Telling the Story

Mekko Graphics 5 Preference Manager: Up Close and Personal

One of the huge enhancements to Mekko Graphics 5 is the new and improved Preference Manager. We’ve given the Preference Manager a face lift, and the result is that creating and customizing your Mekko Graphics charts is now even faster and simpler. The new Preference Manager puts you in the driver’s seat, allowing you to set your color and pattern style defaults and have more customization options in chart creation.

Let’s take a closer look.

Color Palette Flexibility
There are four tabs:  Colors, Settings, Regions, and Advanced. Within the Colors tab, there are now four subtabs: Multicolor, Black and White, No Shading, and Gantt Colors.

 

 

This means that Mekko Graphics 5 Preference Manager now includes the ability to set your color palette and draw order, not only for multi-color charts, but also for black and white charts and for single shaded charts (no shading), including the default color for the lines in your line charts.  And our default palette for Mekko Graphics 5 is much improved, offering more colors, including the ability to set highlight colors.

Default Flexibility
The Settings tab now allows you to select the Mekko Graphics default setting for chart style and pattern style, as well as your defaults for maximum, minimum, and minimum SmartPlace font size.  So, for example, if you never create single shade or black and white charts, you can set your default to multi-color and all your charts will automatically draw as multi-color. 

 
Patterns Flexibility
You also have a choice of pattern style now. You can define your pattern style for your charts as:  No Patterns, Extended Mekko Graphics or Mekko Graphics.  If you never want patterns to draw on your chart, select No Patterns. For the same functionality of Mekko Graphics 4, select Mekko Graphics.  We actually recommend our new pattern style called Extended Mekko Graphics. This pattern style uses a newer, smarter method to determine when patterns will appear on your charts. The advantages of this pattern style are most apparent when you have charts with a large number of series. Once patterns start to appear on charts, fewer series will contain patterns in your chart, and those patterns will be more evenly distributed than the Mekko Graphics pattern style.

 

Regional Flexibility
The Regions tab allows you to select the Mekko Graphics default setting that corresponds to your geographical area. Each region has a pre-defined setting for

Font typeface - for both Latin and Asian font
Negative number format
Decimal Separator
Thousand Separator
Y axis Title Orientation
Y axis Prefix/Suffix Value

You can choose the region from the pre-loaded drop-down list and Mekko Graphics will automatically reset your Preference Manager settings for that region. You may also overwrite those settings by choosing the Customized radio button and creating a custom definition for your region. Customized settings in this tab are saved for each region.

 

Chart Update Flexibility
Once you use the Preference Manager, those changes will affect future charts that you create or edit. It will not automatically change charts you have already created. For existing charts, you can apply our new Preference Manager settings by opening the chart and choosing

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This function allows you to take the active Preference Manager settings and apply them to your chart. To update an entire deck without opening each chart individually, simply click “Update All Charts” from your PowerPoint ribbon toolbar.

 

We’d love to hear your feedback on the new features.  Contact us at support@mekkographics.com with your comments. Or ask a question on our Mekko Graphics Forum . Thanks.

 

 

Mekko Graphics 5 is here!

We've taken Mekko Graphics to the next level. Mekko Graphics 5 is now available and includes new features in direct response to your requests. And we've added some surprises that we think you'll appreciate and enjoy. Fully compatible with MS Office 2010 (32-bit), with a new user interface, and enhanced data manipulation, Mekko Graphics 5 helps you deliver your message faster and more easily than ever before.

So you might be familiar with some of the major headliners:

• New User Interface
  Yup, it's new, and offers a ribbon toolbar both inside Mekko Graphics and for Mekko-related functions in PowerPoint for our Office 2007 and 2010 users.  The new User Interface will help you find what you need more quickly and efficiently, and has the look and feel of the latest in Office applications.

 

• Compatible with Office 2010 (32-bit)
  Probably the #1 request by our users, and yes, it is fully compatible with Office 2010.
• Improved Preference Manager with more control and customization options
  You asked for more control and we gave it to you.  You're going to love the new Preference Manager features. Now, you can set default color style (multi-color, no shading, or black and white) so all your charts will draw with that setting applied.  We also offer a new, smarter, alternative pattern option which displays more solids and fewer patterns on your charts, the ability to set default colors for your Gantt chart, and the option to set your "No Shading" color.

 
 

• Increased speed
  We've optimized some background processes to make opening, editing and saving charts faster, so you can create your decks even more quickly and efficiently.
• Improved label editing
  We've improved our inplace editing feature to allow for more extensive formatting choices, and the ability to see the entire label in the inplace editing screen.

 

But wait, there’s more!   Here’s even more features for you might not be aware of:

• Easier for Win 7 users
  Now that we've eliminated Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 as a requirement, Windows 7 users will experience a more seamless integration with our software.
• Ability to create custom colors that stay with your chart
  Now you can create custom colors for your chart on-the-fly right from the Mekko Graphics application. And they save to your chart, so even if you mail your chart to a colleague who has a different palette, the colors will retain.

 

• Elimination of Excel conflicts
  We've eliminated the occasional conflicts with third party Excel add-ins by the inclusion of a new spreadsheet control that allows you to launch Mekko Graphics charts faster and switch back and forth between Mekko Graphics and Microsoft Excel more seamlessly.
• Ability to customize Quick Access Toolbar (QAT)
  For those of you who take advantage of Microsoft's QAT and depend on it, we now offer QAT support from within the Mekko Graphics application 

• Edit in Excel
  This is a slick new button in the data view section of our application that allows you to take your existing Mekko Graphics data and edit that data in Excel right from within the Mekko Graphics application.  Simply click the button right from Mekko Graphics and all your data automatically copies to an Excel spreadsheet, allowing you to do any editing. When you are finished, simply close the window and the data gets automatically inserted back into your Mekko Graphics data view. 

 

• Are you an IPhone or Blackberry User?
  Mekko Graphics charts are now viewable on your mobile devices. You can paste a chart object right into your email for easy viewing!

We're excited about all the new features and want to know what you think. We'd love to hear your thoughts about the new features. Comment or email us support@mekkographics.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great new book!

“The ability to communicate clearly through effective charts and graphs is as indispensable a skill as good writing.”  So says, Dona Wong, author of The Wall  Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics: The Dos and Don'ts of Presenting Data, Facts, and Figures.  Only released a month ago, and already touted as the ‘Strunk & White of graphics’, this book focuses on how to convey your message in a data-driven world, using effective charting techniques.

This book appeared on my desk about two weeks ago (a gift from my boss), and I have to say, I have never read a more practical, well-layed out, easy-to-understand book on business charting.  Her guidelines are both perceptive and clear, not buried under six feet of abstractions.

The meat of the book, which comprises chapter 2, contrasts effective and poor graphics on side-by-side pages. This useful design complements her key points, and while many books give rules, few go beyond the simply stating the rule, and further show us why the rule makes sense.  Some examples include when and how to set scales to make meaningful comparisons, rules for bar order and the exceptions to those rules, when to plot absolute values versus percentage changes, when horizontal charts are best used, etc.

There is also a strong chapter on color and lines – what colors to use in combination, palettes, color order, line style and thickness, number of lines on a chart, and the use of labels with data points.

Wong’s methods are not as much geared toward creating an aesthetically pleasing chart (although they do), but focus on the ability to convey the intended message well and with clarity. She is a no-nonsense writer and a no-nonsense thinker.  The book in and of itself does what it teaches - communicates without excess while delivering a message effectively.  Dona Wong, a Tufte protégé , has created an essential reference work for everyone from the average PowerPoint user to the sophisticated business and strategic professional.

Interestingly, there is no discussion of what tools were used to use to make the graphics or how the graphics in this book were rendered.  I have a suggestion…

Colorful Expressions Part 2

In my previous post “Colorful Expressions,” I started a discussion on the use of color and talked about its occasional overuse. Color can be a much more effective and powerful tool when it’s used sparingly and with purpose. We see this concept in images all the time. If you ever saw the movie “Schindler’s List”, there is a very powerful scene where Schindler sees a little girl wearing a red coat. The red coat is one of the few instances of color in the black and white film. The little girl's jacket is red so that she stands out from the masses. When color is used, it makes a point and an impression.

 

 

Similarly, when creating charts, you can use color effectively to make a point and impression.  There are some very good techniques for using color in your charts.

Use color to:

1)   highlight data (i.e. bring something to users’ attention)

2)   group data (i.e. a different color per sales region)

3)   convey a specific condition in the data (i.e. red = negative, green or blue = positive)

 

 

Using Color to Highlight Data

It’s a good idea to use color to focus attention on an item that is particularly relevant to the reader. Consider this chart from a Southeast regional sales conference. 

 

Colorful Expression Highlight Data

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In this example, the user is calling attention to the Southeast Region to show their third place status in sales revenue. It’s best to use bright and dark colors for highlighting data. You want that data to stand out and be noticed.

 

Using Color to Group Data

Color can be used to group data into different sets in order to show similarities or differences. In the following (fictitious) example, I compare sales revenue for three brands of running shoes across various countries.

 

Colorful Expression Group Data

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Competition between brands is tighter in the US while Nike has a clear lead in other countries.

 

 

When grouping data, use medium shades for each group. You want each group distinct, but you don’t want one group to stand out more than others, so try and make sure their levels of intensity are equal and that there is a sense of balance among the groups.

 

Using Color to Convey a Condition

And finally, if you want to convey a specific condition, make sure that the color meaning will be understood by your users.  In the following example, an organization is tracking their monthly billable hours for 4 major projects.

 

Color Expression Convey Message

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Project 1 was overbudget in Oct. but stayed within budget in Nov. and Dec.  
Project 4, however, has consistently been overbudget over the three-month period.

 

Instead of color-coding by project, they color coded by their ability to stay within budget. Red is commonly associated with danger or warning, blue with stability, and green with safety. 

 

Sometimes when it comes to color, less is more. Think about how you are using color in your charts. The use of color should add value to the visualization and help tell the story.