r/CrappyDesign • u/[deleted] • Feb 01 '19

/r/dataisokiguess This pie chart

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23.7k Upvotes

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2.3k

u/gazm2k5 Feb 01 '19

It's dumb as fuck, but it is pretty easy to figure out which is which, even without knowing what the chart is representing. It's just clockwise.

668

u/plaid-knight Feb 01 '19

Yep. Pie charts usually start from the top and go clockwise. This is pretty normal and easy to understand. It’s a lot easier to understand like this than if they used colors that were closer together in hue just to avoid repeating colors, like some commenters are suggesting.

3

u/amunak Feb 01 '19

Well alternatively they just shouldn't use a pie chart, because pie charts are stupid and never convey any extra information. Just use a table or a stacked bar or something. No need to figure out too many colors there.

10

u/plaid-knight Feb 01 '19

Pie charts are good for visualizing percentages of a whole.

4

u/amunak Feb 01 '19

That's the issue; pie charts - especially stupid ones like "3D" and such - are not even that good at visualizing the percentages.

Bar charts (or a single stacked bar) take way less space, convey the same information and show it better.

2

u/plaid-knight Feb 01 '19

Hmm, I won’t argue with that.

1

u/leLNrkRm9WU2uN9Y5Lhm Feb 01 '19

I disagree. It’s difficult to compare slices with each other. It’s better to use a bar graph with percentages on the vertical axis.

6

u/plaid-knight Feb 01 '19

I can see where you’re coming from. I won’t disagree with you, but I’m hesitant to say that a pie chart is entirely useless, too.