3 comprised of two parts:

1. Continuation of Tableau practice (from in-class exercise 2), and
2. Critique Figure 5

Exploring Tableau

Two datasets are used for the Tableau exercise: Superstore and Exam data. Click on the links to view from Tableau Public.

1. Building a Tableau Dashboard (Superstore Sales & Profit Report)
2. Creating a Tableau Story (Superstore Sales & Profit Report)
3. Building a Tableau Dashboard (Maths vs English)

Critique Figure 5

Figure 5 below was retrieved from State of the Industry Survey.

Figure 5 seems to fall under “Quadrant 4 - Confusing but Beautiful”

Some Quick Observations

The figure contains two different charts. Top: Dual pie chart. Bottom: Bar chart

Areas done well

• In terms of Aesthetic

  • Colours used is clear and distinct, and able to distinguish the different employment types.

Room for further improvement

• In terms of Clarity

  • Absence of chart title, value labels, proper annotations
  • Legends were not placed next to (beside) the respective charts, which would not be easy for readers to interpret and understand.
  • Employment categories could be confusing (e.g. “Employee”, “Employee + Other role(s)”, “Employee AND Freelance”).

• In terms of Aesthetic

  • The two charts were placed too close to one another without proper demarcation. This could cause misinterpretation of the two separate charts as one chart.

  • Fill colour for missing values (skipped question) used was white (which could be easily mistaken as white space). Also, missing values could be filtered off for better analysis results.