Tell a Story Instead of Just Showing the Data

Be a storyteller, not a number cruncher.

Take a look at the following graph of the number of homicides and homicide rate per year in Baltimore, Maryland:

What story do you see? (Data via the FBI Uniform Crime Report.)

If you are not from Baltimore, you might wonder what is going on and why the number and rate of homicides jumps in 2015. You might not know of the daily shootings and almost daily…