Size matters, and (chart-wise) the smaller the better. In this series of posts we’ll discuss how you can greatly improve your data analysis and communication efficiency just by designing smaller charts. Reducing chart size forces us to remove unnecessary junk, and it is a first step in a journey that will lead us to microcharts, or sparklines, the “wordlike” charts proposed by Edward Tufte.

Please note that microcharts or even small-sized regular charts are resolution-dependent and you can’t take full advantage of them if resolution is waste. To understand this we need some background information. We’ll start by the role of screen resolution in (business) information visualization.

Let me ask you this: are you still using a 640 x 480 screen resolution? Or a one mega pixel digital camera? Or a 150 dpi matrix printer? Probably not, but why?

Because the higher the resolution, the better, right? And why do we want more resolution in screens, digital photography or printers? Simple: because we can afford to process it. Our visual system not only easily manages the increased level of detail associated with higher resolutions, but it actually begs for that detail.

Higher resolutions mean that we can have a better understanding of what is displayed, based on several layers of detail that we can read it in a split second without extra effort. We are built that way. Quoting Tufte:

By showing vast amounts of data within the eyespan, spatial adjacency assists comparison, search, pattern-finding, exploration, replication, review. (Tufte, Beautiful Evidence)

Compare the images below: why should you use the larger chart if the smaller one conveys the same message? Correct chart size can also be task-dependent, specially if you need some sort of interaction with the chart, but if you have less data for the same screen real estate you may be unable to add essential information for your decision-making processes.

Note that even our best screen resolutions are still far from the eye resolution. Higher resolutions make the image similar to our daily experience. Stuck in a 604 x 480-resolution world you wouldn’t dare to cross a street because you wouldn’t have enough information to do it safely. (You may want to read the Wikipedia articles for dpi and ppi.)

With our massive data gathering capabilities, today’s businesses can’t afford to be traped in a low resolution information visualization. Screen real estate must be viewed as a premium item and must be carefully managed. To remain efficient, a regular chart like the one you create using Excel’s chart library must be much smaller. When appropriate, just replace it with a microchart and you’ll have a much more optimized display.

Quoting Tufte again:

With resolutions 5 to 100 times conventional graphics and tables, sparklines can help us learn from the flood of numbers produced by modern measurement, monitoring, and surveillance technologies. Providing a straightforward and contextual look at intense evidence, sparkline graphics give us some chance to be approximately right rather than exactly wrong.

If you haven’t yet, take a look at good examples of how BonaVista’s MicroCharts can use screen resolution efficiently to display a large array of data while creating an aesthetically pleasing experience.

So, higher resolution seems to naturally lead to higher data density. But when it comes to information visualization, there is a bizarre twist in the mass market that we’ll explore in the next post. Stay tuned!