Dashboard

A dashboard means graphs. And, of course, graphs mean pie charts. Therefore dashboard means pie charts, doesn’t it? We all know and love the simple pie chart. Or do we? Is the pie chart really the best graph to place on our dashboards?

Dashboarding veteran Stephen Few issues some great warnings against using dashboard pie charts in his latest newsletter. The feature article entitled Save the Pies for Dessert explains why we dashboarders should not eat the pie.

Take a look at this excerpt. There is a great analysis of why line graphs are better than pie charts when comparing relative quantities:

Stephen Few’s stance against the pie chart is well known. In his course on graph design, he shocks his students by railing against the use. They are quite during the class but come to him during the break to defend their frequent use of pie chart graphics.

In the article, Few does state that the pie graph does have its strengths - primarily that the “part to the whole” message very clearly comes through. Fractions are easily understood by all.

However, the difficulties of pie charting rapidly make themselves clear once you start portraying the data relationships typically found in enterprise dashboards. The advantages of line charts, bar graphs and other graph forms make the pie chart basically unusable.

Take a look at the article for the details. I think you’ll agree with me that this article on pie charting is destined to be the definitive guide to whether us dashboard designers should eat the pie chart or not.

The article also explains the history of the pie chart. I’ve exerpted some of the early pie chart graphs over at The Dashboard Spy site.

Tags: Dashboard Metrics, Dashboard Graphs, Dashboard Pie Chart, History of the Pie Chart, Pie Chart vs. Line Graph

What do you think about this dashboard post? Please leave a comment. Your opinions are valuable to the entire business dashboarding community.  

2 Responses to “Don’t Eat the Dashboard Pie Chart”

1. The Square Pie Chart Said on July 27th, 2008 at 9:13 pm quote

   [...] Do you have pie chart graphs on your business dashboard? Everyone loves the pie chart. Business users love to casually use (and abuse) it as it’s the first graph that comes to mind. And as for you data visualization experts out there among the Dashboard Spy readers, admit it - you just love to hate the pie chart because of it’s constant misuse. (See Don’t Eat the Dashboard Pie Chart) [...]

2. More on the Pie Chart Said on August 22nd, 2008 at 6:06 am quote

   [...] Don’t Eat the Pie Chart where we examined warnings against using pie charts. I guess we should jump on the bandwagon of not liking pie charts! [...]

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Last Modified: Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 @ 17:15

This business intelligence dashboard blog entry was posted on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 at 4:52 pm and is filed under Dashboard Screenshots. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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