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Paul Millerd

Chart Teardown: McKinsey Cardiovascular Trends

Published 6 months ago • 1 min read

I love breaking down interesting charts.

One of my favorite resources to help you make sense of charts is McKinsey’s Chart of the Day.

Each day, they share a chart on a newsworthy topic, providing the perfect opportunity to practice.

Here's a recent one on the global women's health gap:

In our workshops, we like to teach people to think about charts using the 10-second test. Look at the chart above. Time yourself, 10 seconds. Can you understand it?

If not, maybe it could be better.

Here's a breakdown of what I see:

What is working?

  • Focus on key takeaway: The chart immediately communicates its focus on the women's health gap and calls out the largest opportunity (cardiovascular disease) in the lede and on the right hand side.
  • Effective use of color: The chart uses a contrasting color scheme to highlight the difference between diseases, drawing your attention to cardiovascular disease.
  • Proportional representation: The size of each box is proportional to its percentage, providing a quick visual understanding of the relative importance of each condition. Chart-making tools in Google Slides or PPT should do this for you.
  • Iconography: Simple icons are used to represent each health condition, this makes the chart much easier to digest quickly.
  • Hierarchical information: The chart is arranged by opportunity (from largest to smallest, with "all other" at the end). This would be harder to digest if the conditions were placed in a different order. Every chart should be arranged in the most intuitive way possible.

What could be better?

  • Time Context: While the chart mentions 2040, it could benefit from providing current data for comparison to show the projected change over time. I'd at least make the 2040 call out bigger, as I had to read the chart several times before I understood that it was a projection into the future.
  • Definition of "Health Gap": The chart assumes readers understand what "health gap" means. A brief explanation or footnote defining this term would be helpful.
  • Source Information: While the source is mentioned, more details on the study or data collection methods would enhance credibility.

Once you start seeing opportunities like this, you'll never look at charts the same.

Notice the charts you read in the news and other sources:

  • what works well?
  • what could be improved?
  • what action the chart is inspiring?

Remember, charts are an easy way to manipulate people or fit data into an existing storyline. Check out this blog on "How to lie with Charts." ​

Paul Millerd

Creator of StrategyU

Freelancer, creator & writer

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