Actuarial Notes

Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten

By Stephen Few · Analytics Press · 2012

Study guide: Exam PCPA

A guide to designing tables and graphs that communicate quantitative information effectively and efficiently. Its publisher's description starts from the observation that most presentations of quantitative information are poorly designed, because almost no one has been trained to design tables and graphs for communication. The second edition was published by Analytics Press in June 2012; it runs from simple statistics and visual perception through table and graph design to telling stories with numbers, with practice exercises and answers.

On the syllabus

  • Exam PCPA — objectives C1–C3 (Domain C, Model Interpretation and Presentation); the outline cites the whole book, 2nd edition, as a book to be purchased (B).

Preface to Second Edition

1 Introduction

  • Purpose
  • Scope
  • Intended readers
  • Content preview
  • Communication style

2 Simple Statistics to Get You Started

  • Quantitative relationships
  • Numbers that summarize
  • Measures of money

3 Differing Roles of Tables and Graphs

  • Quantities and categories
  • Choosing the best medium of communication
  • Tables defined
  • When to use tables
  • Graphs defined
  • A brief history of graphs
  • When to use graphs

4 Fundamental Variations of Tables

  • Relationships in tables
  • Variations in table design
  • Table design solutions

5 Visual Perception and Graphical Communication

  • Mechanics of sight
  • Attributes of preattentive processing
  • Applying visual attributes to design
  • Gestalt principles of visual perception

6 Fundamental Variations of Graphs

  • Encoding data in graphs
  • Relationships in graphs
  • Graph design solutions

Practice in Selecting Tables and Graphs

7 General Design for Communication

  • Highlight
  • Organize
  • Integrate tables, graphs, and text

8 Table Design

  • Structural components of tables
  • Table design best practices

Practice in Table Design

9 General Graph Design

  • Maintain visual correspondence to quantity
  • Avoid 3D

10 Component-Level Graph Design

  • Primary data component design
  • Secondary data component design
  • Non-data component design

11 Displaying Many Variables at Once

  • Combining multiple units of measure
  • Combining graphs in a series of small multiples
  • Other arrangements of multi-graph series

12 Silly Graphs That Are Best Forsaken

  • Donut charts
  • Radar charts
  • Stacked area graphs for combining part-to-whole and time-series relationships
  • Circle charts
  • Unit charts
  • Funnel charts
  • Waterfall charts for simple part-to-whole relationships

Practice in Graph Design

13 Telling Compelling Stories with Numbers

  • Characteristics of well-told statistical stories
  • Stories in the wings

14 The Interplay of Standards and Innovation

Appendices

  • Table and Graph Design at a Glance
  • Recommended Reading
  • Adjusting for Inflation
  • Constructing Tables Lens Displays in Excel
  • Constructing Box Plots in Excel
  • Answers to Practice in Selecting Tables and Graphs
  • Answers to Practice in Table Design
  • Answers to Practice in Graph Design
  • Useful Color Palettes

Index

Sources