vibech.art

Make Misleading Charts Like the Pros

For education and research only — learn the classic trickery and how to spot it, without losing your sense of humor.

Chart Builder

Explore misleading techniques, edit the data JSON, and compare with the proper version.

Setup
Use unnecessary charts to make it more complex
Misleading effect: Simple data is plotted as a complex chart, making information harder to understand.
Chart type: bar
Misleading
The Proper Way
Educational use only. Do not use generated images to deceive.

Reference Examples & Reading

Curated visuals with source URLs as supplemental info.

GPT-5 vs O3
GPT-5 vs O3 example

Although likely a mistake, the GPT-5 vs OpenAI O3 chart shown in the OpenAI GPT5 stream was a good example of how charts can be more misleading than the data itself.

Sources:
https://x.com/EgeErdil2/status/1953505551570415718
Truncated Y‑axis
Truncated Y‑axis example

Start Y well above zero to exaggerate small differences between bars or lines.

Sources:
https://www.lrs.org/2020/06/10/visualizing-data-manipulating-the-y-axis/
Pictogram Chart (Real Example)
Pictogram Chart (Real Example) example

Decorative pictograms can add noise and bias perception compared to simple encodings.

Sources:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UFO_Sightings_by_Shape.svg
Questionable Scale (Real Example)
Questionable Scale (Real Example) example

Axis scales and groupings can frame narratives; always inspect baselines and categories.

Sources:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Household_spending_United_States.png
Pie Chart (Real Example)
Pie Chart (Real Example) example

Pie slices are harder to compare than aligned bars; consider bars/treemaps for composition.

Sources:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Piechart.svg
Inverted Y‑axis
Inverted Y‑axis example

Flip the Y direction so larger values are drawn lower; readers may misread the trend.

Sources:
https://www.livescience.com/45083-misleading-gun-death-chart.html

Popular Techniques

Click a card to prefill the builder.

Excessive Usage

Use unnecessary charts to make it more complex

Biased Labeling

Use biased labels

Fabricated Trends

Add trend lines to irrelevant data to make it look like there is a trend

Misleading Pie Size

Compare different sizes of pie charts or hard to distinguish thin slices

Improper Pictogram Scaling

Scale pictograms by area/volume to exaggerate differences.

Confusing Log Scale

Use unlabeled logarithmic scale.

Truncated Y

Start y-axis above 0 to exaggerate changes.

Axis Maximum Change

Adjust y-axis maximum to alter perception.

No Scale

Remove ticks and axes so data cannot be judged.

Improper Intervals Units

Inconsistent tick intervals or units.

Omitting Data

Omit data points that do not fit the narrative.

Over Complexity

Overly complex chart hides key information.

Poor Construction

Incorrect proportions, labels, etc.

Misleading Extrapolation

Use unreasonable data to extrapolate the future.

See also: the reference list on our About page for sources and real examples.