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Charts of ranking
Use where an item’s position in an ordered list is more important than its absolute or relative value. Don’t be afraid to highlight the points of interest.
For a chart to be truly insightful, context is crucial because it provides us with the visual answer to an important question – ‘compared with what’? No number on its own is inherently big or small – we need context to make that judgement.
Common contextual comparisons in charts are provided by time (“compared with last year . . . ”) and place (“compared with the north . . . ”). With ranking, context is provided by relative performance (“compared with our rivals . . . ”). ...
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