Chart tip: annotate the moment that matters instead of leaving spikes unexplained
panickssery · x · 2026-10-31
In the second installment of his chart-principles thread, panickssery argues the other half of chart-making is adding back the few words that explain it. A side-by-side example shows a clean support-ticket chart whose spike goes unexplained versus a version with a shaded band and two inline notes (Mar 3: v4.2 ships with a login bug; Mar 10: fix rolled out), so readers grasp the cause right where it happens with no footnote to chase. Citing a study Burn-Murdoch references, he notes the most minimal charts ranked lowest with readers—place each note next to the thing it explains, in the same small type as your labels.
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