The week 28 challenge is up on Emma's blog. Basically, you need to:

1. Create a map
2. Create a barbell chart
3. Have the map interact with the barbell chart
4. Include an option for users to add custom annotations

Earlier today I wrote about this great viz from Business Insider. In particular I really like the annotations.


I had a few minutes this morning so I decided to build a Tableau version. The first problem I ran into was getting the data in fiscal quarters. I couldn't find the data quickly, so I went with calendar quarter data that I found on Bare Figures. My data doesn't match the original above due to the calendaring, but that wasn't the point of the exercise. This was all about practice for me.

Essentially I wanted to replicate the viz with a more impactful title and some other minor formatting changes. Here's what I came up with. Click on the image for the interactive version.

For this week's Makeover Monday, I look back at Tableau Public's Viz of the Day from December 8 about the recent dip in oil prices. Take a look at the viz below and gather your own thoughts about it before reading mine below.


What can be improved?

• The title doesn't tell us anything about the visualisation itself. It's important that titles engage the readers and let them know what to expect. Or the title could provide a headline for the story.
• The title says 1986-present, yet the initial visualisation shows only 2005-2015.
• The subtitle says that the viz shows "a look at previous August prices", yet every month in shown.
• There are too many lines with too many colours. Try adding all of the years back to 1986. It really gets messy then.
• It's too hard to see the overall trend from 2005-2015. The peaks and valleys are nearly impossible to see.
• The table on the bottom right is in reverse chronological order. Why? And what does the colour on the background of the table mean? It's not necessary.