The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics: The Dos and Don'ts of Presenting Data, Facts, and Figures [Hardcover]

Dona M. Wong (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 2010

The definitive guide to the graphic presentation of information.

In today’s data-driven world, professionals need to know how to express themselves in the language of graphics effectively and eloquently. Yet information graphics is rarely taught in schools or is the focus of on-the-job training. Now, for the first time, Dona M. Wong, a student of the information graphics pioneer Edward Tufte, makes this material available for all of us. In this book, you will learn:

• to choose the best chart that fits your data;
• the most effective way to communicate with decision makers when you have five minutes of their time;
• how to chart currency fluctuations that affect global business;
• how to use color effectively;
• how to make a graphic “colorful” even if only black and white are available.

The book is organized in a series of mini-workshops backed up with illustrated examples, so not only will you learn what works and what doesn’t but also you can see the dos and don’ts for yourself. This is an invaluable reference work for students and professional in all fields.

500+ illustrations

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Through two decades of experience in financial graphics, Dona M. Wong has devoted her career to bridging the analytical and the visual world. Wong began her career in visual journalism at The New York Times in the 1990s, where she was the graphics editor of the daily Business, Sunday Business, and Monday Media Business sections. She became the graphics director for The Wall Street Journal in 2001. During her nine-year tenure at The Journal, Wong was responsible for setting the graphics standard for the newspaper, making visual sense of complex data for readers. Wong has a MFA degree from Yale University, where she completed her dissertation on information design with thesis advisor Edward Tufte, a recognized authority on data visualization. Today she is the strategy director for information design at the global consulting firm Siegel+Gale, a pioneer in simplifying customer communications. She lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (January 4, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393072959
• ISBN-13: 978-0393072952
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Business & Investing > Skills > Running Meetings & Presentations

More About the Author

Through two decades of experience in financial graphics, Dona M. Wong has devoted her career to bridging the analytical and the visual world. Wong began her career in visual journalism at The New York Times in the 1990s, where she was the graphics editor of the daily Business, Sunday Business, and Monday Media Business sections. She became the graphics director for The Wall Street Journal in 2001. During her nine-year tenure at The Journal, Wong was responsible for setting the graphics standard for the newspaper, making visual sense of complex data for readers. Wong has a MFA degree from Yale University, where she completed her dissertation on information design with thesis advisor Edward Tufte, a recognized authority on data visualization. Today she is the strategy director for information design at the global consulting firm Siegel+Gale, a pioneer in simplifying customer communications. She lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, January 9, 2010

By 

I Teach Typing (Stanford, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics: The Dos and Don'ts of Presenting Data, Facts, and Figures (Hardcover)

This short easy read is a beautiful introduction to how to make professional graphics. Because the WSJ is featured in the title, I was a bit nervous that the entire book would be focused on visualizing financial data but it has great advice for anyone who needs to visualize numeric data. I really enjoyed it because there is unique advice that adds to other practical books on visualization like Creating More Effective Graphs, and it nicely complements or leads into classics like The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition or Visualizing Data.

The first chapter covers basic issues like how many colors, what colors, how many lines, etc.. The second, which is the bulk of the book, contrasts effective and poor graphics on side by side pages. There is concise useful advice on truncating ranges, breaking axes, using broken bar graphs, how many pie pieces, etc. The advice is beyond simple do or do not break a bar, it discusses how much of a discrepancy in the height of a bar chart merits a break. While other books have advice that ends with "do or do not use some graphics" (like pie charts), this one has great advice on when it makes sense to do things like break graphics into sets of pictures, use broken bars in bar charts, how and when to set scales (so that graphics afford meaningful comparisons) and how to make the best use of pie charts. There is a short section on descriptive statistics, when to use means, medians, plotting percentages vs actual changes, etc. and there is a surprisingly nice section on the algebra for setting axes which I have never seen written up. The final two chapters deal with specialize topics like plotting financial matters or plotting time series and relations among groups.

The only real down side is there is no discussion of what tools to use to make the graphics or how the graphics in this book were rendered. Despite this, the book is superb because it covers the material in adequate detail and it gives insights that are either not covered at all or are scattered across many sources.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars useful and usable guidelines for creating charts and graphs, January 18, 2010

By 

G. Withers - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics: The Dos and Don'ts of Presenting Data, Facts, and Figures (Hardcover)

An excellent set of guidelines for the effective use of graphical information in a document, website, or presentation. The book is very well laid out, easy to follow, and just makes sense.

The book focuses primarily on bar charts and line graphs. I wish the book were longer. It would be great if it covered more types of information graphics, with further criteria on how to select the best graphic for the job.

This is a great companion to Robert L. Harris's Information Graphics. While Harris's book is much more extensive, I feel this book gives better advice for creating clear, effective graphics.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A bible for visual communication, January 12, 2010

By 

Lee Featherby (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics: The Dos and Don'ts of Presenting Data, Facts, and Figures (Hardcover)

As the Managing Director of an organisatioon that creates high end presentations for clients, as well as train them in the same, we are constantly wrestling with creating infographics that are clear, concise and communicate their message effectively. So, it was with eager anticiaption that I awaited the arrival of Dona Wong's "The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics" and I must say I was delighted after perusing its content. Rarely do your read a book that crystalises all that can be said in an area of communication in a way that Dona Wong has done in this book.

Written with a style and clarity that reflects her approach to infographics, it provides an outstanding guide to creating visuals that are clear and to the point. The book is itself an example of communicating without excess whilst delivering a message effectively. (If you have every read Edwarde Tufte's seminal books you will appreciate Dona's clarity)

I whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone who needs to create charts, tables or other figures and believe that Dona Wong takes over from where Tufte finished.