Wonky graphs of 2012

December 28, 2012 8:17 AM

2012: The year in graphs - as picked by the Washington Post Wonkblog's favorite economists, political scientist, politicians and other wonkys.
posted by Artw (17 comments total)

Why is some guy named Sam Wang getting credit for a Randall Munroe comic?
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:27 AM on December 28, 2012

Because you read neither the preamble to the article or the text of the FPP?
posted by Artw at 8:30 AM on December 28, 2012 [2 favorites]

Conspicuously(?) absent: The "Lobbying ROI Charts."
posted by ZenMasterThis at 9:06 AM on December 28, 2012 [3 favorites]

-The Most Important Charts of 2012
-Everything You Need To Know About the Economy in 2012, in 34 Charts
posted by kliuless at 10:55 AM on December 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's interesting how two of these stand out stylistically: this one for its ersatz hominess, and this one for its silly high-tech.
posted by benito.strauss at 10:58 AM on December 28, 2012

Demonstrating to no one's surprise that Democrats are exceedingly dense.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:59 AM on December 28, 2012 [2 favorites]

When I'm God Emperor of the Universe I'm going to make it mandatory that the Y axis on graphs ALWAYS start at zero, not whatever value makes the ups and downs look cooler. I'll also take advice on whether every graph showing financial data must go back at least one century on the X axis, but it's a strong preference.
posted by alasdair at 11:27 AM on December 28, 2012 [4 favorites]

Yesterday's violin plot for "moist" on LanguageLog deserves an honorable mention
posted by shesdeadimalive at 12:50 PM on December 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

alasdair: "When I'm God Emperor of the Universe I'm going to make it mandatory that the Y axis on graphs ALWAYS start at zero, not whatever value makes the ups and downs look cooler. "

Preach it, brother! That really pisses me off. And it seems like it's done on every graph.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 1:01 PM on December 28, 2012

For most of these graphs zero is as arbitrary as any other number.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 1:06 PM on December 28, 2012

All temperatures to be measured in degrees Kelvin.
posted by Artw at 1:14 PM on December 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

Our favorite charts of 2012
posted by kliuless at 1:30 PM on December 28, 2012

There are some impressively ugly & barely comprehensible graphs in all these roundups. (Special mention to the one in the Business Insider with ALLCAPS bright blue Comic Sans.) Also a suspicious number that I'm pretty sure were just generated with the defaults in Excel.
posted by epersonae at 3:55 PM on December 28, 2012

These graphs sure are wonky, in the original sense, meaning broken, slanted or useless.
posted by scruss at 4:03 PM on December 28, 2012

When I'm God Emperor of the Universe I'm going to make it mandatory that the Y axis on graphs ALWAYS start at zero...

Right on, man ... especially those log axes!
posted by ZenMasterThis at 5:41 PM on December 28, 2012

These charts deserve a place on any "best of" list: Guns and Gun Deaths, State by State.
posted by madamjujujive at 3:16 PM on December 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

America in 2012, as Told in Charts
posted by kliuless at 2:56 PM on January 2