Jon Moon
Clarity and impact
Fun stuff
Also, see further below for the useful & the other (gratuitous plugs).
First, here's stuff that's been in my email updates. To receive these updates and see more of this nonsense - plus useful stuff too - enter your details here.
A truly awful graph that's just like a Jackson Pollock painting...
A great pie chart - which is a phrase I've never said before
A Michael Jackson graph (fear not, it's not in bad taste)
The Beatles' "Hey Jude", as a flowchart...
A fantastic pdf - a "bar of pies" and "pie of bars"
A Fox News pie with a tiny error on it... can you spot it?
How to fool bosses that you're working, from lastminute.com
Which is the worst pie? Which? is the worst pie
Sky News' marvellously bad column chart of the UK election
And now, even there are even M&S joke pies
"Examine the pink doughnut. Then sit and weep" - an article by Matthew Parris, Times, Jan 2007. A wonderfully cruel look at trendy "consultancy" charts - forward the link to anyone you know who does them. (The article also slags off New Labour - which you may like or loathe, depending on your allegiances.)
How to not use PowerPoint. It's a great 4 minute YouTube video by Don McMillan. Alternatively, there's now a 10 minute version (thanks to Szymon for telling me about it). It's a better image quality and has extra stuff. I laughed out loud at the pie chart that appears at 9.00 mins.
The Huhcorp website (and its sister one, Duhcorp). Its photos parody all the cheesy clichéd stuff that businesses show. The more we parody dumb photos, the less we’ll use them. Read the sites' words too, they're great.
(Coincidentally, this photo's on the cover of a book called “How to make an impact” (not mine). Its Amazon reviews are hysterical.)
Pop charts, a book by Paul Copperwaite. It graphs the lyrics of pop songs. Rather fun. And if you like Pop Charts, try graphjam.com, it might appeal too. AndWant to find bad stuff yourself?
First, go hunting yourself. Do a Google Image search on words like "graphs", "3-D graph software", or even "kpi" or "dashboard" (speedometers really help bosses engage with information… don’t they?). Or marvel at these graphs.
Below is public sector stuff (which is no worse than the private sector but is more transparent, so we see how bad it is.)
DEFRA environment in your pocket: quickly scroll through this 96-page hardy annual that has lots of bad graphs - they turn up in force from about page 36 on.
(An aside: maybe DEFRA has taken notice of my comments... I set up this click-through in 2008, and, within 12 months, DEFRA repositioned the report on its site, so breaking the click-through, plus, in the next year's report, removed some graphs I'd criticised)
European Insurance Review of Insurance: again, quickly scroll through 164 pages. Bad graphs first surface about page 54, then appear fast and furious after that. Page 66 of 164 is groovy. Page 71 of 164 is bizarre – why's it a line graph?!The useful (educational, helpful and more)
The Non-Designer’s Design Book by Robin Williams. A great easy-to-read book for all us, not just for arty types with Apple Macs. There’s no screen shots or computer instructions. You learn what to do, not how to do it on a computer.
Plain English Campaign. Fun, educational, useful. Check the Golden Bull award and the free guides. There's also free software that checks your documents for waffle (“Drivel Defence”). If you try it, let me know what it’s like.
Fight the bull website. This too has free software that checks your work for waffle (“Bullfighter”)- again, if you try it, let me know what it’s like. There's also a wonderfully titled book: "Why business people speak like idiots".
"Ask ET" page on Edward Tufte's website. Click on the link, then scroll down a bit to see his discussion threads. Fascinating and worth a browse. He's Professor Emeritus at Yale University.
"Write to sell" by Andy Maslen. A fantastic little book on how to write persuasively. It's aimed at people that write marketing flyers, adverts, etc, but it's full of great ideas that'll make a big difference to most people's writing.
The other
BiteSize Learning. I met this bunch and like the way they work. They don’t feel the need to unnecessarily stretch things out for a whole day. Most of their Courses are just 90 minutes. Short, cost-effective, punchy, BiteSized, modular. A great way to change behaviour. Give them a try.
FD Solutions. I like the idea behind this award-winning company: it provides part-time Finance Directors (FDs) for outfits that want an FD but who aren’t big enough to appoint someone full-time. And they're a nice bunch too. Finally, you’ll like its documents, they have real clarity and impact...
