Mike Cisneros takes on a challenge:
When we have three or more dimensions to show, how do you recommend we do it? I worry that my audience might not be able to make sense of it all.
This is a great question. As analysts we are often asked to consider multiple dimensions at once, and investigate complex relationships among these variables. In doing so, we may use visual analyses to explore and find patterns and outliers. The graph types we use to do this tend to be complicated and less intuitive than a simple bar chart or line chart. They might make sense to a trained observer, but to an unfamiliar audience, they’re at best confusing and at worst impenetrable.
Click through for a few techniques, none of which directly involves 3D graphs, as those are really difficult for humans to understand in most circumstances.