KIM HENZE

Chart to Evaluate (New York Times):

This chart does a great job of showing the deviation relationship of income changes from 2006-2014. The chart is easy to read because line length and position are the main graphical methods of representing data. Additionally, all text is horizontal, legible, and differentiable. The red color is used effectively to highlight negative income changes and stands out very legibly from the neutral color palette of the rest of the graph.

One critique of the chart, however, is that it would be difficult to quickly compare the positive changes of the 90+ percentile groups to the negative changes in the below-90 percentile groups. This graphical difficulty can be overcome by reading the numbers featured clearly on each bar line, but that, in a sense, defeats the benefit of having a chart rather than a table in the first place. Additionally, it might be seen as a distortion that the chart covers every tenth percentile but then has an additional 5th-interval percentile at the very top. I can understand that they were trying to add in more information, but the sudden switch in interval scale might distort a reader's understanding.

Chart Quiz:

*I have neither given nor received aid while working on this assignment. I have completed the graded portion before looking at anyone else's work on this assignment. Signed Kim Henze.