Steve Fenton

Before we get started I just wanted to confirm that I do not go out in search of bad charts on The Web. In all the cases where I highlight the problems of a given chart, they have come to me as part of daily life. Because of this, they sometimes appear on a website […]

How long has it been since I last spotted a rubbish pie chart. Okay, I admit it – it was last month. It is actually quite easy to spot them because actually all pie charts are awful. So why is this one so bad? Simple. A two-dimensional pie chart has been proven to be hard […]

My views on pie charts are well known, but that isn’t to say that all other charts are good. The problem with pie charts is that they make it hard to understand information, but with many other charts, the problem is how people use sneaky tricks to deceive you. Whether it is a strange use […]

From 5th to 11th March 2012, it’s British Pie Week. While I am a keen supporter of British Pies, especially the Apply Pie my Wife makes, this week serves as a timely reminder on how data is the worst ingredient for a pie. On the same day that British Pie Week launched, I happened upon […]

It seems to me that the tide is now turning against the pie chart. Most of the discussions I discover these days are via track-backs to my website where someone has cited one of my opinion pieces in a discussion about how pie charts are pretty much always the wrong way to display your data. […]

If you are going to use a pie chart (please don’t use a pie chart) then you need to know the rules of the pie chart. I actually don’t think anyone ever needs to use a pie chart, they are very nearly always the wrong chart for the data you want to display and despite […]

The latest in what is threatening to become a series of insidious examples of pie charts in a real special pie chart. This one was spotted by Mr R Lambert of Winchester. Even if you were a fan of pie charts you would have to admit that there are massive problems here. For starters, those […]

You will probably be well aware by now that I think that pie charts are the worst way to display your data. As well as that article, I have occasionally found the need to talk about how much I dislike pie charts – and this is just such an occasion. Today, I have an example […]

I have been known to give pie charts a bad time because in a vast majority of cases, they are the wrong choice for displaying the kinds of data they are used for. It isn’t just pie charts that are utterly rubbish though. Any chart has the potential to suck in many ways. The problem […]

You might have heard me mention that pie charts are bad and should never be used and you may have read my article explaining why you should never use pie charts. Well, every now and then a really good example pops up to illustrate exactly why you shouldn’t waste time on those little circular devils, […]