A response to the challenge at FlowingData.
The original graph – people are getting fatter, but it is hard to see:
My approach:
My main “beef” with the graph above, is that comparison is difficult, if not impossible. This is of course due to the data gaps, but it could easily be fix with a guideline of some sort. Adding an age-group average, makes it much easier for the viewer to see if the level of obesity is in fact high or low.
Of course the problem with the data gap still exists. And the age-group average will most likely be underestimated here. But now there is some level of comparison.
Final result:
I calculated an index in Excel where 100 = the age-group average. Then grouped the periods with a stacked column graph. I copied the graph into Illustrator and played around a bit. The final result is multiple indexes/histograms aligned with the different periods.
Regardless of which age-group you choose to look at now, the trend is quite clear: Obesity has increased over time.
Tags: challenge, communication, design, FlowingData, graph, Obesity, trend, visualization
A very good one
good job