Visualizing Patterns over Time - Data Points: Visualization That Means Something - page 105

FIGurE 4-15 Graph with fonts changed to Georgia Regular FIGurE 4-16 Transform menu

Go back to the Object menu, and select Transform ➪ Transform each. As
shown in Figure 4-16, change the rotation angle to -90 degrees. Click OK.
The labels are now right-side up.

While you're at it, shift the labels (not the tick marks) up and to the right
so that they're above the tick marks, instead of to the left. Shift items
either with the arrow keys on your keyboard or drag with your mouse.
You can also directly specify the units as hot dogs and buns (HDBs)
instead of having them off to the side. Again, this improves readability
as a reader's eyes move from left to right. You should now have some-
thing like Figure 4-17.

This is starting to look more like the final graph in Figure 4-5. It's still
missing a few things, though. There aren't any tick marks on the hori-
zontal axis, nothing is annotated, and it'd be nice if you incorporated
green, one of the colors in Nathan's Hot Dogs' logo.

FIGurE 4-17 Bar graph with
simplified value axis

You can also simplify the graphic by removing the vertical line on the value
axis. It doesn't help communicate the data more clearly. Notice how in the
final graphic there are only tick marks. If you click the vertical line with
the Selection Tool, the labels also highlight. That's because they're all part
of a group. To select just the line, use the Direct Selection tool. After you
highlight the line, press Delete and it'll be gone.

Data graphics are
meant to shine a
light on your data.
Try to remove any
elements that
don't help you
do that.

There are a bunch of ways to create tick marks, but here's one way to do
it. Using the Pen tool, you can easily draw straight lines. Select it from the