Commentary: How Deceptive are Deceptive Visualizations?

Based on the analysis presented in “How Deceptive are Deceptive Visualizations?”, it is clear the answer is “Potentially very”. With fairly simple techniques of deception, techniques that I would say could be mistaken for simply poor graph design, the researchers were able to both understate, exaggerate and even reverse the meanings of datasets. This is of course very fun and interesting, but the implications can be dire. As suggested in the analysis, many people don’t even seem to consider that visualizations can be skewed, and thus accept the image they’re presented as accurate and true.

It is important both as a consumer and visualization designer to be aware of this, and, in my opinion, actively try to counteract these effects in visualizations we create ourselves.