Visualizing a Content Audit

Question

I would like to create a graphical representation of a content audit I have done on an intranet.

My purpose is fairly simple: cut through the perception that there is much more content that is much more complex than actually exists. I currently have this data in an Excel spreadsheet including data such as document type, location, and other meta-data that could be used to categorize/group the data into meaningful segments.

I was reading an interesting article by Christopher Detzi and he used a graph/chart that caught my eye:

This seemed like a good way of visualizing this data. Actual numbers combined with a clear visual representation. This type of visualization would help to give the dialogue a sense of proportionality.

I have one direct question: Does anyone know what the name of the above type of graph is (and how might one make it-just Photoshop or are there tools beyond Excel that are used in the industry?).

A supporting question: what other techniques have you used to serve this need?

Answer 1

It looks a lot like output from the Circle Packing technique. It is important to note that this is intended for hierarchical data (websites tend to be hierarchical, but you may decide on a different visualization depending on your meta-data)

If you are confident with Javascript, and want to automate its construction, have a look at D3.js (list of visual examples).

Answer 2

I might have a hard time understanding the significance of the scale. Do you have a graphic scaled to something like a book chapter that I understand? That way I can see how my model of smallish compares to the current amount of content.

Just set Xwords (or whatever) to pixels^2. Then multiply that ratio times each group of words to get the area in pixels squared. Solve for 'r' in 3.14*(r)^2 which is [(pixels)^2/3.14]^(1/2)

Now open photoshop, hit L for circular selection. Draw a circle holding shift and fill it with ctrl+backspace. Then keep it selected and hit ctrl+t to transform. Up top there's a box for width. Type in your 'r' times two as px. So, for example,

300 px

don't let it do 300% by default

Done. Good luck!