Lousy labels

In Paul Krugman’s post today, he includes two charts. One is fine, the other isn’t. Here’s the first one: Generally, I’m not a fan of putting stuff in the margins that could be within the body of the plot itself, but at least it’s clear which label goes with which data series. Too bad that’s not the case with Chart 2: The two series end at almost the same spot, so putting the labels out in the margin means they can’t both be centered on their series. The little leader lines that run from the labels to the series match the colors of the series, but unfortunately, their colors are difficult to distinguish because The two colors are both shades of blue. The leader lines are thin, muting their colors. The leader lines are dashed, further muting their colors. I’m not saying you can’t tell which is which, but when a chart is showing only two things you shouldn’t have to squint to tell the two apart. And it’s harder if you’re reading the article on a phone. In the text just below Chart 2,…