This competition proved not that easy. On one side, it seemed not that evident to hunt down convincing examples that were exceptional in both the ‘ugly’ as ‘useless’ category. On the other side, the choice between the different entries was not obvious, also because some of my favorites were not submitted according to the guidelines.
At least 2 entries stood out, as they were already broadly popularized in the media: the deliberately useless Health Care Reform Chart and the algorithmically incorrect pie chart by Fox News, highlighting the support for Palin. Both are good examples of how data visualization can be misused, intentionally as well as unintentionally.
But for the winners of this competition, we (= FusionCharts + infosthetics) decided to also award originality. We liked the graph titled “Two circulating beams bring first collisions in the LHC“, as its uncaptioned, unlabeled, unsmooth labels with an unnecessary logo almost in the middle of the data visualization does not really help. What probably makes it a bit worse is how it is part of an official “press release” of an important event, and somehow gives you the impression it aims for some higher scientific purpose which ordinary folks like us do not have the permission or intellect to understand. However, we do note the nice implied data symmetry and warm color choice :)…
We also appreciated the graph titled “In-Chart Encryption“, as a demonstration of how the use of pixels in a data-chart can really mean… not much to nothing. For instance, it is almost impossible to connect the chart to the legend. The slight 3D-like fancy tilt to one side even succeeds in making the trend more obscure than it already is by the strange choice of the two axes. Somehow, this visualization looks more like it is trying to hide or manipulate data than trying to convey a truthful insight.
Thanks to our long-term sponsor FusionCharts, these 2 winners will each receive a FusionCharts Developer Bundle, worth US$499. Fusioncharts specializes in interactive Flash charts, gauges and maps, and is used by companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Dell, HP, GE, and many more. The Developer bundle comprises one license each of FusionCharts (animated Flash charts for web apps), FusionWidgets (data visualization widgets for dashboards), PowerCharts (interactive charts for specialized domains) and FusionMaps (interactive online maps).
Explore all the submitted entries below. Did the right ones win?