He argues you cannot accurately see trends when you compare pie charts side by side. Tufte’s dogma often unravels when you press on it just a little. Certainly a pie chart with 10 slices is difficult to compare over time. But it depends on the data you have, as well as the impact you want on the audience. A line chart shows trends more clearly than side by side pie chartsĪgain, this is often true. The ordering tells you which is larger, right?Ģ. In fact, if you sort your pie slices from largest to smallest, you don’t need to depend on visual comparisons. On the contrary – this is extremely common in business presentations where the goal is to tee up issues for discussion, not just lay out the data for detailed study and comparison.
Which graph demonstrates that more clearly?įew admits there is research (Spence and Stephan Lewandowky, 1991) demonstrating pie charts are superior in this case, but he assumes this is a very “rare in the real world”.
Clearly, a bar chart gives more precise comparisons.īut what if, instead, the only point you want to make is that the 2 largest distributors control 65% of the market. It’s not necessary to see that one slice is 1% larger than another slice to have that discussion.įor instance, take this pie chart from Stephen Few’s article. Sometimes you only need approximate values so you can engage in a discussion. But not every chart is about making precise comparisons. A bar chart allows more accurate comparison than slices in a pie chart And I’ll tell you why.įirst, let’s consider the critics’ valid criticisms:ġ. Cole Nussbaumer says “ Death to pie charts.” Edward Tufte says “ the only thing worse than a pie chart is several of them.” Stephen Few says “ save the pies for dessert“. Some critics have come crashing down hard on pie charts.
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