“Don’t size by area,” said Brinton.

Don’t size by area, said Brinton. He really bangs on about that. In general, he’s right, because we cannot compare area accurately. However, is it fair that sometimes area is more engaging than length? And if a sense of the data is all that’s needed, is that ok? Here’s one from the Economist where area is engaging.

But sometimes it just doesn’t work: