Data Visualization Concepts

With inspiration from radar charts and Wordle, the chart immediately below this paragraph shows the relative quality and importance of a variety of parameters (such as those used to program a medical device). Thicker line weights (with labels of correspondingly large font sizes) are given to more important parameters, while the degree of optimization for any given parameter is shown by the proximity of the marker to the center. Each parameter's marker is also color-coded to indicate whether the value is desirable (green), acceptable (yellow), or unacceptable (red). Finally, the size of the range of possible values of each parameter is represented by the length of its spoke. Parameters represented by short spokes have a very tight range, while those with longer spokes have a very wide range.

The next chart is a slightly different way of showing a lot of the same information conveyed in the above chart. However, in this chart, all ranges of possible values are normalized to a standard width, while a green band representing the range of desired values grows or shrinks in accordance with its size relative to the parameter's overall range of potential values.

Taking a cue from Google Finance and this New York Times graphic, the following chart shows the popularity of two diferent values for a given parameter (such as one used to program a medical device) among patients in a specific age range. This allows for a quick inspection of programming trends over time.