Isotype movement chart showing animal life expectancy, blue whales and elephants live the longest.
Isotype chart showing how home weaving has shifted into factories. Rows of people are used instead of numbers.
Pie chart showing that the top five dog breeds in the UK - labrador, French bulldog, Cocker spaniel, Daschund and English bulldog - make up half of pedigree registrations
Bar chart and stacked bar showing that the top five dog breeds in the UK - labrador, French bulldog, Cocker spaniel, Daschund and English bulldog - make up half registrations.
Image showing how hard it is to compare the size of similar wedges in a pie chart
Bar chart showing how easy it is to compare the lengths of similarly-sized bars
Pie chart showing supermarket market share in the UK, organised largest to smallest and labelled
Bar chart showing supermarket market share in the UK, ordered largest to smallest. Tesco is at the top with 27%.
Pie chart showing that the first 3 wedges are a similar size. Dunnes 22.1%, Supervalu 22%, Tesco 21.5%
Bar chart showing that the first 3 wedges are a similar size but look different. Dunnes 22.1%, Supervalu 22%, Tesco 21.5%
Pie chart showing equally-sized wedges for five parties. The slight differences in value are obscured.
Pie chart incorrectly used. Too many wedges and not showing a composition or part to whole story. It shows the Top 10 wealthiest nations per capita.
Bar chart showing GDP per person for the Top 10 wealthiest countries. It is clear and easy to read, with Monaco and Luxembourg heading the list.
Bar chart showing similarly-sized bars. The small differences between them are immediately obvious.
Pie chart showing that 50% of Fox News viewers believe that Bill Gates is using Covid vaccines to implant microchips in you.
Better use of a pie chart. It shows that 83% of Democrats support the legalisation of marijuana.
Isotype chart (rows of people) showing that 83% of Democrats support the legalisation of marijuana
Waffle chart (stacks of squares, 10 rows by 10 columns). 83 of the 100 squares filled in, to show that 83% of Democrats support legalising marijuana.
Pie chart with a single value - 12% of British baby boys have one of the Top 10 names. Oliver is the top name.
Pie chart with a single value. showing that 9% of girls have one of the Top 10 baby names. The top name is Olivia.
Pie chart with about 40 wedges. Far too many.
Pie chart where the smaller wedges have been tidied into an 'Other' slice.
Pie chart showing how Shakespeare's characters die. Many wedges, the biggest one is 'stabbed', followed by 'natural causes'
Pie chart showing the many different religious groups in the UK. Christianity is top (59%). Smaller wedges include Jedi, Pagan and Witch.
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William Playfair's original pie chart - not starting at 12 o'clock or going clockwise
Example pie charts. Those that go anti-clockwise and those that don't start at 12 o'clock are harder to read.
Doctor Who graphic from Facts are Sacred. Pies go backwards. Others don't start at 12 o'clock.
Doughnut chart from Facts are Sacred that doesn't start at 12 o'clock. It shows Employment by nationality in the UK and breaks down the non-UK workforce.
Pie charts showing UK supermarkets and their share of the total market. Tesco is top with 27%. The pie chart wedges don't start at 12 o'clock but are angled downwards.
Two pie charts showing that a third of workers in major sectors were born outside the UK. The two pie charts are mirrored.
A pie chart tilted round, showing that 38% of UK energy is generated by renewables. A stacked bar next to it shows that two-thirds of this renewable energy is bioenergy.
A pie chart rotated so that the key wedge is on the right-hand side. It shows that 17% of the US diet is meat. A bar chart shows that almost half of the meat consumed is chicken.
Pie chart, bar chart, treemap and bubble chart all ordered randomly. Then ordered from the largest to smallest value.
Pie chart showing when UK people go to the movies. It is ordered biggest to smallest so Saturday is first. The days are out of order which reads strangely.
Pie chart showing which days Brits go to the cinema. The days are placed in order, starting with Monday and ending on Sunday. Saturday is the biggest wedge.
Pie chart showing whether people in the US support or oppose a wealth tax. The strongly support to strongly oppose spectrum is randomly ordered and hard to read.
Pie chart showing Americans' views on a wealth tax. The wedges are ordered strongly support (53%), then somewhat support, neither support nor oppose, somewhat oppose, strongly oppose.
Pie chart showing North, NorthEast, SouthEast, SouthWest and West London. The wedges are positioned in keeping with geographical orientation, not by the largest to smallest wedge.
Pie chart showing North, NorthEast, SouthEast, SouthWest and West London. The wedges are positioned in keeping with geographical orientation, not by the largest to smallest wedge.
Pie chart showing power production by source in Germany. Not ordered largest to smallest. Harder to read.
Pie chart showing power production by source in Germany. Ordered largest to smallest. Renewables is first, representing almost half of power production. Then coal at 24%.
Pie chart with randonly-ordered wedges, and another pie chart ordered largest to smallest. It is easier to read.
Horizontal bar chart with randomly-ordered bars. Another bar chart with the bars ordered largest to smallest. The second is easier to read.
Bubble chart with bubbles ordered randomly. A second bubble chart with the bubbles ordered largest to smallest. The second is easier to read.
Treemap with the boxes ordered randomly. Second treemap with the boxes ordered (roughly) largest to smallest. The second is more readable.
Pie chart showing who British people want to succeed the Queen. Prince William beats Prince Charles.
Pie chart showing who British people want to succeed the Queen. Prince William is the biggest wedge and is flying out of the side. It looks strange.
Guardian doughnut chart showing government incomings and outgoings. The gap between the two halves of the doughnut is dramatised by a large red wedge, representing borrowing.
Pie chart showing that a third of Syrians have fled abroad since the civil war. The 30% wedge is moved out of the main pie slightly to indicate that the country is fractured.
Pie chart showing that a fifth of the Brazilian Amazon has been lost since 1970. The 20% is wedge is moved out of the main pie slightly to indicate that the forest has been torn away.
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Pie chart showing global land use. Agriculture is over a third. There are no borders between the wedges, so they are all clearly visible and accurately sized.
Pie chart showing global land use. The wedges have borders. The thin slivers representing built-up areas (1%) and lakes and rivers (1%) become almost invisible.
Pie chart showing that two-thirds of people believe that income distribution in England is unfair. There is a border between the very unfair/unfair wedges and the rest.
Doughnut chart showing that two thirds of Shakespeare's characters are royalty or upper class. There is a border between the doughnut wedges.
Bar chart showing the death tally in Shakespeare's plays (Richard III is top). A pie chart breaks down the causes (stabbed is most common). All the wedges are the same colour so borders are required.
Stacked bar showing that Shakespeare's characters are mostly royalty or upper class. Pie charts break this down by gender. The pies are one colour so a border is required between wedges.
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Horizontal stacked bar showing population breakdown in Germany, Turkey and Ireland. Too many categories are shown.
Waffle charts showing population breakdown in Germany, Turkey and Ireland. Too many datapoints are shown.
Stacked bar and waffle chart showing population breakdown in Germany, Ireland, Turkey. Just one value called out so that it is clearer.
Three pie charts side by side, each with too many values
Three side by side pie charts, with just the key values pulled out. The higher proportion of old people in Germany compared to Ireland and Turkey.
A row of clocks in an airport
Pie charts showing homophobia in the UK and how it has decreased over time. Stacked bars showing the same, less effectively.
Pie charts showing the gender split in various professions, with men dominating in all of them. Stacked bars and bars showing the same, less effectively.
Doughnut charts showing UK phobias, with heights at the top (58% of Brits get vertigo)
Pie charts showing breakdown of Qatari population by continent. 90% of Qataris are foreign nationals. 1 in 4 are from India.
Example of a bad, cluttered dashboard
Four doughnuts charts showing high levels of prejudice against immigrants in Romania (88%) and Italy (68%). Lower in Sweden (22%)
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