โŒ Venn diagram? You can do better!


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๐Ÿ‘‹ Hi!

Today, let's talk about Venn diagrams and more importantly, what to use instead!

But before we dive in, a quick heads-up. Less than 48 hours remain to join my Matplotlib Journey project! ๐Ÿš€
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If you want to get better at data visualization, thereโ€™s only one way: practice. And thatโ€™s exactly what this course is about.

You'll tackle dozens of exercises and work with real-life datasets at the end of each module to apply what youโ€™ve learned.

Hereโ€™s just a glimpse of the plots shared by students in the Discord channel to get feedback on both code and design!

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Ok, back on the main topic ๐Ÿ™ˆ

What is a Venn diagram?

A Venn diagram visualizes relationships between sets using overlapping circles to show shared and unique elements.

It typically looks like this:

Venn diagrams work well for 2 or 3 groups! But beyond that, they become unreadable.
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The issue is combinatorial explosion: the number of combinations grows way too fast.
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With more than three groups, the diagram quickly becomes a cluttered mess, making it impossible to extract meaningful insights:
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A better option: Upset Plot

The UpSet Plot is a powerful alternative that scales well with many groups.

It has a bar chart at the top that shows the size of each group combination. Then the X-axis grid indicates which groups contribute to each bar.

It's much clearer than a cluttered Venn diagram! Take a moment to study the figure:

Origin & Implementation

The UpSet plot was introduced in 2014 and quickly gained traction.
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You can build it using one of those tools:

  • In R, use the {upsetR} package to build one. I even wrote an example in the R Graph Gallery.
  • In Python, thereโ€™s the UpSetPlot package (though I havenโ€™t used it personally).
  • In JavaScript, you can use upsetjs.

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And that's it for today!

I hope you discovered a new chart type and more importantly, that you'll get to use it someday! โ˜บ๏ธ

Before I go, hereโ€™s one of the latest testimonials for Matplotlib Journey I got. I hope it can motivate you to join the course in the remaining 48h!
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All the best,

Yan
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โ€‹PS: Not happy with the course? Iโ€™ll refund you right away, no questions asked!

PPS: A lot of people have asked if the course is suitable for beginners. The answer is yes!

Yan Holtz

โ€‹Find me on X, LinkedIn, or check my Homepageโ€‹

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๐Ÿ‘‹ By the way, there are 3 ways I can help you!

  • Consulting: I help my clients design and create interactive dataviz webpages to make their data alive
  • Online Courses: 2000+ ppl already followed my in-depth, interactive learning experiences about R, matplotlib, ggplot2 and d3.jsโ€‹
  • Engaging Talks: I'm deeply passionate about tech and dataviz. Hire me for a talk or a training!

Check yan-holtz.com or hit reply any time!

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