Dos and Don’ts of Data Visualisation

Static or interactive?

If you are publishing a visualisation on the website, you may opt for a static or an interactive chart. The first variable that influences the choice is the target audience.

Static charts are often an adequate option because they are easy to access and do not come with the risk of display issues on your browser or other apps.

But sometimes it is strongly recommended to use the interactive version when:

• there are many categories, and consequently many colours (Example 1);
• if, due to lack of space, the labels are not visible (Example 2);
• if the values are so divergent that some of them would not be visible (Example 3);
• and naturally, if there is a need to sort the values or filter the information.

If the visualisation is for a PDF publication or a PowerPoint slide and you need to produce a static chart, you may consider presenting your data in a different way to avoid the issues mentioned above.