Archive for the ‘ Analysis ’ Category

History of a Chart 4. “This Is The New Flesh”

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View interactive chart here

We saw from “Where Did All the Rockstars Go?” that todays bands are being outperformed by their heroes from the 70s and 80s. Yet rock still has a significant presence in the charts, so where are these albums coming from.

I decided to have a look at the numbers of different artists in the charts over time.
Whether it’s the advent of the internet and sites like Myspace giving every small wannabe band a chance at success, or the
labels are switching the investment capabilities they have left from a few big artists to many smaller ones, but there are significantly more rock  bands in the charts now than there was in the 70’s.
However, this could be explained by the fact that those 70’s bands still have a presence in the charts today. We need to find out how many unique bands there are in each decade – bands that are appearing in the charts for the first time.

Method

  1. Filter the Data: In order to focus JUST on new bands, and not have figures that incorporated long running bands I performed a filter on the data using Tableau.  Grouping the years into decades and listing the artists that appeared, I was able to filter out the bands that had appeared in the decade before, leaving just unique artists.
  2. Group the data: I also opted to group the years into decades which went someway to dictate the chart style. I took this decision in order to create a simple, hard hitting chart (the impact of the data sometimes gets lots in a busy chart and was not necessary in this case). Had I decided to use full yearly data I would have been better using a line or narrow bar chart without animation or use of a symbol.
  3. Decide on Chart Design: After some variations I settled on a simplified bar chart (so self sufficient that it did not have axes), with stacked symbols, each representing a set number value and distinguished by colour (explained by a very simple key). I decided a simple stack clearly showed the respective values. I kept within the colour themes of the project by showing rock as black, pop as pink and other as grey.
  4. Search for Symbol: I instinctively went for the MAN logo first, as this is an option within Tableau and seemed to sum up the story. However, I also tried the chart with guitar symbol, simple squares, circles and stars. However, I settled on the MAN logo.
  5. Animate: I decided to animate the chart within Flash – with a gradual reveal of each column building  – “pop” first, then “other” then finally “rock”. I felt this gradual “reveal” of the rock category actually increased the impact when it became apparent that rock produced more bands than the other groups. I created the completed chart, and in the same way as History of a Chart 3. “Where Did All the Rockstars Go?”, I imported the chart into Flash and  – over a series of keyframes – removed one “man” at a time. I then reversed the frames to the columns appeared to build.

Evolution

Inspiration:  n/a

Idea: To show the numbers of artists in the charts over time.

Method: I initially drew up a chart simply showing the numbers of bands in the charts, grouped into 1 of 3 categories, “rock”, “pop” and “other” categories. This was to free up the chart from the clutter of the smaller genres that did not significantly impact upon rock and pop.

Why Ditched: The chart clearly shows  a gradual increase in the number of artists over time, explained by artists from earlier years still being active in later years.

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2011
09/07
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History of a Chart 3. “Where Did All the Rockstars Go?”

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(click to see full interactive chart)

Inspiration: McCandless Vintage Years Red/White Wine

When your dad/uncle/big brother bemoans the state of rock today, saying it’s not what it used to be, have you ever thought they MAY have a point?

Chart data shows that most of the top performing rock bands of the past 40 years were active in the 70s’s, with 2 having major success in the 80s (Queen and Meatloaf) and just one in the 90s (Oasis).

This chart shows that artists were not relying on ONE album to give them chart success, but several – all of which were dominating the charts for months at a time. Simon and Garfunkel had FIVE albums in the charts in 1970. You’d be hard pushed to find a band matching that nowadays.

If musical success is built on a steady career and a large body of work, you have  to wonder who will be the Pink Floyd, Dire Straits and Beatles of the future.

Idea

I wanted to look at the distribution of the top rock bands over time and clearly show when they were active and how successful they were.

Method

  1. Tableau: Starting in Tableau, I placed genre on the Y axis and Year on the X axis, with the entries turned to circles, coloured by scale of Weeks in Chart, we were able to make a clearly shaded chart which immediately shows the highs points. It took a while to get the colour scheme and other settings right – (as you can see below).
  2. Export to Illustrator: Using the Print to PDF option I exported the chart to Illustrator, there I recoloured the circles (the original setting had the middle values as grey and low as black (obviously a fiancial setting) but this was unsuitable for this chart so I switched the black and grey over. I also resized the chart and split the circles into separare items so they could be manipulated and removed in Flash.
  3. Animate: To create the animation, I imported the chart into Flash and inserted keyframes at regular intervals and removed a few of the points each keyframe until the chart was blank. I then reversed the order of the frames to they seemed to appear, not disappear, during the movie clip. I then turned the red points into rollover buttons to show more information. (In retrospect, I wonder if these are entirely necessary, and in fact detract from the finished form)

Evolution

Inspiration: n/a

Idea:  To show when the most successful bands of the past 40 years were active using a bar chart.

Method: I created a bar chart showing the numbers of weeks spent in the charts per year, by the top 10 rock artists of the past 40 years. Marking these by colour, I hoped it would clearly show the peaks over time, and when the majority of artists were successful.  I knew that the colours would overlap, but I hoped that using a cyclical colour scheme would allow the user to get a general idea of timescale.

Why Ditched: Whilst the chart gave a good general overview of  the shape of success over time (the majority of the artists having success in the 70s) it was hard to see the individual artists amounts. The cyclical colour scheme was not enough to give an idea of timescale.

Inspiration: catalogtree 4.0

Idea:  I still wanted to show prominence over time, but switched from artist to album – focussing on the top 20 rock albums over the 40 year period.

I hoped this would be a more engaging chart for the user, who would look for their favourite album and connect with the chart.  By placing them on the Xaxis, in release order, I hoped it would be easier to navigate.

Method:  By listing the albums  on the Y axis and time on the X, I wanted to use differently sized circles to signify chart prominence. As the albums were sorted into release date we get a clear pattern of impact, and i some cases, the “tail”, (i.e. how long the album remained in the charts after release date).

Why Ditched: I felt the “album” idea, although engaging and in a way more emotional for the reader than “artist”, there was no overall message. Yes, it showed the top albums, but would not show artist presence, for example, if an artist appeared twice, etc. This would work as a supplementary chart to one dealing with artist, but not alone. I was also concerned that relying on size of circle, not colour, did not immediately show when the albums were prominent.

Inspiration: N/A

Method: Returning to the idea of artist, I decided to look at all artists, not just rock bands. Finding the top 10 artists and placing them in “overall success” order as opposed to release date, we immediately lose the pleasing pattern, but we can see when the larger bands were successful.I decided to introduce colour to the circles to represent value alongside circle size. We can immediately see where the larger values are found, and which artists they belonged to.

Why Ditched: There was no distinction between POP and ROCK artists, which was the point of the project. With colour representing Value, it would have been difficult to use this distinguish between the different genres. Also, sorting them into overall value was of little interest to the chart, and made it appear cluttered. I also doubted the need for size to represent value, when colour was the more effective indicator.

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2011
09/07
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History of a Chart 2. “Rock V The World”

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(click to see full interactive chart)

A simple chart but effective in allowing the user to track each of the music genres over time, and see them in context. The lower lines are still crowded, but being able to separate them off allows the user to see where they are placed. As rock was the backdrop to the entire study, I made it the backdrop to all of the charts. It allows the user to compare rock against the other values at any point, instead of having to assess 2 lines together.
The chart clearly shows the battle for chart supremacy between rock and pop and the rise of one, as the other falls. We can also see the introduction and rise of hiphop on the charts, and the decline of the classical/orchestral/jazz section since the 70’s.

Idea

The very first chart I created with this data was a line graph that showed ALL of the genres (more in those early stages before I merged some of them together). The idea was effective but the chart was incredibly cluttered.

A problem that emerged time and time again was one of scale. Pop and rock were such HUGE genres, with large data sets, yet the smaller genres, still important, disappeared among other small genres at the base of the chart.

I then decided to brush up on my Flash (something I had wanted to avoid, as I was hoping to create a larger static visualization) and create an interactive chart that allowed the user to select the genre they wanted, and also be able to see them all together in context.

Method

A chart for each genre was created in Tableau (using the same axis and scale to maintain accuracy)

These were then exported into Illustrator (for re-colouring), and into Flash to build into a rollover chart.

Evolution

The chart above was the result of much manipulation and “playing” in Tableau. Here are some of the more interesting developments during that process.

Inspiration: n/a

Idea: This was one of the first charts I created in Tableau with my data set. I wanted to get a simple overview of the charts and judge the best way to show it. The line version of this remains the simplest way to show the chart.

Method: With Year on the X axis, and Measure Value on Y, and colour set to mark GENRE, this plotted out the values of each genre per year.

Why Ditched: This chart has no real value  it is near impossible to distinguish any flow as there is so much data crammed into a small space.   I reverted to the line version.

Inspiration: n/a

Idea: to show a definite sense of trend over time

Method: To use the POLYGON setting in Tableau to show the overall trends between the various genres over time.

Why Ditched: I am still unconvinced about the benefits of the POLYGON chart. Whilst you can quickly see the trend, it simply shows a line from the start of the chart to the end, and highlights the above and below points. Whilst this may be useful for a definite data set, this is very much a part-data set. I chose to begin in 1970, but that is in no way the start of music. This chart would look very different were I to all music over a different time period. It does highlight a moment where rock and pop switched over in terms of dominance, but overall I decided it was overly simplistic and better suited to financial static data.

Inspiration: DNA charts (example: DNA chart)

Idea: to use a simple heat map to show the presence, and strength of presence, of each genre over time. 3 shades of colour would be given to each genre – not present (grey for each) then dark and light to show the high and low values.

Method: This  was created with separate charts for each genre, to account for the vastly different scales. So it marked the relative values of each genre separately. I then exported the layers, and placed them together in Illustrator.

Why Ditched: I was pleased with this chart and how it looked (I later have doubts about it’s validity – see next chart) but at this stage I was interested to see it displayed in a circle. I hoped I would be able to widen the data areas to make it less cramped.

Inspiration: Jake Kennedy Hobart – The Rain Project,

Idea: I wanted to use the chart above to create a circular, or semi circular chart. I hoped I would be able to stretch out the size of each unit, so it would appear less cluttered.

Method: Using the table created above (and removing any excess white at each side), I used the Envelope Distort function in Illustrator to bend it into a 100% circle.

Why Ditched: I realized that the original method of shading was giving a false impression of the chart. I was comparing each music genre on its own scale, yet placing them next to each other, giving the impression that they were on the same marked scale.  This only shows that pop and rock were a lot more present in the charts than the others, not by how much. A simpler and more accurate chart would have show simple presence, or no presence – colour and no colour. This lighter colour is deceiving.

Inspiration: n/a

Idea: Despite the issues with the colour on the last chart, I was keen to attempt another circular chart using the same process (ie bending a rectangular chart into a curve). Again, I hoped that chart that formerly suffered for lack of space would benefit from a circular shape.

Method: I created a line chart, showing all of the genres (distinguished by colour) on a black background (it showed the lines up clearer than white). I then concluded that I would have to break the chart into quarters, to enable a full 360deg circle to be created (I later solved this problem). For demonstration purposes I created one 90deg bend, and simply copied it 3 more times, and placed the quarters into a circle.

Why Ditched: I was concerned that, as with the simple line chart, the smaller genres (classical, spoken word etc) were being lost at the centre of the chart and therefore were unreadable – rendering the chart useless.

Inspiration: as above

Idea: as above but I hoped  – by reversing the chart and having the smaller values on the outside, wider part of the circle, they would be clearer

Method: I simply turned the chart upside down before creating the circle shape – hence the larger values were on the inside

Why Ditched: Although this did make the smaller values easier to see, it went against logic to have the larger values at the centre of the chart. Naturally the eye would treat the middle of the circle as the bottom of the line chart, hence reading the values upside down. The chart was not useful in any form .

Inspiration: C. Van Vleck | Information Taking Shape,

Idea: Still interested in pursuing the idea of a circular chart, I decided to solve the problem of concealed and cluttered data, by attempting an interactive rollover chart in Flash. This means that even if the data is hidden, the user can make a selection and see it in isolation as well as in relation to the other values.

Method:  I created a full stacked bar chart, with each colour block showing the percentage of albums each genre represented per year. Exporting this as a PDF into Illustrator I was able to recolour the chart (to help distinguish the smaller genres). I then created 8 versions of the chart, each of them with one colour highlighted and the rest “greyed out”. In Flash I converted  the menu boxes into a series of rollover buttons and each showed a version of the chart with the respective colour highlighted. Roll off, and the whole chart was shown.

Why Ditched: I was essentially happy with this chart. It was a little fuzzy about showing the smaller genres and all in all it was difficult to compare respective values (a design fault of the stacked bar chart and its transformation into a circle). However, the main reason for scrapping this chart was the discovering of a major error in the data that would have required redrawing the chart from scratch at a late stage. I took a judgement call that it was not strong enough a visualization to construct again from scratch.

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2011
09/06
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History of a Chart 1. “Good Times, Bad Times”

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Inspiration: WorldOfViolence,  Globalize me! : JUNG + WENIG , Nicholas Felton, es / Books / Personal
Kurt Kranz Urs Hofer , Flags By Colours 

(click to view full interactive chart)

The critics may claim that rock is dead, but there could be life in the electric guitar yet.

We are undeniably in a rock slump, with rock albums performing at their worst for 10 years. However, we saw similar poor showings in the 80s and 90s, and  rock always fought back.

The popularity of prog and folk in the early 1970’s saw rock dominate around 60% of the album charts, but by 1978 disco had forced that down to 43%. However, by the early 80s rock was back on top as the New Wave movement took hold, then to be hit once again by the commercial pop explosion and then, a double drop when house music took hold.

The pattern continues in this way, through the rise of Britpop and the modern successes of Green Day, The Killers and British indie rock bands such as Kaiser Chiefs, with rock always fighting back from a slump with a sudden rise in interest.

With 2010 seeing the worst performance for rock albums in the charts for a decade, are we in one of those slumps now, and is there a new rock craze waiting to revive the genre and take it back to chart glory?

Idea

I had been working through various versions of this chart, using rollover panels to show various sets of information for each year as well as the values for other genres. I decided to split this information into 2 separate charts (see History of a Chart 2. “Rock V The World”) for simplicity.

I wanted to show the highs and lows of the rock scene over the past 40 years, with some specific information – e.g. top selling artists, % of charts as rock, etc. I felt this would be an engaging chart for the user and would hold attention. (Ideally every year would be interactive, not just the highs and lows, but time restricted this).

Method

  1. Within Tableau Desktop I create the basic bar chart (with genre filtered to just rock), with Numbers of Records on the Y axis, and Year on X.

I then put imagined myself in the shoes of the user. What extra information would I like to see on the chart?

I decided to illustrate the most successful artists of each year, the % of rock in charts and a circular date chart showing when rock was at number 1 in the album charts.

The % of chart as rock was created using the Pie chart setting, with colour set to genre (with All genres except rock grouped and coloured as black, and rock set as red), and Angle was Measure Value. With The X axis as Year, this created one pie chart for every year.

To edit, re-colour and manipulate the charts, I selected “Print to PDF”, and opened the PDF in Illustrator, and then in Flash to create the rollover buttons/animation.

Evolution

Below I talk through some of the stages and decisions I made.

Inspiration: The STEM Dilemma,

Idea: Was to create an all encompassing chart for both different genre lines and rock artists. I was also drawn to the idea of the barchart as an industrial skyline, so wanted to create the idea of Smoke emerging from them.

Method: (see History of a Chart 2. for how I created the rollover line chart).

I sourced the top 5 artists per year by using Tableau to filter, calculate and sort the information. The black circles were created in Illustrator, using a simple process – each value had a corresponding, and very simple, size. So, 140 units = 140pixels (sq) in size. I would apply this to all circles, and the key, then resize ALL as necessary to fit the chart. The relation stays the same and the key still works.

Why Ditched: Overly complicated. Errors in data. Style over usability.

Inspiration: McCandless “Media Jungle”

The Idea: A static chart that showed easily the major events and interests in Pop music that kept rock out of the spotlight over time.

The Method: Using Wikipedia and other websites to research this, I placed the major events on “flagpoles” emerging from the barchart. These showed showing key albums, deaths, events to affect music.

Inspiration: music-family-tree,

Idea: To create a rollover chart showing the various key moments in music. The black area would show the rock highlights, the white, non-rock.

Method: Adding to the data I researched for the above chart, I then created a series of rollover buttons (in Flash CS5) from the YEAR tab, and for the “over” function, showed the information.

Why Ditched: Too cluttered and unclear. Hard to distinguish between Rock and Non-Rock. Space restricted amount of data so each year looked sparse until ALL option was displayed. Users asked if the placement on Y axis was relevant. It wasn’t but the axis suggested it may be.  The text data was also a little vague. I decided to drop the text and switch to numerical data and charts instead.

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2011
09/06
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