Gallery of Data Visualization The Best and Worst of Statistical Graphics
This page is dedicated to John W. Tukey, who taught us all that seeing may be believing or disbelieving, but above all, data analysis involves visual, as well as statistical, understanding.

Michael Friendly
Statistical Consulting Service and Psychology Department
York University

This Gallery of Data Visualization displays some examples of the Best and Worst of Statistical Graphics, with the view that the contrast may be useful, inform current practice, and provide some pointers to both historical and current work. We go from what is arguably the best statistical graphic ever drawn, to the current record-holder for the worst.

• Like good writing, good graphical displays of data communicate ideas with clarity, precision, and efficiency.
• Like poor writing, bad graphical displays distort or obscure the data, make it harder to understand or compare, or otherwise thwart the communicative effect which the graph should convey.

The page is organized as a collection of images, along with a few of the 1000 words each may be worth and some links to original sources. To reduce transmission time, most of the images are presented as thumbnails, with links to larger originals. Click on the thumnail image or on the words "Full size".

Laurels	Darts
Historical milestones	The Lie Factor
Bright ideas	Goosed-Up Graphics
Graphical Excellence	Missed Opportunities
Visual explanation	Context: Compared to What?
Visual delights	Have Something to Say

Other topics

• Milestones in the History of Thematic Cartography, Statistical Graphics and Data Visualization
• Timelines and Visual Histories