Mike Cisneros cleans up a complex visual made up of less complex visuals:
There are opportunities to improve this visual, but I appreciate that the graph is appropriately titled, that the legend is clear and easy to find, and that the most recent data point is the only one that is labeled. On its own, it’s an acceptable view of the data, albeit one that could be strengthened.
When this visual is considered in its greater context, however, the need to improve the legibility of this graph becomes obvious.
These charts are generated at multiple levels of geographic and thematic detail. Each one is then shared as part of one large report, with almost no visual variation from region to region, level to level, or week to week:
There’s a lot going for that redesign.